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The Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality

According to Johnny Dam, "Masculinity is what you think it to be ... [it is] all by understanding, [I
believe] masculinity and womanhood is something that is extremely 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 exhibits 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 produced in relation to the opposite sex. The variances in between cultures
suggests that gender expectations alter within various cultures. These expectations put pressure on
each member of society to conform and abide by the folkways of their own culture. The development
of gender expectations by society develops a restricting meaning of gender roles and sexuality that
differ from culture to culture. Society produced the role of gender and produced an emphasis on the
distinctions between the 2 genders. Alma Gottlieb states: "biological inevitability of the sex organs
comes to mean a viewed inevitability of social functions, expectations, and significances" (Gottlieb,
167). Sex is the clinical recommendation that males and females are biologically different; gender
originates from society's formation of functions designated to each sex and the focus of the
differences in between the 2 sexes. The production of significances centers on the expectations of the
functions each sex should fill; society produces cultural standards that perpetuate these
developments. Gender blurs the lines in between the differences created by nature and those created
by society (Gottlieb, 168); gender is the cultural expectations of sexes, with indicating assigned to the
distinctions in between them. Due to the cultural production of gender, it is an element of socialization
and is found out by members at an early age. 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 that 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
"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
considered 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 the gender roles that create it.
Sexuality reflects the gender expectations of society. It, like gender, is created in relation to the
opposite sex. Sexuality has a way of restricting each sex into specific sexual roles; men are expected
to have a dominant sexual style and women are expected to have a submissive sexual style; these
expectations stem from the expectations of the roles of each gender. Women are criticized when they
are considered too sexual (Jean Kilbourne, 133). Sexuality is the preference an individual has in
relation to their sexual relations, but it is much deeper than that. Women, while being expected to be
submissive, are portrayed as highly sexual, and young girls are expected to fulfill these roles.
Sexuality reflects cultural opinions and is dominated by the gender that dominates culture, males
(Kilbourne, 136). Sexuality is dominated by culture because of the explicit sexual roles individuals are
expected to fulfill; a disputed opinion is that sexuality is biological, but sexuality is defined by the
gender roles assigned to sex, because of the emphasis on gender roles, it is culturally created.
Sexuality is also an aspect of socialization; individuals are taught the sexual roles they should
perform, according to their perceived gender. I use the word perceived because a woman can appear
to be feminine, yet identify greater with the male sex, but this women is still expected to conform to
female gender roles. The development of expectations of gender and sexuality within a culture allow
for different expectations depending on the culture. American's expect that men do not display any
sort of emotion as a sign of masculinity; in other cultures, the definition of masculinity changes and
certain displays of emotion are considered masculine. In Nicaragua, for instance, men who display
emotion in the face of danger (or in the case of cards, of chance) are considered masculine for their
ability to handle danger with visible bravado. American men are considered masculine for their ability
to handle danger while acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary (Roger Lancaster, 194).
Additionally the construction of sexuality changes from culture to culture. In Western Culture, it is
natural to suppress sexual speech and the common belief is that men are more sexual than women;
in Muslim culture, however, the accepted idea is that women are the more sexual of the two. This
belief is both a product and an influence on gender roles; in Western culture, it is understood that men
more often perform sexual violence because of their higher sexual nature, but, in Muslim culture, part
of the reason women wear their shrouds is because of their perceived sexual nature (Gottlieb, 177).
Often times the belief is that there are distinct forms of gender, sexuality, and gender expectation; this
belief is one that does not accommodate that there are often overlaps in roles and that many people
to not identify specifically with culture's explicit definitions. Opinions of gender and gender roles can
be changed with time and can be redefined with the evolution of culture and acceptance of new ideas.
The definition of acceptable behavior changes as society becomes more receptive to progressive
ideas; this change allows for expanding definitions of gender roles and expectations. The only thing
that remains unchanging (except through scientific practices) is sex. If certain cultures can change
gender roles and expectations, it is clearly not a set idea; people influence the way culture influences
people, so the shaping of gender roles is in the hands of society. There is no easy way to define what
femininity or masculinity is, or what makes a man or woman, as the characteristics vary just within
a single culture; there is a greater difference between genders than within races. The vast differences
between cultural expectations of what makes a man or woman and what it means to be masculine or
feminine allow for a never-ending debate. Culture creates the expectations men and women must
conform to in order to be considered acceptable in society. The sliding scale of how a male or female
actually identifies with their prescribed role depends on the socialization process and the way they
identify with society's expectations of them. The social construction of gender and sexuality all rely on
the measure that people believe there is a difference between the two sexes, once this emphasis is
taken away, is when gender roles will no longer play an integral role in the structure of society.

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