‘I hereby come out’: What sort of speech act is coming out?

Abstract

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.

The hate that dare not speak its name?

“…For example, Henley et al (2002) in their study of stories about violent attacks found that the Washington Post used fewer, and less specific nominals when referring to anti-gay violence than to violence against heterosexual people. Chirrey (2003) studied a series of newspaper articles regarding the public "coming out" of a pop star, noting how a liberal newspaper used the verb disclosed to frame the act in a relatively neutral non-judgemental way, while tabloids used more sensational language such as admits, frank admission, secret and in hiding. Morrish (2002) has noted how broadsheet newspapers have used coded references to negatively represent gay men, indicating that coverage of the government minister Peter Mandelson included references to homosexual acts e.g.…”

Reading the script

“…Given the inherent difficulties of recording live spoken incidences of individuals coming out as LGB or trans (T), there is a paucity of linguistic analysis of the act itself, but Kitzinger (2000), Rendle-Short (2005) and Wilkinson and Kitzinger (2003) present analysis of authentic examples of individuals coming out, revealing how participants manage such disclosures within conversation. Coming out has also been considered in terms of speech act theory (Chirrey 2003). Coming out stories are, in a sense, one step removed from the action of coming out, as they offer a narrative account (written or spoken) by an individual of how they came out as LGBT to other people on previous occasions.…”

“…This is notable, as even a brief consideration of coming out shows that individuals do come out in letters, etc., as well as via non-linguistic means such as behaviour, and appearance (e.g., Chirrey 2003, Liang 1997). The following text scripts coming out as exclusively spoken:…”

Lesbian Women’s Experience of Coming Out in an Irish Hospital Setting: A Heremeutic Phenomenological Approach

“…Rust (1993) indicates it is 'a process of describing one's social location within a changing social context ' (p. 25). Chirrey (2003) suggests that 'coming out' is that 'moment of recognizing and asserting their gayness ' (p. 24). A lesbian woman has not only to 'come out' to herself but also to her family, friends or co-workers.…”

“…'Knowing who one is' is to know where one belongs, a sense of rootness, a sense of community which encapsulates a sense of self. For most lesbian women, 'coming out' is a life-long process, facilitating the need for self-affirmation, validation and acceptance by others (Chirrey 2003). It involves making decisions on whether to disclose or not to disclose, based upon the lesbian woman's comfortableness with the self, situations and in some cases upon the past experience(s) of disclosure(s).…”