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Fassinger's model of gay and lesbian identity development is an attempt to model gay and lesbian identity development, taking into account cultural and contextual influences. First presented by
Ruth E. Fassinger Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...
in 1996 as a model of
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
identity development, it was validated for men the following year.


Research

In 1991, Susan R. McCarn, a colleague of Fassinger's, studied identity development among a group of thirty-eight lesbians diversifying in age, education, race, ethnicity, and occupation. The analysis of the results of this study lead to the establishment of two processes and four phases, in 1996. In 1997, Fassinger and Brett A. Miller explored a similarly diverse group of gay men, validating the theory for men.


Theory

Fassinger proposed two processes of identity development: Individual sexual identity relating to one's internal awareness and acceptance of self, and group membership identity relating to one's role in the gay/lesbian community. Both processes consist of four sequential phases, in which an individual can reside in a different phase for each process: # Awareness: perceiving oneself as different from other people # Exploration: investigating feelings of attraction for individuals of the same sex # Deepening/Commitment: internalizing the sense of self as a gay or lesbian person # Internalization/Synthesis: incorporating one's sexual identity into one's overall identity Individuals can repeat phases as new environmental contexts occur, and development in one process can influence development in the other. For the group membership identity process, Fassinger offers specific markers for the demonstration of each phase: # Awareness of the existence of people with different sexual orientations # Exploration of one's relationship to the gay and/or lesbian community # Commitment to the gay and lesbian community, including an acceptance of the potentially negative consequences # Internalizing the minority group identity across contexts


See also

*
Cass identity model The Cass identity model is one of the fundamental theories of LGBT identity development, developed in 1979 by Vivienne Cass. This model was one of the first to treat LGBT people as normal in a heterosexist society and in a climate of homophobia an ...
*
Homosocialization Homosocialization or LGBT socialization is the process by which LGBT people meet, relate and become integrated in the LGBT community, especially with people of the same sexual orientation and gender identity, helping to build their own identity ...
*
Sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
 ''Sex ...


References

{{Reflist 1996 in LGBT history Sociological theories Developmental stage theories Sexual identity models Homosexuality