Logo image
Back
DEVELOPING QUEER IDENTITY IN THE RURAL PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Thesis

DEVELOPING QUEER IDENTITY IN THE RURAL PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Asher Plummer
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2026
pdf
APlummer MA 9-4DownloadView
Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

Rural communities in the United States are culturally framed to be at odds with queer identity development, reinforcing the idea that only urban areas can be sites of queer belonging. This research challenges this narrative through examining queer identity development within rural areas in the Inland Pacific Northwest. Using 30 in-depth interviews and supplemental ethnographic data across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington this study finds queer identity development to be contextually informed through processes of internal recognition, accountability to local norms, and access to queer community. Limited exposure to queer identities, dense social networks, and heightened accountability to heteronormative expectations all shape how and when identities are expressed. Participants responded to these constrains through accessing diverse networks outside of their immediate surroundings, strategies of selective disclosure, and contextual visibility. Through these processes, participants shared the importance of queer community for identity affirmation and support, allowing participants to explore and develop non-normative identities. These findings show rural areas to be sites of queer identity development, despite constrains or metronormative assumptions about queerness. By demonstrating the contextual impact of rurality on queer identity development this work extends sociological understandings of what it means to develop a non-normative identity in rural social structures where risk of visibility and regulation are heightened.

Metrics

1 Record Views

Details

Logo image