The process of coming out linguistically as a lesbian or as a gay man is occasionally referred to as a speech act (e.g. Harvey 1997: 72; Liang 1997: 293). This analogy is taken as a starting point to explore the extent to which coming out is a performative act, and what sort of speech act coming out may be. The discussion draws on the perspective of both the speaker and the hearer to consider how the acts involved in coming out are open to interpretation. Parallels are drawn between the act of coming out as a lesbian or a gay man and other instances of self–disclosure or of individuals’ constructions of new facets of their identities.
This article considers the advice found on six internet sites written for people who are considering coming out. The article uses Edwards’ (1994, 1995, 1997) script formulation theory to examine how the grammatical choices by the writers formulate the dispositions of the main actors in the texts: the advice seeker, LGB individuals, and the people to whom they come out. The writers’ formulations are shaped by a view of coming out as the act of a reasonable, emotionally healthy, moral and loving lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) individual. It is argued that one of the purposes of these texts is to normalize coming out as a routine event and as a rational course of action for an LGB individual. Furthermore, the use of script formulation is seen to be characteristic of written texts and a strategy by which advice writers can legitimize themselves as qualified to give advice.
This paper uses critical metaphor analysis to explore the main source domains of cognitive metaphors in online coming out advice for LGB individuals. It highlights how the ontological metaphor to come out (of the closet) is remetaphorised by a number of structural metaphors, especially coming out is movement. Noting that Queer theorists have critiqued coming out both as a concept and as an imperative, the paper argues that the coming out advice examined here perpetuates this discourse through the use of coming out is movement (esp. a journey) and coming out is conflict and suggests that other structural metaphors could be more useful to the readers of coming out advice.
and reveals a degree of interdiscursivity between the texts, in that coming out is scripted with a high level of homogeneity. A number of different scripts relating to coming out are identified and consideration is given to the rhetorical functions performed by these particular scripts. It is argued that the selection, elaboration, support and opposition of particular scripts formulates coming out as a rational, positive and emancipatory action for an LGB individual to undertake. Moreover, the writers present coming out as an ordered and predictable event, which functions to persuade the reader that coming out is an achievable and attainable objective.
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