The Importance Of Sexual Self-Schema

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According to Anderson et al. (Andersen & Cyranowski, 1994; Andersen, Cyranowski, & Espindle,1999), sexual self-schema is the way a person views themselves as a sexual person.
It is defined as cognitive structures that helps regulate their sexual behavior and sexual attraction, especially in the context of a social setting. There are many factors that effects a person sexual self-schema, such as race, class, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, etc. (Simon & Gagnon, 1986, 1999). Masculinity plays an important factor in a man as masculinity ranges by culture. Unfortunately, research in the past failed to acknowledge the connections of masculinity in gender and sexual orientation. (Jackson, 2006) Due to this oversimplification …show more content…

Objectification is a phenomenon where an individual’s humanity is disregarded, it’s value is treated as just a mere body or collection of body parts, and is seen as a commodity by others (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Nussbaum, 1995). It appears that objectification is more prevalent in gay men than in heterosexual men due to them experiencing the male gaze in a way that is similar to women. There is a internalized view within gay men that they should maintain their appearance and be concerned with their attractiveness (Gettelman & Thompson, 1993; Sergios & Cody, 1985). In contrast, bisexual men face self-objectification of their own bodies which heavily influences the way they live. Due to emphasis placed on appearance in gay subculture, this perpetuates a notion that gay and bisexual men have to focus on their external features (e.g., face, body, facial hair) as it an indicator of masculinity (Morgan & Arcelus, 2009). Research has proven that this self-objectification is revolved around masculinity, and that both gay and bisexual men desire to be more masculine and leaner (Martins, Tiggermann, & Churchett,

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