The pleasure of (Be)Coming out: Identity, fluidity, and community in LGBTQIA+ coming out narratives

Coming out narratives are considered integral to LGBTQIA + experiences; Often framed as core to identity development and management, and as a key indicator of sexual and gender selfhood. Operationalization of coming out generally focuses on specific instances of disclosure to significant others, and on the struggles associated with doing so. But coming out processes occur across various contexts, are complex and ongoing, and can be associated with positive feelings. We should therefore consider what disclosing and claiming specific sexual or gender identities does for individuals and how they experience these processes in relation to their own self-concepts and communities of belonging. Through analysis of interviews with 53 non-heterosexual undergraduate students, I suggest that analysis of pleasure, and the pleasures of identification, offer a fruitful window through which to think about sexual identities and the processes associated with exploring, embodying, and asserting them in community with others.