Researchers can unintentionally reinforce societal prejudice against minoritized populations through the false assumption that psychological measurements are generalizable across identities. Recently, researchers have posited that gender and sexually diverse (GSD) people could feel excluded or confused by the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) due to its overtly heteronormative statements like “A man is incomplete without the love of a woman.” Yet, the ASI is used for indexing the endorsement of sexism in GSD samples and across diverse populations. An ideal test of these experiences is to directly consult GSD participants for their reactions. In the current study, we report a reflexive thematic analysis of lesbian women and gay men’s (N = 744) feedback immediately after completing the ASI. Four themes characterized participants’ reactions to the ASI: Exclusion: Heteronormative items erase diverse genders and sexualities, Confusion: Inability to meaningfully respond due to heteronormativity, Hope: Exclusion understood as a necessary sacrifice toward progress, and Distress: Exclusion inflicts distress by reflecting societal prejudice. The themes captured the experience that many participants found heteronormative assumptions salient in the ASI and had varied reactions to the heteronormativity. Our results extend prior research that questions the generalizability of results drawn from the ASI, especially studies including GSD participants. We discuss the implications of the continued use of the ASI and encourage researchers to critically evaluate underlying theories and assumptions to ensure participants can engage with measures as intended.

研究人员可能会通过错误地假设心理测量可以跨身份推广，从而无意中强化了社会对少数族裔人群的偏见。最近，研究人员假设，性别和性多元化 （GSD） 人群可能会感到被矛盾性别歧视量表 （ASI） 排除在外或感到困惑，因为它公开的异性恋规范陈述，例如“没有女人的爱，男人是不完整的”。然而，ASI 用于索引 GSD 样本和不同人群中对性别歧视的认可。对这些体验的理想测试是直接咨询 GSD 参与者的反应。在目前的研究中，我们报告了对女同性恋和男同性恋 （N = 744） 在完成 ASI 后立即的反馈的反射性主题分析。参与者对 ASI 的反应有四个主题：排斥：异性恋项目抹去了不同的性别和性取向，困惑：由于异性恋而无法做出有意义的回应，希望：排斥被理解为对进步的必要牺牲，以及痛苦：排斥通过反映社会偏见来造成痛苦。这些主题捕捉了许多参与者发现异性恋规范假设在 ASI 中突出的经验，并且对异性恋有不同的反应。我们的结果扩展了先前的研究，这些研究质疑 ASI 结果的普遍性，尤其是包括 GSD 参与者的研究。我们讨论了继续使用 ASI 的影响，并鼓励研究人员批判性地评估基本理论和假设，以确保参与者能够按预期参与措施。