The development of gender and sexual identity of gay and lesbian youth in the physical and virtual world

Abstract

South Africa is one of the countries to include sexual orientation in the Bill of Rights (de Wet, 2017), however, the increase in the reported number of homophobic violence and abuse is disappointing (Gordon, 2018). This study seeks to understand the process of gender and sexual identity development among gay and lesbian youth through their interaction with the physical and virtual world. A total of 11 participants were interviewed using a purposeful and snowball sampling, five of whom were lesbian women and six were gay men. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology, and a narrative approach to acquire in-depth stories in order to explore the sexuality of homosexual individuals. Cass’s Model of Sexual Orientation Identity Formation was used as a theoretical framework for the study. This model provides sequenced developmental stages that homosexual individuals may encounter in the process of developing their identity. Although other models appeared vague and lacked a detailed description of the processes that homosexual individuals experience, Cass’s model presented six stages based on two assumptions; identity is acquired through a developmental process and identity formation is influenced by the interaction that occurs between an individual and their environment (Gervacio, 2012). In this study, the Cass model influenced the structure of the interview questions; in essence, the challenges and successes associated with each identity stage were intentionally reflected in the interview questions. The reason for this was to acquire a thorough understanding of the sexual identity development process and to determine whether these stages relate to the participant's experience in the South African context. The formation of the sexual identity of the participants of this study was found to be greatly influenced by religious beliefs, family traditions, and broader societal attitudes. However, each individual found their unique path in formulating their sexual identity to acquire their true 2 identity. Social media provided the least significant effect on their identity formation. Moreover, some of the identity stages in Cass’s Model had a more significant influence while others had the least.