ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the development of identity, and particularly sexuality and gendered identity, in relation to a study of the interview data. For over a hundred years scientific and popular belief has often held that male homosexuality derives from and expresses something 'feminine' in men — the absence of appropriate levels of masculinity. To be homosexual and 'normal' are two things incompatible and cannot represent a realistic presentation of oneself within the general heterosexual context. The engagement of positive role models is frequently responsible for allowing the arduous processes of deprogramming and the reconstruction of an affirmative identity. Sexual identity theorists use the following two paradigms as part of the theoretical perspective in the essentialist/constructionist debate: the 'sexual orientation' model and the 'identity construct' model. The control of information disclosure Sexual stigma is different from the stigma attached to race as unlike skin colour, sexual preference is not visible.
