Sexuality and Sexual Identity

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Recommended: Sexuality and gender are socially constructed

Sexuality and Sexual Identity

Alfred C. Kinsey argued in 1948 that "It would encourage clearer thinking on these matters [of labeling homosexuals] if persons were not characterized as heterosexual or homosexual, but as individuals who have had certain amounts of heterosexual experience and homosexual experience. Instead of using these terms as substantives (real and apparent entities) which stand for persons, …they may be better used to describe the nature of overt sexual relations, or of the stimuli to which an individual erotically responds."

Here I shall look at this statement regarding sexuality and gender from a sociological perspective on deviance. In this discussion I will address the following questions: What role does sexuality (and gender) play in society? How are these categories constructed? How are they maintained? And what do these categories reveal about important configurations of power in American society?

The "social construction" of the category of gender has had its roots firmly planted since biblical times: from the creation of the female, Eve for man (so Adam would not be lonely) to the 1800s when women were not allowed (by men) the right to vote. It has been prevalent in marriage ceremonies as brides promised to "honor and obey" their husbands (although the "obey" part seems to be absent recently). The role of the male being dominant or superior to the female is one that insists on transcending time despite modern day efforts for gender equality in society. We (society) constructed this category based on a patriarchal system that places the primacy of masculinity above all else. Gender ensures a distinction between male and female, affirm...

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...'s statement, our world is not designed to look at the issues of sexuality and gender in an unbiased, objective manner. Who knows? One day, it may be.

Bibliography:

REFERENCES

(Page numbers from Course Reader

Except Union Tribune and NARTH Articles)

Bayer, Ronald. Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis. 1981.

Garber, Marjorie. ViceVersa. 1995.

Hantzis, Darlene M. and Lehr, Valerie. "Whose Desire? Lesbian (Non)Sexuality and Television's Perpetuation of Heterosexism." (1994).

National Association For Research and Therapy of Homosexuals (NARTH). "School Sex Education Guidelines: Teaching About Homosexuality."

San Diego Union Tribune. p. B4. June 4, 1999.

Woodhouse, Annie, Fantastic Women: Sex, Gender, and Transvestism. 1989.

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