Abstract
Social media have afforded many young gay men the opportunity to explore their identities and practice coming out. The ease of use and the anonymity that can be assumed online has enabled young gay men to come up with different strategies of self-disclosure in social media. The present study seeks to examine these strategies among young gay men in Malaysia, given the limited data on the social media experiences of gay men in the country. In-depth interviews were conducted with six young, gay-identified men to find out the strategies they employed in disclosing their sexual identity online. The analysis of the interview data revealed that the coming-out strategies among the participants mostly resembled those employed by gay men in Western societies, including being out and proud, being out and discreet, and being closeted on social media. The analysis also revealed that the participants held different views regarding the role of social media in the coming out process for gay men in Malaysia. These findings have implications that are relevant to the issues of identity formation among gay men in contexts where homosexuality is still subject to social, legal, and religious condemnation.
Highlights
Coming out is an important part of the lives of many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) individuals
The analysis revealed that the participants used several social media sites and applications on which they identified themselves as gay men
This study contributes to the research on coming out strategies among gay youths, intending to address the knowledge gap regarding gay male youths in Malaysia and their self-disclosure techniques on social networking sites and apps
Summary
Coming out is an important part of the lives of many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. It is often referred to as a process involving a single event or a series of events through which individuals (1) accept their sexual orientations and/or gender identity as LGBTQ, and/or (2) tell others about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Coming out is often viewed as a lifelong process, with said events taking place at any stage of an individual’s life. Such a view has long been the subject of much discussion and debate in the scholarship on coming out, regarding how the process is understood in terms of the developmental stages an individual goes through to achieve an integrated LGBTQ identity [1].
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