10.5 Conclusion
In this chapter you learned more about sexuality and how gendered norms contribute to heteronormativity. Our sexual attitudes and behaviors shape the way we think about sexuality and participate in sexual scripts. There are gendered norms and trends within the orgasm gap, sexual scripts, hooking up, online dating, and sexual violence.
At the beginning of the chapter we discussed the ‘Don’t say Gay’ Bill from Florida, and how that connects to larger systemic and institutional inequalities. These types of policies affect people based on their sexual identity. The impact of inequalities at the interactional level can lead to bullying and violence, while the structural arrangements of our social institutions create spaces where we see harassment and discrimination in marriage equality, healthcare, and workplaces.
Taking the information you’ve learned in this chapter and applying it to your everyday life, including interactions and how you analyze the social institutions you participate in, is one way to start thinking about social change. We can all push for making a change by using equity minded practices that don’t end up as discriminatory bills such as the one passed in Florida. Next in Chapter 11, you will learn more about prejudice and discrimination as we examine race and ethnicity.
10.5.1 Review of Learning Objectives
In this chapter you learn to differentiate among attitudes associated with sex and sexuality in the US and around the world, such as perspectives differing across nations. Sex education can frame many of one’s ideas about what sex should and shouldn’t be, and you learn that it has a long history rooted in debates of abstinence and excludes LGBTQIA+ populations. Learning about the rules of sexuality you saw that they are highly gender-based double standards, which are in line with the norms of the US and gender. They produce significant differences across gender lines for what is acceptable, what is unacceptable, how someone is viewed, and lead to similar lines of gendered violence. Finally, you learn about the interactional and institutional outcomes of the norms and ideas around sexuality such as lack of access to healthcare and struggles with adoption and creating families/marriage for LGBTQIA+ populations.
10.5.3 Key Terms
Heterosexism: discrimination or prejudice against gay people on the assumption that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation. (Oxford dictionary)
Homophobia: an extreme or irrational aversion to gay, lesbian, bisexual, or all LGBTQIA+ people, which often manifests as prejudice and bias
Hookup culture: where casual sexual encounters including one night stands, sexual engagements, and such are accepted and encouraged.
Male Gaze: the perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women. (Oxford Dictionary)
Marriage equality: is when same sex couples would have the same legal rights to marry as opposite sex couples, and have the same supports and legal protections afterwards.
Orgasm Gap: the disparity or unequal outcome in orgasms between couples, genders, and sexualities.
Push and resist dynamic: the situations where it is normal for men to press sexual activity and advances towards women attempting for further and increased sexual intimacy.
Queer Theory: is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies and women’s studies, it emphasizes the fluidity of gender and sexualities and performative qualities of them.
Rape Culture: a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.
Sexual Identity: is social identity ascribed to individuals based on their gender and the gender of the object of sexual desire. Sexuality includes personal and interpersonal expression of sexual desire, behavior, and identity.
Sexual Orientation: enduring patterns of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender
Sexuality: the sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions and behaviors individuals have towards other people
Sexual script: refers to the social rules that guide sexual interaction; these scripts are based in one’s culture.
Social construction of sexuality: socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior which shape how people see and experience sexuality
Sexual Socialization: A process of social interaction and communication in which individuals learn and internalize the sexuality associated with their gender role and biological sex. Sexuality includes: desire, power, sexual bodies, sexual acts, reproduction, sexual identity, communities, and discourses.
10.5.4 Discussion Questions
- Visit the linked website and complete the Heterosexual Questionnaire. After you’ve answered the questions, consider: how does heteronormativity shape the world you live in?
- Do you know anyone who has ever been bullied and taunted for being LGBT or for being perceived as LGBT? If so, describe what happened.
- Discuss debates around sex education in schools.
- What is the orgasm gap? Why does it persist?
- What does analyzing online dating patterns teach us about race, gender, and sexuality?
- List and describe three ways people may experience inequalities related to their sexual orientation.
10.5.5 Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
“Conclusion” by Heidi Esbensen licensed under CC BY 4.0.
10.5.6 Chapter 10 Bibliography
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