“All you want to do is to run away from this nightmare”: Adolescent sexual and gender minority runaways in Israel’s periphery

Background

While empirical evidence highlights numerous challenges faced by adolescent members of sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in peripheral areas, research on adolescent SGM runaways has not specifically addressed this social and spatial context and the ways in which it shapes the experience of runaways.

Objective

The study explored the experience and meaning assigned to running away in the narratives of adolescent SGM individuals from the town of Sderot, located near the Gaza Strip and associated with Israel’s social and geographical periphery, while formulating a typology of the characteristics of various types of running away.

Participants and Setting

Sixteen participants, predominantly young adults, who self-identify as SGM and whose adolescence was spent in the town of Sderot were interviewed.

Methods

The study employed a narrative interview wherein participants freely recounted their narrative of their adolescence in Sderot. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed in content and form, both holistically and in segments.

Results

Despite not being directly questioned about running away, the participants’ narratives revealed that the act of running away was a pivotal event in their adolescence, intended to enable the actualization of their SGM identity in an alternative supportive space. The act of running away is intricately woven into three main themes: (1) the desire to run away; (2) a typology of running away; (3) when it is not possible to run away.

Conclusions

Participants’ conceptualizations of the act of running away challenge common terminology and enrich our comprehension of the act’s timing, destination, and outcomes. While running away holds different meanings, it presents an opportunity for a new narrative of self-agency and resistance against the macro and micro-oppressive systems faced by SGM adolescents. Urgent policy development is imperative for enhancing the wellbeing of SGM adolescents residing in such areas.