Coming Out In The Age of The Internet
This is my scatterbrained attempt at a response to Coming Out In The Age of The Internet.
Of the readings from the past few weeks about social media and identity, the article that stood out to me most was McKenna and Bargh’s Coming Out in the Age of the Internet: Identity "Demarginalization" Through Virtual Group Participation. In this study, the authors explored how mediated communication (in this case Internet newsgroups) contribute to a feeling of group identity in individuals with marginalized identities. Whether the attribute that makes that individual marginalized is by choice (like pro-hate groups) or more thoroughly ingrained (homosexuality), people of all types turn to the web to release themselves. In particular I am interested in the formation of the LGBT community identity through such online outlets. In certain pockets across the U.S., gay, lesbian, and transgender members of the community are accepted just as anyone else. Elsewhere, the majority of places, heternomativity reigns supreme. When beliefs or lifestyles are unpopular or counter to society’s norms they often go unexpressed. Such “subversive” beliefs then become “a major secret source of identity for people across generations and political systems” (689). The feeling of being an outsider is nothing new, it’sjust being dealt with in new ways thanks to digital technology “…feeling different from the membership of a valued group is problematic for the individual, in that certain aspects of identity
may need to be hidden in order to achieve group acceptance and approval. Such conflicts between the public persona and the private self, argued Horney (1946), are the major cause of unhappiness and neuroses” (682). In order to further grasp and express their identity, many LGBT youth turn to the Internet. Online forums provide an outlet for acceptance, dating, general talk about coming out and dealing with their sexuality. Among the findings in Coming Out in the Age of the Internet is that marginalized individuals benefit more from participating, not just lurking, such forms. Eventually, users begin look for acceptance from other members of their online groups, as these have become to outlet for which they can more freely express themselves. Essentially a new community has been created. When engaging in these: “Because those who post in newsgroups concerned with marginalized-concealable stigmas have few, if any, venues to express this part of themselves, the opinions of others within their newsgroup should be of greater importance to them than to posters in either mainstream or marginalized- conspicuous newsgroups” (682). If I had a chance to respond to the authors of Coming Out in the Age of the Internet, I would be curious what their take would be on last year’s “It Gets Better” campaign on YouTube. In addition, a follow-up study on the acceptance of such “newsgroups” in various cities across the country and by different age groups. S.Nelson