Tall, short, funny, serious,

oral sex enthusiasts, etc.

Sexual identity infinitely
many
Effects of our culture

Zeroes in on which gender

is doing what with which
gender
Notion of sexual identity
strict distinctions between
male and female
Transsexuals

Men and women who believe

they were born in the wrong
body
Experience themselves as
the other sex
Sometimes correct bodies
surgery/hormone
treatments
Sexual orientations
diverse
May pair with either
male of female

Two arguments that explain

genders sexual desire
expressions
1. Image/Statistics depicting distinct
patterns of sexual expression of
men and women, regardless of
sexual orientation (Kinseys scale,
National Health and Social Life
Survey, Advocate survey)

2. Wide range of sexualities among men

or women (peoples distinct
preferences/tastes)
Continuum of passion, of desire,
of sexual acts and feelings
Explains why such phenomena
occurs
Also helps recognize that sexual
phenomena are socially scripted
but also highly individualized
Continuum of Sexuality becomes
more diverse

SEXUAL
DESIRE
AND
GENDER

Biology is a prominent context for

sexuality
Other context also influence
sexuality interpersonal,
biographical, social, political
Social World/Academic
discussions of sexuality

Seeks to set up distinct

categories for understanding
sexuality
Individuals rarely fit into distinct
categories
Inaccurate self-labeling

By: Schwartz and Rutter

Anthropology 187 MHI
Andrei Aguilar | Tiffany Garcia

Sexuality exists on a continuum. There

are people whose experiences reflect
either end of the continuum and people
whose experiences reflect the middle

THE CONTINUUM OF DESIRE

Kinsey HeterosexualHomosexual Rating Scale

measured the following:

Participants reports of interest

in or attraction to both samesex and other-sex
Explicit past experiences (both
same-sex and other-sex)
Actual behavior
Fantasies
Intensity of feeling
Other important elements that
contribute to a persons
sexuality

Essentialists say that people who

admit to homosexual behavior but deny being
a homosexual are kidding themselves

Social constructionists say people

are always kidding themselves; people acquire
desires and behaviors that are available and
appealing

Sexual Orientation choices are based

on the following:

Personal history

Social norms

Costs and benefits in a given

social system
How many might code their
fantasies differently if it were
prestigious to be bisexual?

opened the door to thinking in terms

of diversity of sexualities; advanced
the idea of bisexuality
Use of sexual continuum blurs edges
of heterosexuality and homosexuality
Biological context influences acquiring
one sexual orientation; society has
greater influence
National Health and Social Life
Survey (Laumann, Michael and
Gagnon 1994)
Many more people report
homosexual desire and
behavior than those who claim
homosexuality or bisexuality as
their main sexual orientation or
sexual identity

More men than women are

identified as homosexual but more
women claim homosexual desire
and behavior than men in those
categories.
Advocate Survey (Lever 1994)
More men than women identify
themselves as homosexual

Much of sexual attraction and

behavior between women is NOT automatically
labeled as sexual

Reasons:

18th and 19th Century women

were allowed such license to declare
truly passionate

feelings for one another without

labels
Essentialists would say that these
women were lesbian lovers who
did not have social permission to
know what they really were
Difficult to label peoples emotion
for them
Sociologists and historians have
different historical and
psychological vantage points
Beliefs and biases influence the
way social sciences is conducted in
the present as well as influenced
the views and interpretations of
the past
Sexual orientation, desire and
other manifestations of sexuality
socially constructed & culturally
specific
GENDER AS THE BASIS FOR
SEXUAL IDENTITY

Sexual Orientation
The identity one has based on the
gender of the sexual partners one
tends to pair with
Gender is the focus of sexual
identity.
What if?

Sexual identity in terms of various

tastes of people