Same-sex sexual identity development in an Indian context

Abstract

In the Global South, the HIV pandemic has drawn social scientists’ attention towards issues related to sexuality. However, Western models of sexuality are often used to understand Indian sexualities. Indian research has yet to explore how people come to adopt a same-sex sexual identity. Based on interview data, we describe this process through five developmental markers of same-sex sexual identity formation in an Indian socio-cultural context. These processes included: awareness, exploration, partial acceptance, commitment, and integration. Our study examines how participants made sense of their sexual being and adopted a same-sex sexual identity, and discusses the implications for counselling, HIV prevention interventions, and future research.