is poisonous, um and masculinity is toxic, feminity is toxic, er gender in general is quite a toxic topic, sexuality is quite a toxic concept, because it divides as opposed to unites” Segregation is Daniel (421- Segregating the sexual “Cause society says prejudicial 424) is bad or gay is minority leads to ‘Gay you know, like good’ individuals concealing that’s why I feel sexuality as they one’s isolated, because I’m do not fit in. not gay, I fit in don’t there, because I’m not straight, I fit in don’t there, because not I’m asexual, I don’t fit in there, just in the I’m middle, sat in the middle of these three groups and that’s damaging” Bisexuality viewed Adam (8-11, Being bisexual was I came out I felt “After as fictitious and good in a lot of ways seen as an excuse to cause it was something promiscuous be indiscriminately that I have to didn’t sexually active. conceal anymore, although of course there were still issues, um surrounding it I think, especially coming out as bi the whole it’s ‘oh just a greedy, you’re promiscuous’, um other, not very nice things” Shame reinforced Adam (19-24) Friends reinforced the “Friends making jokes, by friends um about gay people idea that being and just going “ attracted to the (imitates) hahahah and opposite sex is and then hahahaha” abnormal and like, but not saying worrisome inducing anything, um like one of feeling more my friends once, I like shameful. made a joke about uh liking a girl, um just like test the waters and uh one of my friends was like “Uh you know, I’m worried about you” which exactly the wasn’t kind of response I was hoping for, just kind it’s of like reinforced like this is something I should be worried about, this is something I should be ashamed of” A veneer of a Adam (39-40) Family pretend to be a “Whenever I do happen happy family to go home, they like to perfect and happy
is poisonous, um and masculinity is toxic, feminity is toxic, er gender in general is quite a toxic topic, sexuality is quite a toxic concept, because it divides as opposed to unites” Segregation is prejudicial Daniel (421- 424) “Cause society says ‘Gay is bad or gay is good’ you know, like that’s why I feel isolated, because I’m not gay, I don’t fit in there, because I’m not straight, I don’t fit in there, because I’m not asexual, I don’t fit in there, I’m just in the middle, sat in the middle of these three groups and that’s damaging” Segregating the sexual minority leads to individuals concealing one’s sexuality as they do not fit in. Bisexuality viewed as fictitious and promiscuous Adam (8-11, “After I came out I felt good in a lot of ways cause it was something that I didn’t have to conceal anymore, although of course there were still issues, um surrounding it I think, especially coming out as bi it’s the whole ‘oh you’re just a greedy, promiscuous’, um other, not very nice things” Being bisexual was seen as an excuse to be indiscriminately sexually active. Shame reinforced by friends Adam (19-24) “Friends making jokes, um about gay people and just going “ (imitates) hahahah and hahahaha” and then like, but not saying anything, um like one of my friends once, I like made a joke about uh liking a girl, um just like test the waters and uh one of my friends was like “Uh you know, I’m worried about you” which wasn’t exactly the kind of response I was hoping for, it’s just kind of like reinforced like this is something I should be worried about, this is something I should be ashamed of” Friends reinforced the idea that being attracted to the opposite sex is abnormal and worrisome inducing feeling more shameful. A veneer of a happy family Adam (39-40) “Whenever I do happen to go home, they like to Family pretend to be a perfect and happy