An ethnographic analysis of adolescent sexual minority website usage: exploring notions of information seeking and sexual identity development

摘要

This dissertation explores the website usage of adolescent sexual minorities, examining notions of information seeking and sexual identity development. Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior and is uniquely problematic for young sexual minorities. Utilizing a contemporary gay teen website, this five-year virtual ethnography of GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) youth demonstrates an understanding of the function of the Internet as an invaluable tool for exploring social and psychological needs while providing anonymity and keeping information-seeking behavior relatively unknown. The use of Chatmanu27s (1996) Information Impoverished Theory and Cassu27s (1979) Model of Gay and Lesbian Identity Formation aids the analysis of this particular cultureu27s information- seeking behavior and sexual orientation identity formation. As a result, a number of salient themes are revealed, including exploration of and experimentation with sexuality; struggles with identity; ascertaining a social network; the u22coming outu22 process; sexual identity confusion; and negative effects associated with homosexuality, such as low self-esteem, suicide, and conflict surrounding religious ideology. In addition, the findings suggest that sexual prejudice is a pervasive issue for this community and that the use of a gay teen chat forum is an effective means of ethnographic data collection. This dissertation concludes by identifying limitations and offering insights for further inquiry into the communication behavior of adolescent sexual minorities.