Chapter One Coming Out Matters; Chapter Two Learning the Closet: The Time of “Coming In”; Chapter Three Living (in) the Closet: The Time of “Being Closeted”; Chapter Four Leaving the Closet: The Time of Coming Out; Chapter Five Paradoxes of the Closet; Chapter Six Making Change, Writing Hope; Chapter 7 Epilogue;
Tony E. Adams (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre at Northeastern Illinois University. He studies and teaches about interpersonal and family communication, qualitative research, communication theory, and sex, gender, and sexuality. He has published in journals such as Qualitative Inquiry, Soundings, Cultural Studies ? Critical Methodologies, Symbolic Interaction, Communication Teacher, and The Review of Communication, and books such as The Handbook of Critical and Interpretive Methodologies (Sage) and Qualitative Inquiry and Human Rights (Left Coast Press).
"Narrating the Closet: An Autoethnography of Same-Sex Attraction is
an eloquent personal and scholarly journey into the challenges,
anxieties, and joys of same-sex attraction. Professor Adams
provides historical, cultural, and rhetorical implications of the
proverbial closet in which so many members of the GLBT community
have found themselves. The book thoughtfully weaves observations,
reflections, analyses, and insights as it disentangles the coming
out process of a co-culture that has been maligned, ridiculed, and
hated by a large cross-section of American citizens. Narrating the
Closet artfully situates sexual identity as an important personal
and mediated life 'orientation' for millions of individuals. As the
U.S. moves toward more measurable tolerance and acceptance of GLBT
Americans, Adams' book will be of particular value. His work both
depicts and honors the 'voices' of those whose life experiences
have been misunderstood or ignored. As you read this extraordinary
tome, your heart will break at times and be uplifted at other
times. Throughout, however, you will find a candid, compassionate,
and engaged author who embraces an other-centeredness rarely found
in any published work." - Richard West, Professor, Emerson College,
President, National Communication Association
"Adams (communication, Northeastern Illinois Univ.)--a gay man who
suffered the death of a former lover, possibly a suicide--combines
personal memoir with a description of his research interviewing
lesbian and gay people and doing content analysis of television
shows and movies. After discussing the importance of the subject
matter, the author writes about decisions to enter the closet (to
oneself and to others), to stay in it, and possibly to leave
it--including the paradoxes of these behaviors for the lesbian or
gay individual and others with whom she or he interacts. Finally,
he offers advice to people who have same-sex attractions--and those
who interact with them--with an eye to making being in or leaving
the closet more tenable. He concludes that tolerance between groups
can result from mutual understanding of the various problems
involved. In the appendix, he describes the methods of his
research, giving both the positive and negative aspects of it.
Summing Up: Recommended. All readers." --R. W. Smith, CHOICE
Magazine
"Grounded in storytelling, Narrating the Closet convincingly models
personal vulnerability and academic integrity. Adam's narrative
style has a poetic rhythm and cadence, inviting the reader to trust
him as a narrator. While scholarly in nature, Narrating the Closet
is accessible to a variety of academic and non-academic audiences.
Scholars interested in gender and sexuality studies, queer studies,
communication studies, and qualitative research will find Narrating
the Closet a beneficial edition to their collection. Adam's book
extends the boundaries of qualitative research and encourages
scholars to utilize their lived experiences as a site for critical
inquiry. Narrating the Closet also provides advocates with
insightful stories and information that can be used to tackle
bullying, harassment, and LGBQ suicides. Narrating the Closet is an
affirmation of LGBQ identities that reminds young gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and queer individuals that they are not alone."
--Stephanie L. Young, Sexuality & Culture "Narrating the Closet is
linked to a body of queer and post-queer work which deals with
same-sex desire and identity after queer theory. It is a work that
begins to deconstruct and critically reflects on the legacy of
same-sex desire and culture as well as moving towards another
'paradigm shift' whereby the shibboleths of coming out of the
closet, gay pride and gay consumer culture and capital are as
problematic as they are empowering. Adams' contribution to this
field is both relevant and original, offering a multifaceted
alternative to some of the facile and supercilious examinations of
same-sex desire, identity politics and representation. The ways in
which he examines the relational and contingent construction of the
closet means that his work can be read as an autobiographical
account used as a methodological resource or read as a critical
text in the fields of psychology, sexuality and identity politics."
--Psychology & Sexuality"In these particular days, the
intersections between performance studies and queer studies seems
of special importance, particularly as we all struggle with what
may feel like competing demands between political action and
scholarly perspective. Adams' book is an eloquent demonstration
that there need not be - and perhaps we cannot afford to have - any
real distinction between the two. But he leaves all his readers the
space to decide how they will make such ethical choices in personal
ways. There is much to learn from his example."--Bruce Henderson,
Text and Performance Quarterly "This text would be appropriate for
undergraduate and graduate students as well as those of us wanting
an excellent example of autoethnography.... Adams' work expands
definitions of culture and what constitutes the field in
ethnographic work in a beautifully written piece of
autoethnography. I am excited to see where this will take
ethnographers in the future, and especially those of us interested
in the study of stigmatized and marginalized identities and close
relationships." --Sandra L. Faulkner, The Qualitative Report
"Adams' thick description of the contours of coming out, the
closet, and same-sex attraction demonstrate the dynamic complexity
of non-heterosexual experience, agency, and meaning-making found
within the simplest forms of social interaction. In fact, it is not
a stretch to say that researchers could draw upon each of the
phases outlined in this work--Learning the Closet, Living (in) the
Closet, Leaving the Closet, and Paradoxes of the Closet--to further
expand knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer (LGBQ)
experience. Similarly, teachers could translate the thick
descriptions offered in this work into teaching tools capable of
illustrating the importance of taking responsibility--regardless of
our own sexual desires--for the establishment of safe spaces
wherein people may freely express who, how, and what they love
without fear. I would thus suggest that Narrating the Closet
represents a significant contribution to our understanding of
same-sex desire, the closet, and coming out." --J Edward Sumerau,
Symbolic Interaction
"Interweaving his own story with interviews, life stories, and
media and textual analysis, Tony Adams' Narrating the Closet
complicates, theorizes, and enriches our understanding of the
closet and the coming out process. Adams explains in a fresh and
original way the complexities and potential dangers of coming out,
along with the iterative and interactional nature of that process.
This book both theorizes the closet and makes that theory real,
explicating how the many moments of coming out function in the
lives of lesbians and gay men. This is a thought-provoking and
highly readable book."- Jacqueline Taylor, Dean, College of
Communication, DePaul University
"Narrating the Closet would likely appeal to any person interested
in issues surrounding lesbian, gay and bisexual identity. This
interest is not limited to the academic community, which I believe
is one of the strongest features of this work. Though the book does
read with an academic tone, the personal narratives and the simple
descriptions of the metaphor of the closet make it a work that
would be a worthwhile read for any same-sex attracted person, their
friends, their family, their allies, and, in fact, their
adversaries who are in need of education.... In short, the book
fills a tremendous gap in the literature and is cross-disciplined
enough in nature that it may be a handy resource for any classroom
of the social sciences, liberal arts or humanities." --Joshua C.
Collins, New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource
Development
"Seldom do words like 'beautiful, ' 'wrenching, ' and 'loving'
appear in the same sentence with 'significant contribution to the
literature.' But Tony Adams delivers all of the above in Narrating
the Closet. Adams challenges conventional ways of thinking and
talking about same-sex attraction. The reader comes to experience
the closet as both an existential and a relational space and coming
out less as a personal event than as an ongoing emotional,
communicative, and political navigation. Framed by the haunting
story of a life cut short, Narrating the Closet offers equal
measures of wisdom and vulnerability. A must-read for theorists of
communication, relationships, and gay male identity and for those
of us aspiring to be compassionate and committed allies to LGBTQ
persons and communities."- Lisa Tillmann, Professor, Rollins
College, Author of Between Gay and Straight: Understanding
Friendship Across Sexual Orientation
"What Tony E. Adams accomplishes with Narrating the Closet is of
great significance. This overdue book creatively and provocatively
breaches how many people understand same-sex attraction and the
complex and challenging ways this attraction governs interaction,
identities and relationships. At once, it illustrates, confronts
and reconciles cultural assumptions, expectations and stereotypes
in a time when frank and in-depth reflection is often neglected but
essential. Methodologically Narrating the Closet is an accessible
and exhaustive benchmark of meaningful ethnographic research--a
scholarly success that bravely and transparently describes the self
and its experiences at the service of expanding cultural insight.
Indeed, this is a particular story that will speak beautifully to
many."- Keith Berry, Associate Professor, University of
Wisconsin-Superior
"While it is indeed a scholarly work, as an autoethnographic
research, Tony's storytelling certainly makes this book accessible
for "everyone." For the reader who is less interested in the
scholarly aspect of the storytelling, it is possible to be engaged
by the stories. For the reader who is more interested in the
scholarly research production, this book provides a rich
contribution for the study of cultures, particularly of
constitutive "invisible" and "ephemeral." characteristics, as
described by Tony (Adams, 2011). These two possibilities achieve
what I consider to be one of the more beneficial features of
autoethnographic research.... As a family therapist, I could
envision the potential benefits that this research could provide
for therapists, being a good fit with the contextual and relational
perspectives of this field of practice. I also can envision the
rich conversations that a text like this could awaken in classes
such as Human Sexuality. Also, it could be a good reference book
for autoethnographic research, particularly the Appendix section."
--Marcela Polanco, The Qualitative Review
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