Abstract

FREITEZ DIEZ, Marina; LOZANO-VERDUZCO, Ignacio; MENDOZA-PEREZ, Juan Carlos  and  CRAIG, Shelley L.. Coming out of the closet to the family as a moment of crisis in the exercise of symbolic violence against LGBT youth in Mexico City. Debate fem. [online]. 2024, vol.67, pp.189-220.  Epub Mar 24, 2025. ISSN 2594-066X.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cieg.2594066xe.2024.67.2380.

This article makes analytical and descriptive contributions based on experiences reported in 17 interviews about coming out of the closet with lgbt youth and nine families in Mexico City with at least one lgbt member. We use Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence to explain the inculcation process that establishes heterosexuality and cisgender identity as a sexual regime in the family, as a fundamental nucleus of learning and bodily and sexual discipline. Coming out of the closet is the moment when young people admit a silenced or highly stigmatized desire, first to themselves and then to others. This process constitutes a break with previously acquired learning. The concept of symbolic violence reveals aspects of this process that are not explained by notions such as internalized homo-lesbo-bi-transphobia or homo-lesbo-bi-transphobia upheld by those who are the object of violence.

Keywords : Symbolic Violence; Youth; Homophobia; Homophobic Violence.

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