Exploring Canadian Social Work Students' Aphobic Attitudes: The Role of Knowledge about Asexuality and Asexual People

Aphobic attitudes are negative biases and prejudices against asexual individuals that can contribute to aphobic discrimination. While the Canadian Social Work Code of Ethics states that social workers should not discriminate and should provide culturally responsive services to marginalized populations, individually held aphobic attitudes have the potential to diminish one’s ability to provide culturally responsive services to asexual people. This national study examined aphobic attitudes among 326 Canadian social work students, exploring the relationship between knowledge about asexuality and aphobic attitudes, including controlling for demographic factors, social contact with asexuals, and social attitudes that previous research has identified as being predictors of negative attitudes towards asexuals. Knowledge was found to have a negative relationship with aphobic attitudes, including when controlling for demographics, social contact, and other attitudes. The results highlight the value of increasing knowledge about asexuality in social work curricula to promote students’ acceptance of asexuals. The potential applications of these findings are discussed.