Sociology Culture & Identity: Sexuality and Identity Topic 4

Sociology: Culture & Identity

1. Topic 4 - sexuality and identity

   • Gender, Sexuality and 'Normal sex'
     • Key term: Homosexuality involves a sexual orientation towards people of the same sex.
     • Key term: The male gaze is where men look (gaze) at women as sexual objects.
     • Sexual behaviour is socially constructed, and what counts as normal sexual behaviour, or 'normal sex', is part of the culture of any society and established through the socialisation process, and can vary by time, place and culture.
       • In contempoary Britain, the dominant view of normal sexuality is that of heterosexuality, which is central aspect of the hegemonic masculine and feminine identities.
       • Sexuality has been a central part of the hegemonic feminine identity,as women have been defined, in Britian and other Western countries, by thier physical attractiveness and sexual appeal to men. Women have traditionally been regarded as sex objects, subjected to what Mulvey (1975/2009) called the 'male gaze', particularly in the mass media, like page 3 of the Sun newspaper, in advertising. In terms of normal sex, there is still double standards of sexual morality for men and women, with sexaully promiscuous females likely to be condemned by both sexes.
   • changing sexual identities
     • The physical-apperance and 'sex-appeal' aspects of sexuality long associated with femininity have become a more important part of masculinity as well. New alternative masculine identities appear to e emerging, with the rise of the gay movement and the growing crisis of masculinity opening up new choices for men. Men's increasing concerns with apperance and attractivenes, their body size and shape, their diet, their health and their dress sense; their growing use of cosmetics and cosmetic surgery; and the increase in eatind disoreders among men - all point to men's rising concern with sexual attractiveness.
     • Men's bodies have also become more sexualized, with more naked men's bodies appearing in the media and advertising, on a greater scale than ever before, with a growing importance attached to men's physical body image, rather than just women's.
     • Men are beginning to face almost the same physical scrutiny, by both women and other maen, as woment always have.
       • Study: McRobbie (1994) put it: 'The beauty stakes have gone up for men, and women have taken up the position of active viewers.'
   • Stigmatized or spoiled identities
     • Individuals whose view of themselves - their concpetion of self - is that reflected in the hegemonic gender identities in regard to sexuality outside 'normal sex', such as homosexuality, as deviant activities, and those practising them as having stigmatized or spolied identities.
       • The consequences of this for gay men and lesbians include, bullying in school, mockery in the mass media and discrimination in employment. Some forms of sexuality, such as paedophilia, sado-masochism, transvestism, necrophilia and some forms of exhibitionism, can be even more stigmatized. It is for this reason that many forms of sexuality which do not conform with normal sex are concealed, with practitioners using what Goffman called 'impression management' to conceal these aspects of their sexuality from others, to prevent them from becoming part of their public identity and the stigmatization that would accompany this.
   • Gay and lesbian identities
     • There is more fluidity about sexual identity, and new identities are emerging, with more TV soaps and dramas featuring gay and lesbian relationships. The changes are fairly recent, particularly in relation to the law. Whilr lrdbianism has never been specifically agaisnt the law in the UK, it was only in 1968 that it became legal for there to be sexual relations between men over the age of 21 in England and Wales, with Scottish men having to wait unit 1980. The age of consent for gay men only became the same as for heterosexual adults (age 16) in 2000, and it was recently as 2005 that gay and lesbian couples were allowed to acieve the same legal status as heterosexual married couples by forming civil partnerships.
     • The rise of the gay movement, the importance of gay spending ('the pink pound') and newly emerging forms of masculinity have overcome much of the stigma attached to male homosexuality, as well as weakening the sense of differences and opposition between gay and straight masculine identities. In this sense, masculine sexual identity has become more fluid and changeable,and , and homosexuality much more widely accepted.
     • As a result of the gay movement, gay people who 'come out' and participate in the gay subculture now have a wide range of sexual identities open to them beyond the effeminate 'gay' or 'butch' stereotypes found in the medi, such as 'camp' gueens, macho men, cross-dressers, gay cowboys, leather boys, etc.
   • A note or caution
     • Key term: Bisexuality involves a sexual orientation towards people of both sexes.
     • Key term: Homophobia is an irrational fear of or aversion to homosexuals.
     • There is some evidence that attitudes to sexuality have become more relaxed, with wider acceptance of homosexuality and bisexuality, and people having more freedom to choose from a range of sexual identities However, it is important not to exaggerate the extent to these changes. The norms of sexual behaviour, and the sexual identities arising from them, are still constructed by the agencies of socialisation, and homosexuality, let alone other sexual practices, is still regarded as deviat by many people. Homophobia, an irrational fear of or aversion to homosexuals,is still very common.
     • Women are still very much more liekly to be seen as sex objects than men, particularly in pornography, with even young boys and girls widely exposed to sexualised images of females. Porn now seems quite deeply embedded, through the internet and moblie phone technology, in the culture of young men.