Formulating dispositions in coming out advice

Abstract

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.

Coming Out, But Into What? Problematizing Discursive Variations of Revealing the Gay Self in the Workplace

“…Our theoretical framework draws on discourse analysis and poststructuralist theories (Britzman, ; Butler, ; Foucault, [1976]) and implies a conception of the subject as constituted by discourses which define what we can or cannot be — a woman, a man, a lesbian, a gay, a worker, a mother, a father — and what those who speak through those discourses consider truth, knowledge, value, intelligible speech and normal behaviour (MacLure, ). Poststructural perspectives understand coming out as a performative act, at one and the same time locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary (Austin, ; Butler, ; Chirrey, , ), which in consequence produces certain effects. Through this speech act the subject constructs the homosexual identity ‘performatively enacted through the subject position made available to us in language or cultural code’ (Ford, , p. 80).…”

Discursive shifts associated with coming out: A corpus‐based analysis of news reports about Ricky Martin

“…The data also document how news media contribute to the normativization of coming out as a liberating and ultimately positive experience, even though it is associated with negative experiences for many LGBT people (see Benozzo, Pizzorno, Bell, & Koro‐Ljungberg, ; Chirrey, : 289). As pointed out by Sauntson (), coming out has become normatively expected, while staying (verbally) in the closet is generally viewed as negative, dishonest, and politically irresponsible.…”

“…Liang, ; Morrish & Sauntson, : ch.2; Wong, ). Other aspects covered by such research include coming out as a speech act (Chirrey, ), coming‐out advice literature, websites and training (Chirrey, , ; Didomenico, ), and coming out in educational contexts (e.g. Ellwood, ; Morrish & Sauntson, ; Sauntson, ).…”

Reading the script

“…One way of doing this is to formulate a script of coming out where it is presented as an activity which has positive benefits, such as self-actuation and affirmation; which is a rational action that 'normal' people undertake; which is an ordinary action and not something outlandish or strange; and which is achievable for the reader, with the correct knowledge and preparation. For example, Chirrey (2011) shows how the writers of these texts script those who come out as possessing a reasonable, moral, emotionally healthy and loving disposition, whereas those who remain in the closet are pathologised and scripted as leading dysfunctional lives. The point being made is that people who come out are reasonable and rational human beings whereas those who do not come out risk psychological and physical damage.…”

“…The focus of this study is written texts which exist to offer advice and help to individuals who are considering coming out as LGB (but not T). Such texts have been analysed previously by Chirrey (2011) in terms of the formulation of dispositions.…”