The Prejudice-Based Secondary Victimization of Violence Against Gay Men

Gay men frequently face targeted violence and subsequent secondary victimization-additional harm through negative social reactions such as minimizing their suffering, blaming them, or withholding support. While homophobic prejudice and the belief in a just world (BJW)-the motivation to see the world as fair and to believe that people get what they deserve-are each linked to victim derogation, their joint role in secondary victimization remains unclear. Across two studies, this research aimed to address this gap examining whether prejudice or BJW plays a more significant role in the secondary victimization of gay men and how these factors interact to reinforce victim-blaming attitudes. In Study 1 (N = 102), participants read a news vignette about an assault; we manipulated perceived sexual orientation (gay vs. no-cue control) via contextual cues. In Study 2 (N = 205), no cues were provided, and participants inferred the victim's sexual orientation. Secondary victimization was assessed across three dimensions (minimization of the victim's suffering, victim-blaming, and social avoidance) of a self-report measure, and prejudice was measured with a validated self-report scale indexing discomfort with gay men in everyday situations. Results showed that prejudice predicted greater minimization of suffering and victim-blaming when the victim was perceived as gay. Moreover, BJW strengthened the prejudice-minimization link when participants perceived the victim as a gay man. These findings demonstrate how prejudice and BJW jointly contribute to rationalizing harm toward gay men, reframing unjust suffering as deserved within a perceived fair world. By highlighting this interaction, our findings advance theories of legitimation and reveal how justice motives can paradoxically reinforce prejudice, subtly validating discriminatory attitudes while maintaining a veneer of fairness.