The Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality Essay

According to Johnny Weir, â€Å"Masculinity is what you believe it to be... [it is] all by perception, [I believe] masculinity and femininity is something that is very old-fashioned... [there is a] whole new generation of people who aren’t defined by their race or their sex or who they like to sleep with.† This statement exemplifies the definition of gender as a concept; gender is the expectations of a sex according to the culture of society. Sexuality, within this definition of gender, reflects society’s expectations, which are created in relation to the opposite sex. The variances between cultures means that gender expectations change within different cultures. These expectations put pressure on each member of society to conform and abide by†¦show more content†¦A member of society assumes gender roles as soon as he or she is born. The socialization of individuals forces he or she to identify with a specific gender and does not allow for the reality th at gender is an emotional issue that exists on a continuum, and many feel they fit somewhere between the two rigid cultural definitions of gender. Often times a child is introduced to many forms of masculinity or femininity (Gottleib, 175). Gender roles are introduced and enforced as soon as the sex of a child is determined (Gottleib, 168); boys begin a life of masculinity, with emphasis put on toughness and girls begin a life of femininity, with emphasis put on emotion and tenderness. Each sex is introduced to the gender roles expected for a certain identity to be maintained. The enforcement of gender roles in socialization is present cross culturally, as seen in â€Å"Life is Hard† by Roger Lancaster, children are taught the roles they are expected to perform before they are conscious of their own actions (Lancaster, 41). Critics believe, however, that when it comes to defining a person, gender alone does not describe the individual, for example, sexuality should be conside red as well (Gottleib, 176). Since gender is learned through cultural socialization, and it’s ability to be a continuum, sexuality of individuals is created by the expectations of gender and is, in ideally, built on a sliding scale, but in reality is just as restricting as theShow MoreRelatedThe Topic Of Sexuality1144 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduce the topic of sexuality (para)- Horrocks (1997) points out in his book that sexuality encircles multiple aspects of human existence. Sexuality is then, not a uniform or simple phenomenon and is influenced by the interaction of psychological, biological, social, cultural factors and many more. Horrocks (1997), suggests that to try and understand or explain a definitive conclusion about sexuality seems impossible as sexuality has different meanings to so many groups of people. 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