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2. Identity confusion
(Page 2 of 5)
The identity confusion stage emerges at adolescence when
the individual realizes that some of his or her feelings and behaviors
could be understood as homosexual. A period of anxiety and confusion begins,
when the possibility of being gay clashes with a heterosexual self-image.
Being different may now mean being sexually different, a realization that,
given social prejudice, is often distressing.
At this stage, LGBT adolescents commonly experience isolation
because of the social taboo that discourages discussion of same-sex desires
with family or peers. Either emotionally or physically, adolescents may
also withdraw from close contact with others because of their sense of
difference and absent heterosexual interest. Some adolescents may pursue
a strategy of deception, in which they simulate heterosexual interest
and vigilantly self-monitor to hide their secret homosexual desires.
Identity confusion may continue until late adolescence
or beyond. Many individuals, unable to accept a stigmatized identity that
seems to preclude membership in other social categories and institutions
(sometimes even their family of origin) may avoid intimacy or try to behave
heterosexually. Hence, there may be a “postponement of adolescence”
until the individual’s 20s or later, when he or she feels more
prepared to complete the process of homosexual identity formation, including
development and maturation of erotic and intimacy capacities.
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