Coming to terms with sexual identity: A study of the effects of cybergroup membership on selected bisexual male adolescents

• Main Author: Montenegro, Michael R.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2003
• Subjects: Young bisexual men—Online chat groups; Young bisexual men—Psychology; Gender identity; Mental and Social Health
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3123; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9961&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

The traditional peer group where physical interaction is foremost is challenged as a new form of peer group interaction emerges in the form of the Message Internet Relay Chat (mIRC). The computer application Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is innovative software discovered in the middle 1990s as virtual meeting place where people from all over the world can meet and talk. The user can find diversity of human interests, ideas and issues here and the user is able to participate in group discussions in one of the many thousands of IRC channels. It is in mIRC that dicreet self-identified bisexual adolescents interact with fellow bisexuals in cyberspace. This study aims to examine the effects of cyber group membership on selected bisexual male adolescents. The study seeks to describe the profile of the adolescent bisexual, the process of how they become members, the manner of maintaining their membership in the mIRC group both inside and outside the chatroom, the formal and informal norms observed by the members and the benefits derived in the mIRC group. The design used in this study is descriptive in nature where the methodology is qualitative in-depth interviews with a total of fifteen (15) respondents. The key informants are self-identified bisexual adolescents aged 15-19 years old, a chatter in mIRC and has been a member of the group for at least three months. Moreover, convenience sampling was used. Although cyber group interaction is primarily through the Internet, these adolescents eventually progressed into the face-to-face interaction. Emotions were more heightened for the face-to-face interaction was more personal, become a venue for expression of self, feelings of belongingness and a source of potential relationship partners. The latter kind of interaction has become a source of emotional satisfaction among group members thus deeper bonding ensued. The major findings of the study were the comparison and evaluation of cyber groups vis-a-vis physical groups. Membership in Fish was a testing ground whether or not to continue bisexuality as most members were in the experimental stage of their sexuality. Physical groups, on the other hand, provide face-to-face interaction as a basis for information about their sexuality. A number of KIs described experimenting lifestyles as a norm, and they must follow the norm to fit in the group. The mIRC has been the medium towards getting a more accurate information on their way of life. In contrast, the manner of information gathering in the physical groups is through interaction with other members. The satisfaction level is different in the cyber groups as well as the physical groups.