The Inside of Coming Out: A Critical Autoethnography of Sexual Identity Transformation in Adulthood
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Date
2025-04
Authors
Wright, Alicia
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Publisher
Mount Saint Vincent University
Abstract
This thesis explored the phenomenon of a reidentification of sexual identity, from heterosexual to lesbian, in middle life. As a source of data, the author used first person narratives to recount personal experience, highlighting three pivotal periods over a ten-year experience that conveyed the deconstruction, recognition, and synthesis of a sexual identity shift. Popular theories of identity formation were referenced in relation to this experience. Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development, where identity is understood to become stable in adolescence, was referenced as a comparison to the author’s identity challenge in her thirties. Additionally, Cass’ (1984) theory of Homosexual Identity Formation, which proposes six sequential stages that culminate in a disclosure of same-sex orientation, was used to contrast the author’s non-linear arrival at a non-heterosexual identity. Finally, queer theory was drawn upon to remove the heteronormative lens from the stories in this study and to critically view these experiences through an acknowledgment of religious, patriarchal, and heterosexist influence that acted to obscure non-heterosexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Throughout this critical analysis, the controversy of whether sexuality is essential or socially constructed was addressed, suggesting an understanding of an interplay between nature and nurture that is mediated by an element of authenticity. The concluding discussion consolidates the findings by addressing three research questions relating to 1) how sexual identity transformation happens in adulthood, 2) whether this change is spontaneous or gradual, and 3) what psychosocial influences affect such a change. The results of this thesis serve to enhance existing psychological understanding of sexuality and identity by offering subjective and intersectional meaning to the current discourse.