Word is Out: The Use of Social Networking Sites During the Coming Out Process

WORD IS OUT: THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES DURING THE COMING OUT PROCESS by Rachel Ann Sauerbier Master of Arts in Communication Studies California State University, Chico Spring 2011 The purpose of this research was to explore how and why social networking sites are used by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals during the coming out process. Thirty-two in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using a combination of grounded theory methodology and content analysis. The research indicated LGBTQ individuals turn to social networking sites when there is a lack of social support in their immediate family or among friends and to maintain their sexual identity long-term. Interviewees reported useful and frustrating attempts to create their own meanings of sex, sexuality and gender on social networking sites and viewed the sites as somewhat useful, but not ideal, for coming out which all preferred to do face-to-face. Social networking sites were used by interviewees predominantly for the purpose of social play and social understanding, in accordance with media system dependency theory. Interviewees also described how they used social networking sites to alleviate tension and resolve conflict surrounding personal, relational and communal identity gaps reinforcing Hecht’s communication theory of identity. Perceptions of being monitored electronically on the sites and a general lack of trust of privacy settings greatly influenced how they were used by interviewees. But perhaps the most compelling findings were interviewees’ accounts of using social networking sites as a protective and therapeutic prosthetic body while negotiating the emotionally and sometimes physically harmful process of coming out.