Sociological View On Gender And Sexuality

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Why a sociological viewpoint on gender and sexuality more accurately describes individuals compared to biological views
In western society the terms of gender and sexuality are generally seen to have a strict correlation toward our sex, although as sociologists have researched this is not the case. Sociologists have posed questions challenging the traditional notions of society, and this is of particular significance when considering gender and sexuality. To understand the sociological point of view of gender and sexuality, it helps to separately assess the meanings of sex, gender and sexuality and how each of the terms represents individuals. The idea of gender and sexuality being socially constructed from sociologists has challenged the ‘common-sense’ notion of sex biologically determining gender and sexuality, as vast differences are contained in these notions. When attempting to understand the people in our environment, the sociological approach towards gender and sexuality is more informative when describing individuals compared to the traditional view of sex as being linked to gender and sexuality.
As stated by McLennan, McManus & Spoonley (2009) the difference between sex and gender are not completely apparent to society, as ‘sex’ states the physical characteristics of men and women and ‘gender’ is the social attributes of women as feminine and men as masculine. In the individual, the term of ‘sexuality’ is described to be the sexual practices, identities and desires. The physical characteristic that showcase the differences between men and women is the reproductive system defining their ‘sex’, while an attribute of being maternal would be assigned to femininity which defines an individual’s ‘gender’. An example of one’s...

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...egarded to be biologically attached to forming an individual’s gender and sexuality in the western world, if multiple sociologists, cultures and individuals prove this to be false? Examples of theories from Cooley and Goffman highlight how easily transferrable the ideals relate to humans being influenced by the largest factor of all; socialisation. They describe separately how the gender of an individual is developed, not assigned to them through their sex and of sexuality not set in heterosexual tendencies. Views of gender and sexuality through different cultures help to further cement the outlook of characteristics being social implemented regardless of sex. While socialisation theories have been at the fore front of describing an ever changing society, biological determinism provides a little amount of truth and gives few answers to describing such occurrences.

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