Alexandria Digital Research Library

"Sometimes I'm Lesbian" : Young Women's High School Coming Out Experiences in the Post-Gay Era

Author:
Jungleib, Lillian Taylor
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Sociology
Degree Supervisor:
Verta Taylor
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2014
Issued Date:
2014
Topics:
Education, Secondary, Sociology, Individual and Family Studies, Sociology, Social Structure and Development, GLBT Studies, and Women's Studies
Keywords:
Fluid
Queer
Identity
Coming Out
High School
Lesbian
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
M.A.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
Description:

This study explores young women's experiences "coming out" in high school. I find that across race and class backgrounds, young women in high school are increasingly coming to articulate their sexuality as fluid rather than with more conventional stable identity categories such as "lesbian." Based on 79 ethnographic interviews with women who came to see themselves as non-heterosexual in high school, I find 46 (58%) identify themselves as fluid/pansexual/queer or without a label, 7 (9%) identify as bisexual, 15 (19%) identify as lesbian but also somewhat fluid, and 11 (14%) identify as strictly lesbian. I find the use of "fluid" (and related synonyms) as a label is more than a shift in language; women who come to see themselves as fluid have markedly different experiences coming out in high school than do women who identify as lesbian. Young women in high school who identify as fluid and those who identify as lesbian have a similar process in coming to recognize their romantic and sexual attractions, and yet those who identify as lesbian are far more likely to feel stigmatized from their peers because of their sexual orientation.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (55 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3p8492w
ISBN:
9781321202090
Catalog System Number:
990045115940203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Lillian Jungleib
File Description
Access: Public access
Jungleib_ucsb_0035N_12141.pdf pdf (Portable Document Format)