Theories of Sexuality

before you start

Sociologists representing all three major theoretical perspectives study the role sexuality plays in social life today. Scholars recognize that sexuality continues to be an important and defining aspect of people’s lives. Sociologists also recognize that the manner in which sexuality is constructed has a significant effect on perceptions, interactions, and outcomes. The social construction of sexuality refers to the way in which socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior shape the way people see and experience sexuality.

1. Structural Functionalism

When it comes to sexuality, functionalists stress the importance of cultural regulation of sexual behavior to ensure marital cohesion and family and social stability. Functionalists identify the family unit as the most integral component in society. As a result, they maintain a strict focus on the family unit at all times and maintain that social arrangements that promote and ensure family preservation are cultural universals and crucial to social cohesion and society.

Functionalists such as Talcott Parsons have long argued that the regulation of sexual activity is an important function of the family. Social norms surrounding family life have traditionally encouraged sexual activity within the family unit (marriage) and have discouraged activity outside of it (premarital and extramarital sex). From a functionalist point of view, the purpose of encouraging sexual activity in the confines of marriage is to intensify the bond between spouses and to ensure that procreation occurs within a stable, legally recognized relationship. This structure gives offspring the best possible chance for appropriate socialization and the provision of basic resources.

From a functionalist standpoint, same sex marriages as well as other naturally childless marriages also assist society by providing stable homes for abandoned or orphaned children. However, this does not take into account the rise in gay and lesbian couples who choose to bear and raise children through a variety of available social and biological interventions.

2. Conflict Theory

From a conflict theory perspective, sexuality is another area in which power differentials are present and where dominant groups actively work to promote their worldview as well as their economic interests.

For conflict theorists, dominant groups (in this instance, heterosexuals) wish for their worldview—one which embraces traditional marriage, the nuclear family, and oftentimes a politicized religiosity—to win out over what they see as the intrusion of a secular, individually driven worldview. People who feel a strong opposition to marriage equality often refuse to “participate” in anything faintly related to same sex marriage, like processing marital legal documents or baking wedding cakes, because it goes against their personal biases. Marriage equality supporters argue that a vendor or employee, by selling products or processing paperwork, are only being asked to do their job and not to participate in the marriage. This has led to many legal challenges but also positive outcomes that continue to affirm basic human rights and freedom from discrimination.

Conflict theory suggests that as long as dominant sexuality groups (heterosexuals) and subordinate sexuality groups (all varieties of queer people) struggle over these contested social and financial benefits, they will continue to be at odds.

3. Symbolic Interactionism

Interactionists focus on the meanings associated with sexuality and sexual orientation. Since femininity is devalued in U.S. society, those who adopt traits associated with femininity are subject to ridicule; this is especially true for boys or men. Just as masculinity is the symbolic norm, so too has heterosexuality come to signify normalcy.

EXAMPLE

Prior to 1973, the American Psychological Association (APA) defined homosexuality as an abnormal or deviant disorder. Today, the APA cites no association between sexual orientation and psychopathology and sees homosexuality as a normal aspect of human sexuality. Interactionist labeling theory recognizes the impact this has made on society’s acceptance of people along a spectrum of sexuality.

Interactionists are also interested in how discussions of queer communities and individuals often focus almost exclusively on people's sex lives; interactionists interpret this focus as society's assumption that queer people, especially gay men, may be assumed to be hypersexual and, in some cases, deviant.

Interactionism might also focus on the impact of homophobic slurs on individuals and communities. Some slurs are often used to demean gay men by feminizing them. This subsequently affects how gay men perceive themselves. Recall Cooley’s “looking-glass self,” which suggests that the self develops as a result of our interpretation and evaluation of the responses of others. Constant exposure to derogatory labels, jokes, and pervasive homophobia would lead to a negative self-image, or worse, self-hate. The CDC reports that homosexual youths who experience high levels of social rejection are six times more likely to have high levels of depression and eight times more likely to have attempted suicide.

4. Queer Theory

Queer theory is an interdisciplinary approach to sexuality studies that challenges the notion that heterosexuality is “normal.” Queer theorists question Western society’s rigid splitting of gender into male and female roles, and question the manner in which we have been taught to think about sexual orientation.

The queer theory perspective highlights the need for a more flexible and fluid conceptualization of sexuality—one that allows for change, negotiation, and freedom. The current schema used to classify individuals as either “heterosexual” or “homosexual” pits one orientation against the other. This mirrors other oppressive schemas in our culture, especially those surrounding gender and race (Black versus white, male versus female).

By calling their discipline “queer,” a word that was once a slur and now has been embraced as a political organizing category for people who are not cisgendered heterosexuals, scholars reject the effects of labeling; instead, they embraced the word “queer” and reclaimed it for their own purposes.

Queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick argued against U.S. society’s monolithic definition of sexuality and its reduction of sexuality to the single factor of the gender of someone’s desired partner. Sedgwick identified dozens of other ways in which people’s sexualities were different, such as:

1. Some people place a great deal of importance on specific genital acts, others do not.
2. Sexuality makes up a large share of the self-perceived identity of some people, and a small share of others’.
3. Some people place a great deal of importance on monogamy, or the absence of monogamy; others do not find this to be an important distinction.
4. Some people spend a lot of time thinking about sex, others little.
5. Some people like to have a lot of sex, others little or none.
6. Many people have their richest mental/emotional involvement with sexual acts that they don’t actually practice, or don’t even want to practice.
7. Some people like spontaneous sexual scenes, others like highly scripted ones, others like spontaneous-sounding ones that are nonetheless totally predictable.
8. Some people experience their sexuality as deeply embedded in a matrix of gender meanings and gender differentials, and others do not.

big idea

Throughout this module we have examined the complexities of gender, sex, and sexuality. Differentiating between sex, gender, and sexual orientation is an important first step to a deeper understanding and critical analysis of these issues. Understanding the sociology of sex, gender, and sexuality will help to build awareness of the inequalities experienced by subordinate categories such as women, queer people, and gender minorities.