Possessing a stigmatized identity: A qualitative study on concealment and self-disclosure among non-heterosexual women in the United States

Sammanfattning: The present study employed an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach aimed at exploring the lived experience of non-heterosexual women regarding concealment and self- disclosure of their sexual minority status. Participants were recruited through known LGBT networks in the Washington D.C. area. Interviewees were five women between the ages of 24 and 32 years of age. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and then analyzed using IPA via a double hermeneutic approach. This study discusses three superordinate themes that emerged from the data: (a) facing stigma as a sexual minority, (b) experiences of concealment, and (c) experiences of self-disclosure. Participants reported encountering homophobic attitudes in various contexts, which contributed to what was interpreted as a hypervigilant state where they perceived threats to their safety. The study found variations in the participants’ responses to perceived threats including employing various methods to conceal their stigmatized identity through self-regulation of behavior and emotion and the internalization of homophobic attitudes. Conversely, the participants interpreted experiences of safe self-disclosure as an opportunity to be uninhibited in their behavior and emotion. The study revealed environments perceived as safe to self-disclose, or “safe spaces,” played varying but signficant roles in the participants lives. Safe spaces were shown to facilitate the following: feeling acceptance to be oneself, the dissolution of internalized homophobia, and building community based on shared experience. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.