WVS Webinar on May 20: What Predicts Homonegativity in Southeast Asian Countries? Evidence from the World Values Survey
Welcome to the World Values Survey Association's webinar series. In these monthly sessions, we invite scholars from various disciplines who utilize WVS survey data, either alone or in combination with other datasets, to share their latest findings and insights. The webinars will explore a wide range of topics measured through the time-series WVS surveys, covering analysis of both substantive issues and methodological perspectives. Learn more about the forthcoming webinars here.
In this webinar, our guest speaker, Xavier Javines Bilon from the University Philiipines Diliman, will explore predictors of homonegativity in Southeast Asia using World Values Survey (WVS) data, identifying four value-based and one demographic factor that consistently influence attitudes across six countries. The study finds that endorsements of equality, choice, and agnosticism are linked to lower homonegativity, while relativism and older age are associated with higher homonegativity, highlighting both a shared emancipative logic in the region and the need for contextually sensitive models to better understand and address sexual prejudice in different cultural contexts.
The webinar will take place on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 09:00 UTC.
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Negative attitudes towards lesbian women and gay men continue to exist in Southeast Asian countries. This study identified predictors of homonegativity that are generally consistent across the countries in the region. Using data from the seventh round of World Values Survey, we obtained parsimonious country-level logistic regression models for six of the 11 Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia (n = 3,200), Malaysia (n = 1,313), Myanmar (n = 1,200), the Philippines (n = 1,200), Thailand (n = 1,500), and Vietnam (n = 1,200). Results suggest that four values and one demographic variable are consistent predictors of homonegativity in Southeast Asia. Endorsements of equality, choice, and agnosticism were found to be consistent predictors of lower levels of homonegative attitudes, while the opposite was observed for endorsement of relativism and older people. That there are some consistent cultural predictors of lower levels of homonegativity may suggest a common emancipative logic in Southeast Asia. On the whole, however, the findings suggest that there may be no uniform (Southeast) Asian values system that constitutes sexual prejudice. This foregrounds the need for more contextually-sensitive and culturally-informed models of homonegativity to understand why negative attitudes persist in some countries but not in others, and to also guide the crafting of interventions that are more relevant to each country. Read the full paper here.
Xavier Javines Bilon is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at University Philiipines Diliman, serving as Director for Research at the UP School of Statistics and Project Leader of the UP Rainbow Research Hub. His work integrates statistics, engineering, and human rights, focusing on LGBTQI rights and HIV research through data-driven approaches. Previously, he worked with UNDP Philippines and Asia-Pacific and collaborated with government and civil society organizations on LGBTQI and human rights issues. His research spans social research methods, computational statistics, and applied social statistics, with a focus on digital data, gender, and sexuality. He has been a licensed engineer since 2018.
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