Negotiating the Digital Closet: Online Pseudonymity and the Politics of Sexual Identity

Online surveillance interferes with the individual's ability to control their expressive identity - to determine the scope of the social context in which their activities are to be seen and interpreted. Entrepreneurs have responded to these concerns by offering pseudonymizers, which employ cryptographic techniques to allow users to create several unlinkable personae and choose among them when engaging in various online interactions. This article investigates the tension between pseudonymity as a design paradigm for privacy technologies and as a lived practice for users. Because coming out - strategic revelation and the claiming of identity - has been at the core of the gay liberation movement, this article posits a politically and sexually active gay professional man as an ideal user of pseudonymity software, and places the design logic of pseudonymity within that particular set of social understandings. It reveals the conflicts, contradictions and trade-offs inherent in that use. Pseudonymity permits a very strong control of identity. It permits the user to segregate his public performances, and to engage in public debate without fear of bodily retribution. However, it is all but useless as a means of controlling the social context of those performances. It requires that decisions about self-presentation in certain contexts be made in ignorance of who is sharing that context, and with what resources or purpose. While it promotes the production of multiple selves, those selves are not easily lent to practices of intimacy or community. Pseudonymity also facilitates profiling practices that define and reify classes of people, even as it protects the individual from some of the repercussions of being defined as part of that class. In short, pseudonymity software is informed by a politics of heroics rather than of community.     

Social Work with Greek Migrants: A personal experience of the issues and dilemmas

Abstract

Parenthood is increasingly a choice being made by lesbians in Australia. Although children conceived in heterosexual relationships have been raised in lesbian-parented households since the 1970s, there is now an emerging trend of children being conceived within lesbian relationships. The emergence of new family forms has implications for individuals, families, and the broader community. The present paper draws on the experiences of 17 lesbian-parented families living in Sydney and regional New South Wales. Adopting an ecological framework towards child development, it argues that both informal and formal support systems are important in enhancing the protective factors to support these families. The paper identifies a number of critical times of vulnerability for these families. At these times, if informal support systems fracture, the formal support system can play a significant protective role towards lesbian-parented families and support lesbian-parented families to achieve optimum family and child wellbeing.     

Supporting the emotional and psychological well being of sexual minority youth: Youth ideas for action

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) populations are susceptible to stress-related mental health disorders because of daily imposed stigma and prejudice. Yet minimal information exists from the perspective of sexual minority youth about how to support them in managing a challenging social environment during critical stages of development. Through the lens of youth from two geographic communities this study examined what is needed to support GLBT adolescent mental health. The study employed inductive secondary analysis of qualitative and quantitative data gathered through Concept Mapping needs assessments. Findings include 61 unduplicated ideas for support across the two groups of youth; 14 primary themes emerged with 22 stated needs common among both groups. Areas of need in multiple service systems are identified. The importance of the supports for meeting youths' emotional needs varied between the two communities. Ideas generated represent youth ideas for improving conditions which contribute to disparate community supports needed to develop positive emotional and psychological well being. The findings are conceptualized with regard to psychological and physical safety; community impact on emotional well being; schools and psychosocial supports; and access to relevant mental health and health care. Discussion includes implications for practice and policy.     

Coming Out of the Family Closet: Stories of Adult Women with LGBTQ Parent(s)

Research about children of LGBTQ parent(s) tends to be politically interested and evaluative, assessing the degree to which children with LGBTQ parent(s) are being raised well. As a consequence, much of that research glosses over the distinct experiences of children with LGBTQ parent(s) and how they tell their own stories. This article attends to that shortcoming by detailing how some children with LGBTQ parent(s) construct their identities. We draw upon data from interviews with 26 adult-children, specifically young, white women who were born to, or adopted by, heterosexual parent(s) who later divorced and began living as LGBTQ. We analyze the children’s interviews as coming out narratives, detailing how many tell a story of coming out as a process of growing up and negotiating specific family closets. We then discuss how these are gendered and racialized narratives of coming out, reflecting the way racism and sexism intersect with homophobia and the stories told about experiencing it. We also suggest that these are stories of a particular generation of adult-children, reflecting specific families and the homophobia of the times. We end by suggesting how future generations of adult-children with LGBTQ parent(s) will likely narrate their identities differently.

Outness among LGBTQ Social Work Students in North America: The Contribution of Environmental Supports and Perceptions of Comfort

This study examines various environmental factors that may impact a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) social work student's level of ‘outness’ (disclosure) with regard to their sexual orientation or gender identity. An internet-based survey was conducted, comprised of LGBTQ undergraduate and graduate students from social work programs across North America (n = 1,018). Utilizing Pearson's chi square analysis, significant associations correlated between outness and the following six areas: (1) LGBTQ student perception of other students' overall level of comfort with their sexual orientation or gender identity within the program; (2) the number of faculty that know about their sexual orientation or gender identity; (3) the number of students that know about their sexual orientation or gender identity; (4) how supported they felt with regard to their LGBTQ identity within the program; (5) the percent of faculty that are supportive of LGB and Q issues; and (6) awareness of openly LGBTQ administrators or staff members. Implications for social work education and practice are examined, as are suggestions for continued research.     

#WE SPEAK: exploring the experience of refugee youth through participatory research and poetry

Despair and a sense of hopelessness have been uninvited fellow travellers for many refugees. Despite the myriad challenges facing refugee populations there are numerous barriers to accessing services in a South African context. This is especially true for refugee youth who often fall through the gap of support given to adults or children. This paper explores the benefits of following a narrative, reflexive approach to participatory action research with refugee youth living in Durban, South Africa. We conducted a series of workshops with a focus on creating safe dialogical spaces, identity and values, agency, social connection and performativity using a Critical Reflexive Framework. What emerged early in the research was a sense of despair due to challenges like poverty and xenophobia, making daily life stressful and unsafe. This was coupled with feelings of hopelessness in a future lacking in possibilities. When these feelings are not dealt with it can result in psychological distress and involvement in a range of antisocial behaviours. However, by following a strength-based methodology in creative interventions to re-member abilities, opportunities can be created for rendering hope and agency. The experience is explored through the voices of participants using narrative dialogical analysis and poetic inquiry.     

Registered domestic partnerships among gay men and lesbians: the role of economic factors

In this paper, we predict the demand for a marriage-like status—registered domestic partnership–among same-sex couples. Domestic partnership in the state of California now comes with almost all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage that a state can provide. We use the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Tobacco Use Survey conducted by the California Department of Health and the Field Research Corporation in 2003. From this telephone survey, we use a probability sample of 1,002 lesbian and gay individuals in California. Using multinomial probit models of partnership status (single, not cohabiting, cohabiting, or registered), we find limited evidence of economic motivations in the choice to register. Gay men’s likelihood of registration rises with income; lesbians’ probability of registration rises with age. Couples with longer duration are more likely to register, suggesting that registration and duration are complementary signals of commitment and possibly of the need for rights and benefits of registration.

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of professional identity through digital storytelling in health and social care and teacher education

The present article presents a study based on an interdisciplinary approach to research into reflection on identity construction. This multiple case study explores the narrative of professional identities in digital artefacts. It is aimed at exploring in what way digital storytelling can be used as a suitable pedagogical strategy for the construction of professional identity. The students involved in the innovative learning activity comprise two groups of Health and Social Care students in the UK, two groups of Primary Education student-teachers and one group of Secondary Education student-teachers in Spain. Thematic analysis is used to identify the topics addressed by students in exploring their professional identities, including values and the process of learning itself. Finally, the lessons learned from this interdisciplinary approach to reflection on identity and the implications these have not only for teaching and learning design but also for future collaborative research projects are set out in the discussion and conclusions.     

Digital survivance and Trickster humor: exploring visual and digital Indigenous epistemologies in the #NoDAPL movement

ABSTRACT

The decolonizing turn in the humanities and social sciences calls for scholarship that analyzes social media practices through the lens of Indigenous epistemologies. In this article, we model the ways that Indigenous epistemologies might contribute to theories of social media practices as we explore ways that the digital image can drive identification with and engagement in political acts. The article analyzes social media tropes circulated across various platforms among Indigenous communities and allies in relation to the #NoDAPL movement. We argue that attempting to analyze Native American traditions through Western theory will only work towards colonizing these Indigenous texts. Thus, whereas we employ insights from digital and visual methods of analysis (Highfield, T., & Leaver, T. (2016). Instagrammatics and digital methods: Studying visual social media, from selfies and GIFs to memes and emoji. Communication Research and Practice, 2(1), 47–62), we also highlight the strategic use of humor in the visual materials shared through various social media platforms utilizing the framework of the Trickster. We argue that the visual and digital phenomena we studied might best be understood as a form of digital survivance, drawing upon Anishinaabe scholar Gerald Vizenor [(1994). Manifest manners: Postindian warriors of survivance. Hanover, CT: Wesleyan University Press]. term ‘survivance’ as a portmanteau that combines ‘survival’ and ‘resistance’ in its characterization of Indigenous storytelling traditions. Whereas centering the Indigenous figure of the Trickster might suggest that social media has failed to live up to its promises, this epistemological approach also explains the hope that Indigenous communities hold in uniting via social media for what has been and continues to be a long-term battle for sovereignty and for the protection of the earth and all of its beings.     

‘Between authenticity and pretension’: parents', pupils' and young professionals' negotiations of minority ethnic middle‐class identity

Despite an increasing sociological interest in the middle classes and their educational practices, research has largely concentrated on the white middle classes. This paper considers the case of the minority ethnic (ME) middle classes through empirical data from a small, exploratory study conducted in England with 36 minority ethnic, ‘middle‐class’ individuals (parents, pupils and young professionals) from a range of ME backgrounds. It is argued that participants experienced ME middle‐class identity as a profoundly conflictual and precarious space, negotiated through a matrix of relational classed and racialized positionings. ‘Authentic’ middle‐classness remains the preserve of white society due to racial inequalities and the dominance of whiteness as the popularly legitimated marker of middle classness. Moreover, attempts to define an acceptable, legitimate and principled ME middle‐class identity are compromised by the discursive threats of ‘inauthenticity’, ‘pretension’ and ‘misrecognition’.     

Formation of European identity: ethnic minority groups in Central and Eastern Europe in generational perspective

Research into European identity has mostly focused on majority populations in Western European countries, neglecting new member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as ethnic minority groups. This paper contributes to filling this gap by exploring and investigating processes of European identity formation of five ethnic minority groups in four CEE countries. A generational perspective was applied by conducting qualitative in-depth interviews with three generations of ethnic minority group members. The results support the instrumental approach of identity construction. In all minority groups researched, the young generation, due to more positive personal experiences and perceived benefits from the European Union, have developed more positive images and perceptions of Europe and a greater sense of European identity than older generations. Furthermore, ethnic group-specific processes of identity formation were found.     

Emotional school engagement among minority youth: the relevance of cultural identity,perceived discrimination,and perceived support

ABSTRACT

Minority student school dropout represents a challenging issue for educational systems in many countries. Notwithstanding minority families' overall high academic aspirations, there is a stable achievement gap between majority and minority students. Minority students who are emotionally engaged with their school tend to be psychologically and socioculturally better adapted to their country of residence and, as a result, report higher academic success. Therefore, emotional school engagement represents a relevant factor for integration into the host society. The goal of this paper is to investigate the interrelation between ethnic and national identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived support from parents, peers, and teachers with emotional school engagement. Results indicate that cultural capital within the family, cultural self-identification, and perceived support from peers and teachers play an important role for students’ emotional school engagement.     

Assessing the geographic distribution of same sex and opposite sex couples across the United States: implications for claims of causality between traditional marriage and same sex unions

The percent of households headed by married couples has recently fallen below 50%, while the percent of unmarried couples (both heterosexual and homosexual) continues to rise. Nationally-representative estimates of unmarried couples which first appeared in the 1990 and 2000 decennial Censuses are now available on an annual basis through the American Community Survey. In this paper we use state-level panel data from 2000–2006 on the percent of households headed by married couples, same sex couples and opposite sex unmarried couples to assess widespread claims in the popular press of causality across living arrangements. Based on Granger causality tests we can reject claims that an increase in same sex couples has caused either a decline in marriage or (except in one case) an increase in heterosexual cohabitation. There is mixed evidence whether or not opposite sex couples may have Granger caused same sex couples, but stronger evidence that marriage and heterosexual cohabitation are interrelated.

Ageing in the bush: The role of rural places in maintaining identity for long term rural residents and retirement migrants in north-east Victoria,Australia

As a consequence of local population ageing, which is more pronounced in rural areas, the issue of maintaining a positive quality of life for rural older people is attracting significant attention. While environmental psychology theory has advocated the role of place identity in defining the self, there has been little applied research exploring how this occurs in later life. This exploratory, qualitative study (n = 16) utilises 6 and 7 identity process theory to investigate how rural older Australians (retirement migrants and long-term residents) use place to sustain and build a sense of self at a time when many are susceptible to age-related loss. The paper draws on the concepts of distinctiveness, continuity, self-esteem and self-efficacy in order to explore how place identity is supported and maintained. Findings suggest that rural places are beneficial in terms of identity maintenance, with differences between long term and more recent rural residents. Furthermore, findings also highlight that place-related change or growth can potentially threaten older people’s identification as a ‘rural’ person.     

Reconsidering identity: the ethnic and political dimensions of hybridity among majority and Turkish youth in Germany and England1

Sociological research has hitherto largely focused on majority ² and minority ethnic identities or citizenship identities. However, the social connections between youth are not simply ethnic dynamics but also political dynamics involving citizenship categories. This article argues that in postmodern societies, it is important to reconsider the ways we think about youth identities. Drawing upon qualitative data from a study into the political identities of majority (German and British) youth and Turkish youth, educated in two Stuttgart and two London secondary schools, the research found that fifteen‐year‐olds had no singular identity but hybrid ethno‐national, ethno‐local and national‐European identities as a result of governmental policies, their schooling and community experience, social class positioning, ethnicity and migration history. In working‐class educational contexts, many majority and Turkish youth privileged the ethnic dimension of hybridity whereas majority and Turkish youth in the two middle‐class dominated schools emphasized the political dimension of hybridity. The article demonstrates that social class and schooling (e.g. ethos and peer cultures) have a considerable role to play in who can afford to take on the more hybridized cosmopolitan identities on offer.     

Perceived sexual intent in the U.S. and Brazil as a function of nature of encounter,subjects'nationality,and gender

This study tested three hypotheses. First, Brazilian college students in introductory psychology courses (n = 196) would perceive more sexual intent than would their American counterparts (n = 204) in four hypothetical scenarios in which the consumption of alcohol and agreement of a female to go to a male's dorm room were manipulated. Second, male respondents (regardless of country) would perceive more sexual intent in all scenarios than would female respondents. Third, perceived sexual intent would be greatest when the male and female characters both had been drinking alcohol, and the female agreed to go to the male's dorm room. The results were generally consistent with these hypotheses. Thus, the findings suggest that, across these two cultures, males perceive (and presume) sexual cues to a greater extent than do females and that a woman's agreement to go to a male's dorm room may be construed as consent for sex; such perception might then escalate into rape.     

Self and other: The importance of social interaction and social relationships in shaping the experience of early-stage Alzheimer's disease

Various factors influence how individuals experience illness. Especially important, however, is the reaction of others whose response shapes the meaning of the illness for the person who is ill, and the impact it will have on her or his sense of self. Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective, and drawing on data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with nine individuals living with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, this paper examines how others’ reactions to and treatment of persons living with the condition can influence how they experience dementia. The findings reveal that the majority of the participants did not believe others’ treatment of them had substantially changed, nor did most express the level of concern about the possible negative response of others reported in other studies. Within their relationships and social interactions participants received the essential support, cooperation, and encouragement that enabled them to create meaning in life and sustain identity.     

Social marking and the mental coloring of identity: Sexual identity construction and maintenance in the United States

This article theoretically develops the concepts of social markingand mental coloringas processes in assigning and maintaining other-defined sexual identities in the United States. While most studies of sexual identity focus exclusively on sexual orientation as the foundation for identity construction, I demonstrate that contemporary sexual identities are formed along six hierarchically arranged dimensions represented as continuums. These dimensions include (1) quantity of sex, (2) timing of sex, (3) level of perceived enjoyment, (4) degree of consent, (5) orientation, and (6) social value of agents. Along these dimensions, the social marking process is used to construct discrete identities at each extreme. Social marking is a rigid, asymmetrical classification process that accents one side of a contrast as unnatural, thereby tacitly naturalizing the unmarked side. Mental coloring intensifies the rigid contrast by figuratively painting all members of the marked category under a single stereotypical image. I introduce two ideal-typical classification conventions for assigning marked identities: the mental one-drop ruleand the mental entire-ocean rule.These conventions maintain the rigidity of the marking process by preventing identity categories from overlapping. I conclude that the cognitive sociological processes outlined in this article are generalizable to the broader study of identity constructions. Ultimately the social marking of identity legitimates unequal treatment of marked categories by creating the illusion that they are less natural than the unmarked. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Eastern Sociological Society's annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA, March 1995.