“I Was Always Trying to Figure It Out… on My Own Terms”

Structural Barriers, the Internet, and Sexual Identity Development among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer People of Different Generations

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17535644
AutoresChadwick K Campbell (0000-0002-8609-5762, University of California, San Francisco, autor correspondente), Phillip L Hammack (0000-0003-2203-858X, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA), Allegra R Gordon (0000-0002-5731-7215, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA), Michael Lightfoot (0000-0001-5293-9755, Oregon Health & Science University), Marguerita A Lightfoot (School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA)
Ano2022
Volume70
Fascículo11
Páginas2560-2582
Data de publicação2022-05-23
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2022.2071136
PMID35605228
OpenAlexW4281383216
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas63

Recognizing the historical grounding of sexual identity development, we examined the spontaneous narration of the internet's significance among a diverse sample of three distinct birth cohorts of sexual minority adults ( n = 36, ages 18-59) in the United States. Thematic analysis revealed two structural barriers and four roles of the internet in sexual identity development. Structural barriers were being in a heterosexual marriage (exclusive to members of the older cohort), and (2) growing up in a conservative family, religion, or community (which cut across cohorts). Roles of the internet included: learning about LGBQ+ identities and sex; watching pornography (which appeared only in narratives of the younger cohort); finding affirming community ; and facilitating initial LGBQ+ romantic and sexual experiences (which appeared mostly in narratives of the younger cohort). Most participants who described the internet as playing a role in sexual identity development were members of the younger (ages 18-25) and middle (ages 34-41) cohorts. We discuss how the internet has assumed a unique role in history in the development of sexual minority people. Further, our findings highlight that sexual identity development occurs across the lifespan, and how that process and the roles of the internet vary by generation and structural realities

Cohort · Developmental psychology · Homosexuality · Human sexuality · Identity (music) · Lesbian · Narrative · Pornography · Queer · Sexual identity · Sexual minority · Sexual orientation · Sociology · The Internet · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Medicine · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology