Scholarlink

Introduction <p> Coming out is a conflicting process for LGBTQ + youth that questions social and family values around sexuality, and of which little is known in Mexico. The supposed importance of coming out has been critically viewed by Latinx scholars who point out the importance of family complicity and the way it plays into sexual silence. Analyzing the lived experience of emotions may provide insight into social values and norms surrounding sexuality that shape family dynamics and structure.</p> Methods <p>In-depth semi-structured interviews, carried out in 2017–2018, with nine middle-class families and 18 LGBTQ + middle-class young adults from different areas in Mexico City and its suburban areas, who had come out to their families during the previous year, were submitted to an interpretative-phenomenological analysis.</p> Results <p>Five predominant emotions were identified: confusion, pain, fear, shame, and love that are embedded in each other and in family interaction, making emotional experiences unclear and challenging to put into words. Emotions created distance between the family and the LGBTQ + member and allowed for negative stereotypes of LGBTQ + issues to emerge, questioning the authenticity of that member’s place within the family.</p> Conclusions <p>Coming out is a disputing process amongst Mexican families that question social values and norms that uphold family complicity, fundamental amongst Mexican contexts, and question cis-heterosexuality iterated by different social institutions, besides the family.</p> Policy implications <p>Social policy should focus on the centrality and complicity of family and the way these fundamental emotions play into them, while undermining forms of discrimination and violence against LGBTQ + youth.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Familiar Affects and Policies: Mexican Families’ Emotional Experiences When LGBT Members Come Out

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月9日

查看全文
  • Ignacio Lozano-Verduzco

摘要

Introduction

Coming out is a conflicting process for LGBTQ + youth that questions social and family values around sexuality, and of which little is known in Mexico. The supposed importance of coming out has been critically viewed by Latinx scholars who point out the importance of family complicity and the way it plays into sexual silence. Analyzing the lived experience of emotions may provide insight into social values and norms surrounding sexuality that shape family dynamics and structure.

Methods

In-depth semi-structured interviews, carried out in 2017–2018, with nine middle-class families and 18 LGBTQ + middle-class young adults from different areas in Mexico City and its suburban areas, who had come out to their families during the previous year, were submitted to an interpretative-phenomenological analysis.

Results

Five predominant emotions were identified: confusion, pain, fear, shame, and love that are embedded in each other and in family interaction, making emotional experiences unclear and challenging to put into words. Emotions created distance between the family and the LGBTQ + member and allowed for negative stereotypes of LGBTQ + issues to emerge, questioning the authenticity of that member’s place within the family.

Conclusions

Coming out is a disputing process amongst Mexican families that question social values and norms that uphold family complicity, fundamental amongst Mexican contexts, and question cis-heterosexuality iterated by different social institutions, besides the family.

Policy implications

Social policy should focus on the centrality and complicity of family and the way these fundamental emotions play into them, while undermining forms of discrimination and violence against LGBTQ + youth.