Coping with potentially incompatible identities: accounts of religious, ethnic, and sexual identities from British Pakistani men who identify as Muslim and gay

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Jaspal, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8463-9519 and Cinnirella, M, 2010. Coping with potentially incompatible identities: accounts of religious, ethnic, and sexual identities from British Pakistani men who identify as Muslim and gay. British Journal of Social Psychology, 49 (4), pp. 849-870. ISSN 0144-6665

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1348/014466609x485025

Abstract

This study explores how a group of young British Muslim gay men (BMGM) of Pakistani background in non‐gay affirmative religious contexts understood and defined their sexual, religious, and ethnic identities, focusing upon the negotiation and construction of these identities and particularly upon strategies employed for coping with identity threat. A total of 12 BMGM were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview schedule. Transcripts were subjected to qualitative thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke. The aim was to explore participants' lived experiences through the interpretive lens of identity process theory. Four superordinate themes are reported, entitled ‘I'm gay because … ’: making sense of gay identity, ‘It's all about temptation’: invoking religious discourses to explain sexual identity, ‘Going against God’: fear of divine retribution, ‘It's easier to be gay here’: external attributions and British national identity. The data suggest the existence of an additional identity principle, which is referred to as the psychological coherence principle. This motive represents the need to ensure a sense of coherence between existing identities, and we discuss how individuals may adopt strategies to deal with threats to the principle.

Item Type:	Journal article
Alternative Title:	Coping with incompatible identities [running head]
Publication Title:	British Journal of Social Psychology
Creators:	Jaspal, R. and Cinnirella, M.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	December 2010
Volume:	49
Number:	4
ISSN:	0144-6665
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1348/014466609x485025 DOI 1315931 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	17 Apr 2020 15:08
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2020 15:08
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39680