Non-hegemonic sexuality in childhood: a retrospective of the experiences of lesbian, gays, and bisexual people

Abstract

Abstract  Regarding the debate on the cultural and identity homogenization of the LGBTIQ + population, the invisibility of sectors that belong to said community raises the need to recover the experiences lived in a mainly heterosexual context. The childhood period is configurated as an unexplored space referring to the impact it generates in later evolutionary stages. This qualitative research, framed within gender and sexuality studies and based on the narrative-biographical method, recovers four biographical accounts from gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults living in the urban area of Concepción, Chile. The results show an early awareness of the attraction to people of the same or both sexes, and a late identification of sexual orientation related to the limited access to information, as the violent and coercive discourses that are promoted both in the family, peer group, and institutions.

Keywords:
sexual orientation; gay; lesbian; bisexual; childhood