Theorizing a denial reaction to coming out: Revising Goffman's stigma through a sexual identity process model

Abstract

Erving Goffman's seminal theorization of stigma is at the heart of social scientific conceptualizations of identity management. Using data from qualitative interviews with queer South Asian women in Canada, this article proposes revisions of Goffman's Stigma theory. Intervening his supposition of acceptance and hostility as the two possible reactions to stigma revelation, I establish denial as an additional reaction to identity disclosure. A denial reaction has four key characteristics: (1) resistance to queer sexuality, (2) prescriptive enforcement of heterosexuality, (3) refusal to accept lesbian relationships, and (4) avoidance of conversation about queerness. I argue that disclosure to parents does not always translate to outness; rather, it can force the individual back into the closet. I refer to this non‐linear process as the culturally expansive closet. The article presents a sexual identity management process model that accounts for these culturally collectivist experiences. The results are significant for rethinking and affirming non‐Western ways of managing stigmatized identities.