What is Outing?

Definition of Outing (Forced Disclosure)

Outing (in Spanish, "sacar del armario" or "desvelar") is a form of cyberbullying and digital violence that consists of revealing and publicly disseminating private and sensitive information about a person without their consent.

Although the term originated to specifically describe the disclosure of an LGTBI person's sexual orientation or gender identity (which kept it at private), today it is used more broadly to include any personal secret whose disclosure could cause harm or humiliation.

Outing can include disclosing that someone is adopted, has a mental disorder, has an illness, that their parents are in the process of divorce, or any information that the victim considered confidential.

Outing is a direct violation of trust and privacy.

Outing as a Harassment and Control Tactic

Outing is rarely an impulsive act; it is a deliberate harassment tactic. The offender uses this sensitive information as a weapon to exert power, control and humiliation.

By revealing the secret, the bully seeks to isolate the victim from his or her social group, generate rejection of the victim, or simply enjoy the harm he or she causes.

Often, outing is used as a threat or blackmail ("If you don't do what I tell you, I will tell everyone that...").

In the specific context of the LGTBI community, outing is extremely dangerous.

It can expose the minor not only to harassment by peers, but also to rejection by his own family (if the latter is conservative) or even to physical violence.

It is an infringement of a process (the "coming out") that is deeply personal and that only the person concerned has the right to decide when, how and with whom to share it.

Difference between Doxing and Gossiping

It is useful to differentiate outing from other similar concepts. Gossip is the dissemination of rumors or information, but this is usually speculative or trivial ("I think that So-and-so likes So-and-so").

Outing, on the other hand, involves the revelation of a true and sensitive fact that the victim was actively concealing. It is not exactly doxing either.

Doxing involves collecting and publishing a person's public (but hard-to-find) information (such as address, phone number, workplace) to facilitate physical harassment.

Outing focuses on private or secret information (sexual orientation, health) to cause social and psychological harm. Both are violations of privacy, but with different objectives.

Summary

Outing is the public disclosure of a person's private and sensitive information without their consent. Although it is associated with outing LGTBI people, it includes any personal secret.

It is a deliberate harassment tactic used to humiliate, control or isolate the victim. In the case of LGTBI people, it can expose the victim to serious social and familial risk.

Unlike gossiping (which is trivial or false) or doxing (which reveals public data), outing is based on revealing a true fact that the victim has kept hidden, violating his or her trust.