1. Pre-coming out
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Coming out is the process whereby individuals identify
themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) and begin
to share this identity with others.
Many descriptions of coming out have been proposed by researchers. Though intended to describe both men and women, coming
out models are based on observations of white middle-class males and
don’t fully describe female, economically-disadvantaged
and non-white experience. In addition, models are based on
previous generations. Today,
coming out often occurs at an earlier age and usually unfolds more rapidly.
Coming out is complicated by anti-gay bias. It also occurs
over an extensive period, probably a lifetime. Troiden’s model is
typical, involving stages of a) sensitization or pre-coming out, b) identity
confusion, c) identity assumption and d) identity commitment.
Sensitization or pre-coming out
The sensitization or pre-coming out stage encompasses
the pre-gay period before puberty. During this time, many sexual minority
individuals report have experienced a sense of marginality or "feeling
different" from same-gendered peers, possibly because of androgynous or
cross-gendered role behaviors.
This sense of difference is commonly experienced as personal
inadequacy, using gender rather than sexual metaphors. For example,
a male child may come to believe that he is not “a real boy.” This
feeling of insufficiency seems to be based on isolation and a lack of socialization
in homosexual identity. Unlike racial minority children, for example,
pre-gay individuals are not prepared by their parents for minority
status. Instead, like all children, they are socialized according to heterosexual
gender-role expectations.
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