Sexuality, Gender, Masculinity, And Sexual Orientation

In society, heterosexuality is a principal method of organizing institutions and regulating individual behavior. A culture based on ideas of heterosexuality values relationships that are between men and women; as a result, sexual contact occurring between same sex individuals is seen as deviant and labeled as homosexual. In her book, Ward explains how straight white men can have sex with other white men while retaining their heterosexuality in addition to gaining a masculine appeal. Ingraham and Namaste’s discussion of heteronormativity, heterogenders, and supplementarity aids in understanding why straight white men are not labeled as homosexual and how this functions to reproduce inequalities based on race, gender, and sexuality.

Social Construction of Sexuality Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions to individuals of the opposite sex, same sex, both sexes, or more than one gender. These attractions and behaviors that express them, engender an individual’s awareness of their social identity and sexuality. Sexuality is composed of a broad range of behaviors and processes, including the way your body develops and the way you feel and respond toward others. To understand the social construction of sexuality we must pay attention to the factors that shape and constrain it: race, ethnicity, gender, and social class, without ignoring the limitations, constraints, and disadvantages faced such as poverty, prejudice

From birth, the difference between males and females is evident. Immediately we toss children into gender roles in order to ease our minds

In ancient Rome there was no notion of sexuality because sexuality is a modern concept, so there was no term for labeling one’s sexual preference. Instead, in ancient Rome, there was only sexual desire and inclination. Only specific sexual acts could be categorized and assessed because there was no term for a person’s sexual orientation as either homosexual or heterosexual. Humans inherently differ in sexual preferences in many ways. One of which is liking a specific sex of partners, yet this not necessarily the most significant difference in sexual preferences.1 In ancient Rome a male citizen could perform sex acts, under certain circumstances, with the gender he preferred, without fear of ridicule. Society was less concerned with the gender or age of a man’s sexual partners than with the perception of the masculinity of all male partners involved. Other things were more important than gender when it came to sex, such as penetration, masculinity and status. To exemplify that society was less concerned with the gender of a man’s sexual partners than the perception of masculinity, I will evaluate masculinity in ancient Rome, the social hierarchy of being the receptive versus penetrative partner, laws, cinaedus, effeminacy and pathics, pederasty, slavery and prostitution.

Society is changing how women are raised, and not for the better. People often genderize babies from the moment they are born. Right from birth, hospitals make it a point to identify the gender of a baby by wrapping the newborn in either a blue blanket for a boy or a pink blanket for a girl. This is because society assumes that just because someone is female, they would like the color pink. Society is pushing parents to identify children based on gender early on, which also is the beginning of how gender roles from. For example in the article “Learning to be Gendered,” Penelope Eckert looks at the role that the gender of a baby has on the parents and how the parents in return treat the child differently. In an experiment conducted in the

Few aspects of human behavior excite as much interest and controversy as sexual orientation. In cultures and societies today, as well as in the past, there is usually an emphasis on a specific orientation as a norm, and typically heterosexuality is perceived as such. This in turn generates a wide range of reaction to homosexuality, from its being seen as “unnatural” in moral terms, to ideas of it as threatening the stability of a culture. In recent years, however, new perspectives are emerging which strongly support that sexual orientation is by no means so easily defined, and that, when social parameters on sexual behaviors are set aside, the reality is that most people are not strictly heterosexual or homosexual. In the following,

When you go on with your daily lives and norms, you tend to not give much attention to what kind of roles certain genders play or how we perceive certain gender to perform said roles. Lorber mentions in the early part of her argument that we seem to treat sex, gender, and sexuality and the norms that come with them like fish and water (Lorber, 1994) . We have almost become numb to the norms and expectations that come along with certain genders and roles. However, when we see something out of the norm or missing, we notice it. Whether we keep it to ourselves or point it out, that is up to the individual.

The two individuals I interviewed are homosexual males that differ from me in their sexual orientation and gender. I met my first interviewee for an hour on Wednesday, September 21st, and I met my second interviewee for an hour on Wednesday, September 28th. Through these interviews, I learned a great deal about each individual and it allowed me to gain insight into each of their lives.

Sexuality encompasses aspects in a person’s life that involves sex and gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual behavior. It encompasses the physical, social and psychological aspects of a person’s sexual behavior. It underpins what an individual is, affects the individual’s life wholesomely and is unique to each and every individual. A general stereotype of sexuality in old people exists in the society. Most people tend to believe that sexuality diminishes with age and that old people are not supposed to be sexually active beings. It is a reality however that most old people engage in sexual activities and have sexual needs even late into their lives (Connaughton & McCabe, 2015). Beliefs on sexuality in old people have greatly influenced negatively the way old people express their sexuality. The cartoon depicts an old couple possibly in one of their routine appointments with their family doctor. The couple despite the doctor’s attempt to engage them in a conversation regarding their sexual health is reluctant to discuss it with their doctor. A reaction such as the one associated with this couple can be as a result of the negative way in which the society views sexuality in the elderly. The result of such negativity is depicted by the way the couple seems irritated by the doctor’s line of discussion.

The chapter includes definitions about sex, gender and sexuality. Additionally, it describes a process of gender socialization, gender stratification, and supports these processes by social theories. Each of the provided videos and the article relates to this chapter in many ways.

Did you know that gay men and lesbians do not choose their sexual orientation, but rather are born with it? There has been extensive research proving that sexual orientation is caused by many biological factors, whereas there is no solid proof that social factors after birth affect sexual orientation (Swaab, 2007, p. 442). Sexual orientation is already programmed into the brain, with the influence of sex hormones and genes, before a child is even born. The development of sexual orientation is caused by sex hormones, genes, and the brain, which then cause differences in the anatomical body (LeVay, 2011, p.271).

With this understanding of the importance sexual identity holds for many people, it should be evident why Christians have had so much difficulty in discussing homosexuality and the Bible with those who identify as LGB. Some Christians may come to this understanding and determine that reaching LGB people with the gospel, converting them to Christianity and the historic Christian position on sexuality, is impossible and shouldn’t be attempted. After all, they might argue, if a person has “come out” it is most likely they have already accepted a LGB identity. The LGB identity, then, will color the way they view Christianity, leading them to either reject it entirely, or accept its gay-affirming persuasion.

The way in which a person recognises themselves sexually, of the gender in which they are attracted to is known as their sexual orientation. A person can identify themselves as being one of many orientations. The most known and recognised of these are homosexual; lesbian and gay, bisexual; being sexually attracted to both sexes and transgender; which means that a person has a sense of self-identity of themselves and their gender which differs with the gender in which they were born. These sexual orientations are grouped and known as the LGBT community.

To begin, establishing gender roles is the first step in a child’s life. As soon as a newborn take its first breath, their gender roles are already put into place. Studies show that a person will treat an infant differently if the gender of the

Sex, gender, and sexuality are words that are constantly are been not understood properly and also misused by societies. But scholars through research and history have come up with basic ways to distinguish what each term means. Starting with the term sex, sex is known as a biological structure of a person (Renzetti 2). There also is another way that sex defined, some believe that the definition of is the meaning the society and each individual gave it, “or the various ways we express our sexual natures” (Hoffert 395). Next the term gender can be distinguished because it uses the term sex as a source for creating a social grouping which then is applied to each individual (Renzetti 2). Using these definitions scholars are able to distinguish between these terms, but definitions alone might not be enough for some scholars to distinguish the differences between these terms, so there are some key ways to tell the differences. Starting with sex and gender, one 's sex is static, but their gender can be dynamic. Gender is part of everyday life meaning everyone has to watch what they do in public and even at home, the society has an expectation of how men and women are supposed to behave or act and if the expectations are not achieved then that person is considered strange or abnormal (Lorber 54-55). Whereas the term sex is concrete, at least for now, from the moment a baby is born its chromosome is decided whether it’s XX or XY. Chromosomes can’t be changed through surgery and