Entering Doors, Evading Traps: Benefits and Risks of Visibility During Transgender Coming Outs
Abstract
Coming out and being visible online can offer transgender and/or non-binary people benefits not found elsewhere. However, it also can expose them to negative reactions and bad experiences. Through an analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews, we investigate the experiences of transgender and/or non-binary people coming out across social media sites (SMSs). We found that participants employed strategies around disclosure and visibility to limit the consequences of coming out and to access support. Using trans theory on visibility, we discuss how online spaces present metaphorical "doors" to resources, support, and recognition---but can also be "traps" for those that do not meet the expectations of the space. We discuss how visibility empowered participants to create "trapdoors" to new spaces within SMSs where they could create positive outcomes for themselves and their communities. We close with considerations for designers as they create online spaces, and present a broader call to action for the HCI community around designing online spaces.
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Many trans people have concerns about being accidentally outed while participating online, putting them at risk for harassment, trolling, and even physical harm.
“Many have concerns about being accidentally outed while participating online, putting them at risk for harassment, trolling, and even physical harm [62, 64, 79].”
From Paradoxes of Openness: Trans Experiences in Open Source Software (2024) · cites this paper as [79]
The experiences of white trans people can be very different from those of POC trans people.
“We would have liked to include more racially diverse participants as the experiences of white trans people can be very different from those of POC trans people [1, 79].”
From Paradoxes of Openness: Trans Experiences in Open Source Software (2024) · cites this paper as [79]
Cites
<i>Knock, Knock</i> . Who's There? The Imagined Audience
Litt, E. (2012) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2012.705195 · Cited by 629 · see citing works
Andalibi, N., Haimson, O. L., De Choudhury, M., & Forte, A. (2016) · Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2858036.2858096 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
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Zhang, Z., Zhao, J., Wang, G., Johnston, S.-K., Chalhoub, G., Ross, T., Liu, D., Tinsman, C., Zhao, R., Van Kleek, M., et al. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3687059 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Paradoxes of Openness: Trans Experiences in Open Source Software
Frluckaj, H., Stevens, N., Howison, J., & Dabbish, L. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3687047 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pinter, A. T., Scheuerman, M. K., & Brubaker, J. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Published
- 2021-01-05
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- CSCW3
- Pages
- 1-27
- ISSN
- 2573-0142 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3118703828
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Keywords
- transgender people, non-binary people, coming out, online visibility, social media, disclosure strategies, online support, trans theory, trapdoor, LGBTQ+ people
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