Volume VI Special Issue III March 2026

Name of Author : Sidhi Narula

Title of the paper : The Making of Queer Distress: Minority Stress, Internalised Stigma, and Psychological Selfhood in The Well of Loneliness

Abstract: Published in 1928 and immediately subjected to censorship, Radclyffe Halls The Well of Loneliness has been variously read as a pioneering text of lesbian visibility or as a narrative steeped in tragedy. A relatively less explored aspect of the available literature on The Well of Loneliness is its exploration from a psychological standpoint of how inner struggles among the queer population get shaped, or rather exaggerated, through silence, stigma, and social othering. This paper attempts to analyze The Well of Loneliness with the intention of situating it in a psychological hologram, wherein Stephen Gordons distress has been understood in light of heteronormativity. The major psychological frameworks that have been used to engage in the meaning making of Stephens shame, loneliness, and self denial include minority stress theory Meyer, 2003 and internalized stigma. Narrative approaches to identity formation Erikson, 1968 McAdams, 1993 help us understand how Stephens sense of self is subject to external social pressure, leading to its fragmentation. By taking a critical viewpoint towards early sexological discourse, the paper reconceptualizes suffering as socially constructed psychic labor, standing in opposition to the medicalization of queer existence.

Keywords : minority stress, internalised stigma, queer psychology, lesbian identity, heteronormativity

DOI :

Page Number : 151-155