The Normalizing and Positioning of Self and Others in the Public Coming Out Speeches of Japanese Celebrities

Abstract In Japan, coming out as gay is still rare and stigmatized with few public figures challenging the status quo. This article analyses the coming out speech events of Japanese celebrities to examine how they position and normalize themselves and others while coming out. It aims to contribute to our understanding of how individuals draw upon contextual knowledge and negotiate the pressures of cultural and social norms in actual interactions. Normalization Theory and Positioning Theory were used to examine the use of linguistic and pragmatic strategies that affect coming-out. This article shows how the context of coming out and especially the person’s relationship with their audience impacts the affect and the combined use of normalizing and positioning strategies. The findings of this article help to build a more complex understanding of coming out in East Asia, emphasizing the importance of context and cultural negotiation of gender and sexual identities.