The internet and sexual identity formation: Comparing Internet use before and after coming out

Lukasz Szulc, Alexander Dhoest

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Even in its early years, the Internet was recognized as a medium with great potential for lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals (LGBs), especially for LGB youths struggling with their sexual identity. Yet, Internet research related to coming out tends to focus on particular cases or Internet use before and during coming out. Consequently, as such research emphasizes the opportunities and positive aspects of the Internet for LGBs, it may lead to an over estimation of the importance of sexual identity in terms of LGB Internet use. There-fore, in this paper we explore the LGB-specific Internet use of a broad cross-section of the LGB community both before or during and after coming out. Our quantitative online survey and in-depth interviews show that LGBs use the Internet for LGB-oriented purposes less after coming out than before or during it. The results suggest that sexual identity becomes a less salient topic in terms of everyday Internet use after coming out.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)347-365
Number of pages19
JournalCommunications-European Journal of Communication Research
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Oct 2013

Keywords

  • Internet use
  • LGB
  • gay and lesbian
  • coming out
  • Belgium
  • sexual identity

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