LGBQ college students’ divergent narratives of peer harassment in the southeastern U.S.

Abstract

Recent studies showed a considerable amount of individual variations in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) college students' reporting of peer harassment experiences. This result is often interpreted as an indication that LGBQ students differ in their chance of experiencing peer harassment, but it may also reflect students' varying interpretations of peer behaviors. To examine this possibility, we analyzed data from indepth interviews with 45 LGBQ students by using narrative construction as a theoretical framework. The analysis showed that LGBQ students constructed largely two types of narratives regarding heterosexual peers' behaviors, which we call stigma narratives and post-closet narratives. Those who told stigma narratives described heterosexual peers' behaviors critically and believed that those behaviors reflected the institutional oppression of LGBQ students. Those who told post-closet narratives did not see these types of peer behaviors as problematic and sometimes interpreted them as heterosexual peers' friendliness and an indication of inclusive campus climate. The results suggest that college assessments of peer harassment and campus climate require close attention to LGBQ students' efforts to construct coherent narratives.