Passing/Covering

Many contexts in the United States tend to favor, or implicitly adhere to, standards associated with race, religion, ability, sexuality, gender, and/or socioeconomic status. These standards are often considered, or informed by, white, Christian, able-bodied, heterosexual, male, and/or middle-class standards, for example, having easy-to-pronounce names and easy-to-access spaces, “God” being printed on the currency, and English being the language in which most “official” business is conducted (that is, in the government, on Wall Street, and in many universities).

When a person does not meet these standards in particular contexts, then the person might be expected to hide or minimize possible deviations, such as a man changing his (Hispanic) name from Jorge to George, a woman in a wheelchair who does not mention that she cannot comfortably and privately access a (able-bodied) bathroom, a man downplaying the (Islamic) holidays he celebrates, or a woman who fears letting people know that she does not, or cannot, speak English.

When a person tries to hide or minimize perceived, nonstandard differences, the person negotiates possible stigma. Many people think of stigma as either socially taboo classifications or obtrusive physical disabilities or defects. However, according to Erving Goffman, [Page 1680]stigma applies to any identity that people might find undesirable or offensive. The perception of stigma varies with context—an identity that is stigmatized in one situation may not be a stigma in another, according to Amir Marvasti. Furthermore, a person can manage stigma through passing and covering.

Passing involves hiding, lying, and/or invisibility. According to Harold Garfinkel, passing happens when a person has, or is perceived to have, an identity that the person does not claim as her or his own; she or he exudes a false or inaccurate self and may even try to convince others of this self by keeping particular information secret. Examples of passing could include a lesbian who lies to her parents about her same-sex attraction, a man not talking about his color blindness at work, or parents choosing not to discuss their atheism with their child's teacher. In these situations, people pass—that is, withhold information—in order to escape ridicule from others.

Covering happens when a person feels pressure to conform to (perceived) contextual standards. Covering can apply to identities that are either obtrusive or generally known but that are minimized out of a desire or need to assimilate. Unlike passing, secrecy does not necessarily exist with covering, in that a person allows others to know about her or his nonstandard identity; rather, the person cannot or does not care to emphasize this identity with these others.

Examples of covering could include a woman rarely mentioning her children in (male-dominated) corporate environments, a man who is deaf limiting his affiliation with deaf others, or an interracial couple who downplay their status as a couple by refraining to hold hands in public out of a fear of others’ negative responses to their relationship. In these situations, persons cover by minimizing or not calling attention to particular identities.

Passing and covering intersect in a variety of ways. Both involve two identities—one (perceived) nonstandard identity and one (perceived) standard identity. Both require the management of personal information, and both rely on personal and social awareness; a person must recognize not only her or his difference but also that the difference is contextually marginal, and devalued, and that there might be risks in talking about this difference with others. What makes passing and covering difficult to distinguish between, however, is the challenge of determining intentionality, a difficulty that Goffman marks as “in effect or by intent.”

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