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How is sexuality socially constructed
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On a micro level symbolic interactionism instills itself with in society when it comes to the sex of the person. By constantly seeing social rules enforced it perpetuates an imagined set by society. Men are interpreted as gentlemen by opening doors for women or paying for dinner. This interpretation of men is set as the norm according to the society. This concept of male is frequently being depicted in the media in the form of movies, novels and etc. The same thing goes for women, what if a woman wanted be a firefighter? Her coworkers would probably harass her. Society would tell her that she is going against her gender role. Society is teaching females the rules of social behavior and if you deviate from it there are consequences. All these …show more content…
Schwartz and Rutter incorporate gender differences because they intersect with each other. Integrative is expecting to merge individual things. Schwartz and Rutter lean towards integrative because sex encompasses biology, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, and social constructionism collectively. Sex is discussed, heard, and thought about within our society. Sex can never escape our society the desire will always be there, no matter the ethnicity, gender, religion etc. Sex is more than just sexual relations between a woman and man it goes further than biology. On a social and biological level a woman for instance could have arousal dysfunction and her male counter partner takes the blame by society. Social construction puts the blame on the male because the male could not please his partner. By societies standards the male must be inefficient in his sexual prowess. As you can see a biological issue (arousal dysfunction) becomes a social issue in the public sphere. This brings attention of a biological matter that highlights the social …show more content…
The context of biology is that sex can never escape sexuality because they depend on each other’s coexistence. Biological involvements and social context have an integrative relationship. In society there’s no differentiating heterosexual and homosexuality because society believes homosexuality is essentially an innate aspiration that nature cannot change. In this situation the object of desire that matters is gender according to society. Society believes that homosexual men are attracted to femininity and that homosexual women are attracted to masculinity in their partners. So in the society of same-sex relationships it is believed that gay men and lesbians are fascinated with the opposite gender of the person. This is once again social context having an influence on sexual identity and sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is influential to the western cultures because sexual identity is linked to gender. When it comes to sexual identity in a relationship a strict distinctive rule must be confirm between male and female. For example in a same-sex relationship by society standards there has to be a male or female counter part to play each role. This displays that a sexual partner genders of greater importance to the social interest within society and sexuality. Biology deals with the actual sensation of sexual organs from passionate experience, it becomes receptive
I have plenty of African American friends. I just don’t stay in contact with them like I do with all of my other friends. I guess in the back of my mind I thought, “She is going to try to steal my boyfriend.” I didn’t realize this until now. The society has led me to believe that black women go after every single man. My conscience was telling me to not invite my African American friends or else they will disrespect me. However, my best friend Marie changed my mind about African American women. Marie is helpful, strong, and beautiful. I thought all African Americans didn’t how to talk properly, they lived up to every stereotype, and that they judged all the time. Through symbolic interactionism I believe all African Americans are different and need to be treated fairly.
Scientists have asked the question of whether homosexuality is a choice or something the individual has no control over. The search for the ‘gay gene’ is a relatively new study. According to Pease and Bull (2000) the physical sex of an organism is determined by the gonad type, testes or ovaries, as well as secondary sexual traits. An organisms sexual preference is determined by its preferred sexual partner, if the organism prefers to have sex with its own sex, it is classed as homosexual, however if it prefers to have sex with the opposite sex, it is classed as heterosexual. Gender identity is a separate topic that is very pertinent. G-+ender identity is how an organism sees itself, is it male or is it female. The gender identity of an organism can be separated from the sexual preferences, for example, a male who sees himself as female may still have a sexual preference for woman.
As with most group projects, I started out with a basic understanding of the issue; essentially pollution and environmental changes humans make impact the environment in very bad ways. I grew up with a family who believes in intelligent design, young earth theory, and they all vehemently deny that anything humans do cause damage to the planet- everything reported in the news or by scientists are part of a larger “Liberal Democrat conspiracy.” Thus, my views had become largely hazy and even though I pride myself on being a Liberal, educated, intelligent young person, sometimes I was unsure what was actually true or what had been dramatized or exaggerated by scientists or the media to actually get people to pay attention. In addition, I also
Homosexuality can be described as a romantic or sexual attraction or act between people of the same gender, and it can also be a term used to refer to a person's sense of identity based on the same attractions or behaviors. Homosexuality is among the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside heterosexuality and bisexuality, and up to the present day, the scientists have not been able to know the factors that determine the sexual orientation of different people. Some of them, however, guess that sexual orientation of different people is caused by a complex interplay of the hormonal, genetic and environmental influences, and it is not a choice for the people concerned.
"In dismantling the notion that sex and gender are innate, first the two must be defined. Sex is described as the interaction between genes, hormones, behavior, and the environment. The adjectives female, male, or intersex is used when referring to sex. Gender is the social status, legal
From a young age , many individuals worldwide are socialized according to their gender and what is appropriate for males and females. Socializing according to ones gender starts from the moment you are born when the nurses give you either a blue or pink blanket to wrap the child in. This allows society to known whether the child is a male or female. The double standard for gender occurs within many areas of development for instance the clothes one wears, the toys that are placed with, the jobs and careers one chooses in their later life. Attachment given by a child's parent reinforces an individual to be socialized and children can also contribute how their parents treat and see them , these are social constructs within parenting (Ambert,2012). All of these things can be gender separated and still are in today's society. Another area where males and females are socialized differently is in the area of sexuality and what is acceptable for males is not always for the female gender. Gender specific norms govern the appropriate amount of partners , when it is acceptable to engage in sexual activity and what motivates ones behavior (Kreager &Staff, 2009). This shows society individuals are socialized according to their gender because males are socialized into behaving a different way than girls but it still be accepted as a norm. Women are taught that it is okay to have sexual relationships but they need a reason, example being in a committed relationship, where as men just need a place. This is a common perception based on ones gender , formed from a western conservative view point ( Fugere et.al, 2008). Gender socialization is a process where boys are seen to be given wings and girls are to be given roots (Myers, Spencer, Jordan...
In reality, gender is not based on one’s genetic make-up or their reproductive organs. Expanding on this, an individual does not have any control over their assigned gender, but everyone has a gender identity, which is one’s internal sense of being male or female. From a sociocultural perspective, gender roles have the greatest influence on gender as a social construction. Gender roles are the attitudes, behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that particular cultural groups associate with each sex. In regards to gender, the social construction theory acknowledges the connection the topic has with power and meaning, and states that social interaction, or “language” controls how these things are portrayed to individuals. Similarly, sexuality is socially constructed in a sense that, one’s sexual orientation depends on what they are taught to be “socially acceptable”. For example, a person who is raised by homophobic parents would most likely be taught that every aspect of homosexuality is wrong, and therefore they would be influenced to be heterosexual. While many would like to believe that people are born with their sexual orientation, that is far from the truth. All in all, when looking at the big picture, it is clear that race, gender,
Sociologists view society in different ways. Sociologists use three major theories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. The symbolic interactionist perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other (Cliff). Some examples of symbolic interactionism are the meaning of marriage, the meaning of divorce, the meaning of parenthood, and the meaning of love. Symbols may include wedding bands, vows of life‐long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean (Cliff). Symbols have a shared social meaning that is understood by all members of society. Symbolical interactionism is analyzed at a micro-sociological level. It examines small-scale patterns of social interaction. It focuses mainly on face-to-face interaction and how people use symbols to create a social life.
...ry, it is easy to notice how people need different things, and require alternate ways of studying. You notice people’s emotions and how they react to their surroundings. Some people need silence, some need music, some need space, some need distraction and some people just do it to look good.
George Herbert Mead begins his discussion of symbolic interactionism (talking with others) by defining three core principles that deal with meaning, language, and thought. The theory states that meaning is the construction of social reality. Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things.
Without gender, a child may not be able to integrate into society as easy as other children, feeling a sense of disorientation and misplacement. Identity is strongly correlated to the cultural beliefs and social contexts of society, hence affecting gender, since gender is something that is everywhere in our daily lives. Gender entails cultural beliefs at a marco level and also includes the systems of behavior and organizational practices at the interactional level, selves and identities at the individual level (Ridgeway & Correll 2004). According to Ridgeway and Correll (2004), cultural beliefs about gender and their effects in social relational contexts are among the main principles that maintain and change the gender structure. Social relational contexts involve any situation where individuals define themselves in relation to others to understand the situation and act in an everyday interaction. Symbolic interactionism places a lot of significance on the salient of language and social interactions as main features of the development of a sense of self, viewing society not as an external constitution but rather the result of a patterned web of interactions where people interact in countless settings using symbolic communications, and the reality people experience constantly changes (Germov & Poole 2011). According to Stryker and Vryan (2003), symbolic
Even though it is against nature, some individuals are born with complete desire to same sex. Abraham Verghese in his article A fresh look at homosexuality said, “While welcoming and agreeing with a positive perception of homosexuality, it is difficult to accept the position that homosexuality is a normal psychosexual development. A normal variant cannot be considered completely normal. It is, in fact, an aberration in the psychosexual development, caused by genetic and psychosocial factors for which the person is not responsible. There are research findings, which suggest that there are structural differences in the brains of people with homosexual orientation.”(qdt pg 1) This quote proves the claim of having a different biological format for homosexuals from any normal heterosexual. These cases are completely helpless and have nothing to do with being homosexuals; it is a natural stimulus that they were born with. Therefore in such cases, it is critical to understand that they have no control over their unnatural
However, a couple years ago, the issue seemed to only be discussed by people in the social sciences. Psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud, studied homosexuals broadly and were coming up with specification for their "abnormal" behavior. All of the reasons that the people who were studied, created links to homosexuality was because of experiences that homosexual have happened to them while growing up. Typically speaking, psychology believed that a person 's surrounding could explain homosexuality. However, in the past eight or ten years, the subject of homosexuality has and is steadily making it into the world of biology. Studies have been done recently are coming up with a genetic explication for sexual predilection. The fact that many of the scientists taking part into researches of this sort are gays, Chandler Burr an American journalist, scientist of genetics, and biology as well, verbally expressed “which expounds a lot about the issue, that homosexual people are intrigued and curious about their “abnormal” nature themselves”. It may also serve as proof, that homosexuality is not the personal choice, and also saying about the moral competence of sexual minority people. The words "sexual orientation," which in the 1980s superseded "sexual predilection," declares the deeply rooted nature of sexual desire and love. It implicatively
Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (Free Dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on the identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (Free Dictionary, 2009).
In order to discuss the biology of gender identity and sexual orientation, it is necessary to first examine the differences between multiple definitions that are often mistakenly interchanged: sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined by LeVay (2011) as “the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves, to persons of the other sex, or to both sexes” (p. 1). The typical categories of sexual orientation are homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Vrangalova and Savin-Williams (2012) found that most people identify as heterosexual, but there are also groups of people that identify as mostly heterosexual and mostly gay within the three traditional categories (p. 89). This is to say that there are not three concrete groups, but sexual orientation is a continuum and one can even fluctuate on it over time. LeVay (2011) also defines gender as “the ...