Going out: what it means and how it differs from coming out
There are aspects of our life that, while harmless, we wish to keep private. Who we vote in the elections, our religious beliefs, our tastes in movies and music and our sexuality. It is above all in this latter area that many of us struggle to open up, especially if our sexual orientation has always been the object of offenses and discrimination. In particular, when dealing with declarations of homosexuality, it is good to distinguish two concepts diametrically opposite but mistakenly considered synonymous: the coming out and the outing. In this article, we will explain in depth what this last phenomenon consists of and what differentiates it from the first.
The meaning of outing
The expression do outing is part of the LGBT terminology and refers to the disclosure of a particular person's sexual orientation without his or her consent. The term derives from the transitive verb "to out", which in English means "to throw out", precisely because, through this practice, information is forcibly thrown out that the person concerned would have preferred to remain private. It happens not infrequently, in fact, that, due to preconceptions and stereotypes, someone is reluctant to reveal that they are homosexual and prefers to wait before declaring themselves spontaneously to the public. However, in cases like these, some individuals, guilty of arrogance and tactlessness, may decide to outing the undeclared person, with respect to whom they have suspicions about their sexual orientation.
Nowadays, outing is a concept that can take on more than one meaning and is not limited only to the sexual sphere. When someone decides to make public a private detail, such as political alignment or religious faith, of another individual without the his consent, that is outing.
See also
The term outing takes hold in the United States since 1990. It appears for the first time in Time magazine, in an article in which gay people were encouraged to come out, or to reveal their homosexuality, without hiding any more behind a mask. The journalist Michelangelo Signorile, in particular, was a fervent supporter of the practice of outing as a political weapon against the hypocrisy of political and religious authorities who, despite being secretly homosexual, were spokespersons for bills and highly discriminatory opinions against of the lgbt community. It is no coincidence, in fact, that even today and in all parts of the world, most of the people who are outed are celebrities and public figures.
A rather well-known example of an outing that took place on Italian television involves Albano Carrisi and Paolo Limiti. A few years ago, the Apulian singer, in fact, insinuated on live television that the host was gay, without the latter having ever made similar statements in the first person. Always remaining in Italy, often the outing is done on the skin of sportsmen, especially in the world of football, fueling many doubts about their sexuality, even in the absence of evidence. One above all Cristiano Ronaldo, on whom gossip and conjectures are wasted with extraordinary frequency.
Why is it outed?
There are several reasons that can push someone to go out on someone else's behalf. Personal revenge, the desire to compromise a reputation, to have “rough” material available to publish in one's own magazine. If, on the other hand, we want to consider the "good side" of outing and find a justification for this fact, we could again take into consideration the opinion of Michelangelo Signorile, according to which publicly disclosing the hidden homosexuality of well-known homophobic personalities is equivalent to denouncing public places their hypocrisy. Also of the same opinion was Peter Tatchell, a British activist who conceived of "outing as a form of" gay self-defense "as well as a right and a duty of homosexuals since, only in this way, it would be possible to stop the ruinous actions of those who inflict suffering to the members of the LGBT community, also arguing that "the collusion between homophobia and hypocrisy is not ethically defensible by Christians, nor by anyone else".
Outing and coming out: what's the difference?
Words are important and it is equally important to know the right way to use them. Often, when dealing with terms like outing and coming out, this unfortunately does not happen. Journalists themselves, those who are the first to understand and defend the value of a language, tend to confuse these two expressions, mistakenly considering them synonymous. Contrary to what is often read in the media, there is a substantial difference in meaning between coming out and coming out. The two expressions, in fact, are absolutely not interchangeable, but must be distinguished to avoid misunderstandings from a communicative point of view. An individual comes out when he decides to openly and voluntarily declare to family, friends and acquaintances that he is homosexual and decides to do so himself. Coming out, in fact, is an English expression that literally means "going out of the closet", in this case, to reveal to the world your sexual orientation and tell everyone to be gay. On the contrary, however, the phrase outing, which as we have seen previously has the meaning of "throwing out", implies a certain passivity on the part of the subject whose homosexuality is shouted from the rooftops without his permission.
Why is it wrong to go out?
Sexuality is an intimate aspect of a person's life and one must have the right respect for it. Outing someone is wrong on several levels, starting with privacy first. Everyone has the right to decide what to share with the rest of the world and what not, especially when it comes to a private matter.
Regardless of the conduct of a particular public personality, it is not correct to speculate on his sexual orientation, which, on the contrary, must be treated with extreme delicacy and the utmost confidentiality.
In fact, no one is aware of the inner torment that often involves a path of acceptance. Sometimes, it takes years for a person to finally become aware of their homosexuality and just as many for them to be ready to openly declare themselves gay. Allegations and speculations are certainly not helpful, on the contrary, they amplify his insecurities and further delay any declaration.
It is by virtue of these considerations that it is necessary to learn to respect the timing of each one, without putting haste and pressure, much less appropriating a significant and private moment like one's own personal coming out.
