Abstract:
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.
