The role of volitional reconsumption in the lives of gay men living with concealable stigmatized identities

Volitional reconsumption involves consumers intentionally and actively seeking to relive specific consumption experiences. Various factors in consumers’ personal lives, such as identity transitions, personal crises, and different life stages, can influence their reconsumption experiences. Based on an oral history approach, our study investigates the role of volitional reconsumption among middle-aged gay men in Ireland. These men, living with concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs), have experienced severe stigma from the Irish Catholic church for most of their lives. Our study reveals that for our participants, the volitional reconsumption of specific objects and practices goes beyond simple recreation; they serve as a safeguard against the pain of stigma stemming from a homophobic church and society. Specifically, their volitional reconsumption experiences serve four main purposes: evading reality, giving a sense of permanence, providing power through contagion, and enabling identity reification. These purposes are achieved through four types of reconsumption: regressive, progressive, relational, and reflective, involving the use of specific objects and practices. The theoretical contribution of our study pertains to linking the growing field of consumer stigma, in our case concealable stigma, to volitional reconsumption and its benefits to consumers.