The socialization of homosexuality and heterosexuality in a non-Western society

Journal	Archives of Sexual Behavior
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
ISSN	0004-0002 (Print) 1573-2800 (Online)
Issue	Volume 18, Number 1 / February, 1989
DOI	10.1007/BF01579288
Pages	13-29
Subject Collection	Behavioral Science
SpringerLink Date	Monday, May 16, 2005

John D. Baldwin¹ and Janice I. Baldwin¹

(1)	Department of Sociology, University of California, 93106 Santa Barbara, California, USA

Abstract  Data on the Sambia—a tribe living in Papua New Guinea—are presented to demonstrate how Sambia males develop a homosexual orientation in boyhood and adolescence, then switch to become heterosexuals in adulthood. Social learning theory is used to explain how sexual orientation in the Sambia change from homo- to heterosexual during the transition to adulthood. Whereas most learning analyses of sexual orientation are based on data from Western cultures, this manuscript extends that literature to deal with a non-Western culture. While including Pavlovian and operant conditioning, which is stressed in many learning analyses of sexual learning, the present analysis also includes detail on the social and cognitive learning principles that are important in understanding the learning of sexual orientation and behavior.

Key words  homosexuality - bisexuality - heterosexuality - learning theory - non-Western culture

Note from Reclaiming Natural Manhood site: 

The only problem with this paper is their assumption that the men become exclusively heterosexual after marriage. The Western 'experts' can't help expolating their values on the non-western subjects, often forcefully and without any evidences.

How Bonds between Men Shape Their Sexual Relations with Women

This version was published on April 1, 2008
Men and Masculinities, Vol. 10, No. 3, 339-359 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1097184X06287761

Men, Sex, and Homosociality

How Bonds between Men Shape Their Sexual Relations with Women

Michael Flood

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University

Male-male social bonds have a powerful influence on the sexual relations of some young heterosexual men. Qualitative analysis among young men aged eighteen to twenty-six in Canberra, Australia, documents the homosocial organization of men's heterosexual relations. Homosociality organizes men's sociosexual relations in at least four ways. For some of these young men, male-male friendships take priority over male-female relations, and platonicfriendships with women are dangerously feminizing. Sexual activity is a key path to masculine status, and other men are the audience, always imagined and sometimes real, for one's sexual activities. Heterosexual sex itself can be the medium through which male bonding is enacted. Last, men's sexual storytelling is shaped by homosocial masculine cultures. While these patterns were evident particularly among young men in the highly homosocial culture of a military academy, their presence also among other groups suggests the wider influence of homosociality on men'ssexual and social relations.

Narrating Masculinity: Gender, Identity Work, and Heterosexual Male Sex Stories

Authors: Kelly, Brian.

[Working Draft – Conference Paper Format, 2007 ASA Annual Meeting] Brian C Kelly, PhD Purdue University, Dept of Sociology & Anthropology Keywords: masculinity, sex, young men 1

Introduction:

Gender and sexuality have been shown to be linked in profound ways. In their negotiation of everyday life, men and women act out sexual scripts in their expressions of erotic desire and engage in certain sexual behaviors shaped by culturally prescribed conceptions about masculinity and femininity (Simon & Gagnon, 1986). Conceptions of masculinity circulate within society such that they create normative expectations of behavior for both men and women (Deaux, 1984). These expectations profoundly influence sexual interactions and often operate in such a hegemonic fashion that people often unknowingly conform to dominant norms. Research suggests that men are even more likely to conform to social pressures around masculinity than women are to femininity norms (Martin, 1995). Yet, men are not simply passive victims of this process. They actively construct and reproduce norms of masculinity in ways that display and enact their conceptions of gender and sexuality. This occurs in the context of our social relationships, as gender is produced and reproduced within the confines of everyday social transactions. Yet, although men may conceptualize a similar idealized masculinity, they deploy or enact masculinity in different ways (Connell, 1995). I set out to explore the ways in which men deploy these masculinities in the course of discussing their sexual lives. To situate this exploration within a theoretical framework, I draw upon the sociological concept of “identity work.” Within every social encounter, individuals subtly assert elements of their identity (Goffman, 1959). Identity work refers to a “range of activities individuals engage in to create, present, & sustain personal identities”, both Narrating Masculinity as individuals and as parts of collectivities (Snow & Anderson, 1987; Einwohner, 2006). In other words, identity work refers to the practices that construct & negotiate identity while nested within a social context. Individuals may engage in a variety of forms of identity work through their actions, habits, posture, and talk (Snow & Anderson, 1987). It is this discursive identity work that I explore among young men. Identity work becomes a means by which men “do gender” (West & Zimmerman, 1987). Through it, gender is produced and reproduced in our social relationships in dynamic and dialectic fashion. Thus, men will deploy masculinity in some contexts but not others (Connell, 1995). In this case, the discursive identity work entails masculinity assertions of gender identity within the context of discussing sexual experiences. I look at how these young men use discursive identity work to harmonize their social roles, identities, and self-concept within the context of describing their recent sexual experiences. In the ensuing paper, I explore how men construct various forms of masculinity and how these enactments of gender inform sexual interactions with female partners, conceptions of intimacy, and sexual behaviors. In particular, this paper provides an analysis of how idealized masculinity is expressed via sexual narratives. Methods A diverse sample of young heterosexual men completed qualitative in-depth interviews with trained staff as part of the Club Drugs and Health project – a study designed to examine a range of health issues among 400 young adults (ages 18-29) who participate in club subcultures. Each of the subjects enrolled in the project participated in a qualitative interview at baseline and then+ once every four months for a one year period. Baseline interview transcripts were coded and analyzed to further understand conceptions of masculinity among heterosexual men and how it relates to male sexual activity. Qualitative interviews were conducted using Critical Incident Measures to elicit sexual narratives. These qualitative narratives described recent sexual encounters – consisting of narratives relating both sober sexual activity and sexual activity under the influence of alcohol and/or club drugs – and were analyzed for assertions of masculinity within the language used in discussing sexuality, the concordance/discordance of behavior and identity, and reasons for engaging or not engaging in certain sexual activities. Emphasis was placed on how men describe their sexual encounters with women in narrative form. Prior to discussing to the qualitative data I want to discuss the interview context as a social transaction. After coding the data for masculinity assertions, I began to think about my use of the framework of identity work. Since each interview can be thought of as a social transaction, I began to think about the interview context as a determinant of identity work. Given the contestation of gender norms within same-gender circumstances, I hypothesized that the subjects would make more masculinity assertions in the presence of other men. I took the coded data and categorized the interviews into 3 categories: no masculinity assertions, lone masculinity assertion, and multiple masculinity assertions. I dropped the lone masculinity assertions out of the analysis because it was a 50/50 split between interviewer gender. As shown in Table 1, the instances of multiple masculinity assertions were significantly more likely to be concentrated in the interviews conducted by male staff. Results The first element of masculinity assertions that I’d like to highlight revolve around assertions of sexual identity. When starting off the sexuality component of the in- depth interview, we asked everyone their general feelings about their sexuality. Many men were quick to assert their heterosexual identity despite that the question did not relate to sexual identity. For instance, a typical question by an interviewer was, “Can you tell me generally how you feel about your sexuality?” Amongst other things their responses included, “Um… I’m straight.”, “Completely straight. I like girls a lot.” and, “How do I feel about it? … I’m straight and I really don’t think about it too much.” These men asserted their masculinity through adhering to dominant heteronormative prescriptions for making it clear that they are not gay. Discussions of male and female wiring became a means for constructing masculinity by drawing clear distinctions between themselves and their feminine counterparts. Men, themselves included, are discussed as sexual animals with appetites, whereas women operate differently in both desire and function. For instance a young man said, “Everything makes me want sex. I’m a guy. C’mon, guys think about sex every 6 seconds.” Another echoed these sentiments saying, “Isn’t that the typical modus operandi for anything with a Y chromosome?” Another young man contrasted male and female sexuality saying, “It’s not that hard to get a guy off. Insert, somewhere preferably moist, repeat. To get a girl off is a fuckin’ art form.” It is well known that men in many societies consider it normative for men to be the active partner in the sexual interaction. But the ways in which men construct this activity can serve to further assert their masculinity. Besides simply characterizing their active role in the sexual interaction, some men draw upon imagery of a machine to further assert a masculine identity. One exchange between the interviewer and respondent was: I: What kind of sex did you have that night? R: “Jackhammer sex. I pounded the hell out of her.” Another young man said, “I’m there for one purpose only and that’s to get off. So, if I’ve got to pound the hell out of her or flip her upside down, I’ll do what I have to do to get the mission done.” Another described a sexual experience in a club and said, “So, I bent her over the fuckin’ sink. It’s plowing time.” The young man providing this first quote likens himself to a jackhammer. Men often discussed “plowing,” “pounding,” or “banging” women. Such mechanical assertions served to further deploy their masculine identities. The discussion of a lack of male expressivity or emotion may further serve as a means to construct masculinity. “I’ve had girlfriends who like it when I talk dirty, but I could never keep it up for more than a couple of sentences because I lose my train of thought. I don’t want to talk. If I wanted to talk to you, I wouldn’t have sex with you. I’d sit down and talk to you. The reason I’m having sex with you is because I don’t want to talk, I want to have sex. If I wanted to have a conversation, I’d go down to Starbucks and get a cup of coffee.” In this quote, this young man discusses a disinterest in talking during sex. This coheres with the stereotypic conception of the male as disinterested in communication and concerned with physicality. This focus on physicality is at the core of this man’s masculinity assertion. He ultimately mentions that if he wanted conversation, he’d go down to the Starbucks and get a cup of coffee. Also related to the active nature of men however is their ambivalence towards performing oral sex. Some of this indirectly relates to how men construct their masculinity through a desire to perform with their penis. Some viewed oral sex as unnecessary or others as dirty, sloppy, and gross. The following exchange was but one example: I: “Did you give your girl some oral action too?” R: “Yeah, I definitely hooked it up. I put on my bib and went to work.” Another young man said, “I tell you, some guys say they like it, but they’re lying. They only do it because…” And another admitted to an oral sex double-standard among men. “It’s just that it kind off grosses me out, but I don’t mind them doing it to me.” The first man refers to putting on his bib, which draws in imagery of messiness and creating a barrier between himself and this messiness. Other men simply refuse stating that it is “gross”, yet of course they do not mind receiving oral sex themselves. This is fundamentally about an expression of power and male privilege. Further related to the issue of gendered power relations and male privilege is that many men assert their masculinity through the objectification of women. We came across the use of the word “slam whore,” which is likened to a “fuck buddy” – a woman who will have sex with a man without the “hassle” of a relationship – yet the image of a slam whore evokes a sense of domination. Other men objectify by merely treating their sexual partners as objects for their own pleasure. “I was happy ‘cause if she wasn’t here, I would have been smackin’ it to some friggin’ magazines. So, I was glad it was a person.” Another young man said, “You just want a girl in the club if you’re piss drunk. You might not care about condoms. I don’t know this girl, throw a bag on her head, you know?” Some men are simply glad they had a woman, regardless of who it was, suggesting a detached sex of intimacy and raw sexual physicality. Objectification continued with men discussing women as sexual conquests, such as saying “I was like, ‘Wow, I did that? Great!” “That” being a woman and not even dignifying her with the appropriate pronoun. Other forms of objectification came with referring to women as bitches, whores, or simply pussy. The following exchange was typical: R: Well, once I had sex with two whores, so I don’t know. I: Once you had sex with two horses? R: (laughs) No, I mean two bitches. Another young man succinctly stated, “All I can think about is pussy when I’m drunk.” In this respect, men constructed their masculinity through a portrayal of women serving the function of fulfilling male needs. Distancing is a classic form of discursive identity work. Distancing from sexual dysfunction was a concern for many men given that dysfunction is perceived to be in direct conflict with their masculine identities. These issues of dysfunction were particularly germane within the context of sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs. One young man asserted his masculinity through the following quote: “I don’t know if you know, but doing a lot of coke, it’s a little hard to get hard. But then I persevered through it.” Another young man said, “Coke can go one way or the other. Coke can make me fuckin’ limp as a ramen noodle or make me a fuckin’ porn star.” In discussing dysfunction, men often hedged their bets in a variety of ways in attempts to preserve their masculinity. Some men discussed issues of perseverance, as if connected to the ideal of rugged individualism, through which they could prove their masculinity by overcoming the dysfunction. Other men leave themselves a way out, by acknowledging the dysfunction but by asserting that they still performed on other occasions. Other men constructed their masculinity by distancing themselves from dysfunction simply by making it clear that they do not have a problem. “It takes longer to reach orgasm. Not that I feel I have any performance problems.” Another said, “I’ve never gotten to the point that I cannot get an erection.” The following exchange ended with the respondent barking at the interviewer in their discussion of dysfunction. I: A lot of guys report having problems performing when using coke. It doesn’t sound like an issue for you. R: NO! In some cases men had to contend with the issue of female sexual agency. These often led to dismissals of female agency in a means to juxtapose their own masculine identity through identifying gender non-conformity among their partners. One young man said, “Girls who approach guys usually tend to so that more than once and if she has a history… I don’t really talk to her much to know about that but if she has a history, I don’t want to get anything from her.” Such men were often dismissive suggesting that women who expressed sexual agency were potentially disease carriers or had problems with nymphomania. Another said, “She might be a nympho.” In other instances, women who were expressing sexual agency were described as begging for it, which of course evokes a sense of these men having unbearable desirability. Typical of such assertions was the young man who said, “She was basically begging for it.” Of course a fundamental means by which men constructed their masculinity was by discussing their sexual prowess. Some men liked themselves to athletes or champions connecting their sexual exploits to physical feats. One man noted, “It’s pleasurable because you’re having so much of it and it kind of turns into a sport, you know? You feel like an Olympic athlete. So that’s fun.” Another young man touted his one night stands saying, “I loved it. I never did the one night stand thing, so every time I did it I felt like a champ.” Others likened themselves to masculine animals, such as bulls, in order to assert their masculinity. “I was fucking like a bull.” Such assertions evoked images of virility and ruggedness. Others discussed their prowess by asserting that they could do things that other men couldn’t, most commonly being that of brining female partners to orgasm. One young man touted his ability to provide women with pleasure by saying, “I can make them like twenty, thirty orgasms. I work as a bartender so the women talk to me sometimes. They tell me they don’t have orgasms… so, you know, I can make it… ten or fifteen.” Another said, “For instance some women don’t have orgasms. Some of them have their own partners but they don’t please them, so sometimes I please them, you know what I mean.” Despite that some expressions of prowess border on the implausible, such instances of fictive expression still account for how men conceptualize themselves and assert their masculinity. Discussion Men engage in “identity work” to construct various masculinities when discussing sex in an attempt to harmonize them with their sexual self-concepts. Though this identity work occurs in a variety of forms, discursive identity work is a key mechanism to construct masculinity in sexual stories. The identity work involved in interviewing will yield a particular type of gendered data. I suggest that the practice of gender matching should be re-examined as the social transaction will yield a particular type of data. Assertions of masculinity should not be blindly considered to be a better type of data, simply a different type of data. The dynamics of gender power can be seen in the sexual narratives of heterosexual men. Many men asserted their masculine dominance in a variety of ways from the objectification of women, to male sexual privilege, to discounting female sexual agency. Even the tempered nature of the discussion of sexuality by men in relationships about current romantic partners suggests an element of protection and control by these men. These constructions of masculinity are discursively reproduced by heterosexual men and provide a means for them to harmonize their masculine identity with their sexuality, social roles, and self-concepts. In sum, the telling of sexual stories provides a forum for young men to engage in identity work as a means of harmonizing their sense of self with their performance of gender. Table 1. Masculinity Assertions Interviewer Gender No Masculinity* Assertions Multiple Masculinity* Assertions Female 8 (66.7%) 4 (33.3%) Male 2 (9.5%) 19 (90.5%) * Statistically significant diff at p < .001 level

Accounts of sexual identity formation in heterosexual students

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  June, 1995  by Michele J. Eliason

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Very little research has focused on the ways that heterosexual people perceive their sexual identity. This paper explores heterosexual identity from the standpoint of an established identity model, that of James Marcia. Twenty-six heterosexual undergraduate students (14 men: 3 African-American, 1 Latino, and 10 White, and 12 women: 3 African-American, 1 Latina, and 8 White) wrote two-three page essays on how their sexual identities formed and how they influence their daily lives. Students could be categorized into all four of Marcia's identity statuses Additionally, six common themes were noted in their essays: had never thought about sexual identity; society made me heterosexual; gender determines sexual identity; issues of choice versus innateness of sexuality; no alternative to heterosexuality; and the influence of religion.

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The vast majority of literature on sexual identity has taken one of two forms: studies of gay or lesbian identity development or studies of heterosexuals' attitudes about lesbian, gay, or bisexual people. These studies often assume that heterosexuals are a monolithic, stable group with predictable attitudes about nonheterosexuals and a consistent and clear sense of their own (hetero)sexual identity. Rarely has research addressed the question of how heterosexuals achieve a sexual identity, or questioned the stability or homogeneity of this identity, or indeed, asked whether most heterosexuals experience themselves as even having a sexual identity.

One of the earliest theoretical models of heterosexuality comes from Freud. Weeks (1985) described the evolution of Freud's theory of sexuality as follows. Freud ultimately felt that a sexual identity was a precarious construct, always threatened by repressed desires. Sexual identity formation begins shortly after birth, as the child progresses through psychosexual stages. Freud felt that a key component of sexuality was the early assumption of the child that all humans are genitally alike, with a penis. When faced with people without penises, boys could develop castration anxiety and girls could develop penis envy. These emotions paved the way for the Oedipal complex of the phallic stage, whereby the child learns to repress sexual desire for the mother and to identify with the same-sex parent. If the conflict is successfully resolved, at maturity the individual will select partners of the other gender. Freud thought that humans were born "polymorphously perverse" or capable of sexual attractions to anyone (or thing), and only by a complex and traumatic psychic family drama, did heterosexual identity emerge. In his three essays on sexuality in 1905, Freud follows a discussion of homosexuality with this statement. "Thus, from the point of view of psychoanalysis the exclusive sexual interest felt by men for women is also a problem that needs elucidating and is not a self-evident fact based upon an attraction that is ultimately of a chemical nature" (p. 11). Interestingly, homosexual desire is a key component of early sexuality, as the lines of desire and identification blur. de Kuyper (1993) suggested that "normal" resolution of the Oedipal complex results in male homophobia (fear of one's own homosexual desires). Freud is one of the few theorists of this century to point out the constructedness of heterosexuality, but few who followed him pursued this point.

Erik Erikson (1986) was among the first of contemporary theorists to stress the importance of identity development. He suggested that personal identity leads to individuality and consists of authentic truths about one's self. In his developmental stage theory, Erikson proposed that identity is the major crisis of the adolescent (at least for males; Erikson thought that identity and intimacy were achieved more or less simultaneously for women, since he thought that a woman's identity depended on a relationship to a man). In Erikson's scheme, adolescence or young adulthood would be a crucial time of achieving identity, unlike Freud, who thought that events in early childhood most strongly influenced the emergence of an identity in adolescence. For Erikson, heterosexuality is assumed and no alternative models of sexual identity are available. Yet, his theory is significant, as he proposed that the adolescent identity crisis must be resolved before healthy intimate relationships are possible.

James Marcia (1987) proposed that identity could exist in different states or statuses, depending on whether exploration and commitment were present. The four identity statuses that he described were:

1. diffusion--the person has no active sense of identity and there has been no exploration and no commitment to any identity.

2. foreclosure--the person has accepted an identity imposed by another or by societal expectations. This person accepts the identity without critique and without exploring options.

3. moratorium--the person is in the active stage of exploring an identity, but has not yet made a commitment.

(to read more click on the site here)

Reversible switches between male–male and male–female mating behaviour by male damselflies

For many animal groups, both sexes have been reported to attempt to mate with members of their own sex. Such behaviour challenges theories of sexual selection, which predict optimization of reproductive success. We tested male mate choice between opposite- and same-sex members in the damselfly Ischnura elegans. Binary choice experiments were conducted following exposure periods in insectaries with only males or with both sexes present. We show that switches in choice between the opposite sex and the same sex can be induced and reversed again by changing the social context. We argue that the observed reversibility in male–male- and male–female-directed mating behaviour is maladaptive and a consequence of strong selection on a male's ability to alter choice between different female colour morphs.


Note from Reclaiming Natural Manhood site: Interesting research, but still has several loopholes resulting in imperfect and misleading results.

......

Sex as Male Bonding

(p. 205-208)

In some ways, "hooking up" (with girls) represents the ... general aversion of young men to adulthood. They don't want girlfriends or serious relationships, in part, because they don't feel themselves ready, and in part because they see relationships as "too much work". Instead they want the benefit of adult relationships, which for them seem to be exclusively sexual, with none of the responsibility that goes with adult sexuality - the emotional connection, caring, mutuality, and sometimes even the common human decency that mature sexual relationships demand. Simply put "hooking up" is the form of relationship guys want with girls.

Yet its a bit more complicated than simple pleasure-seeking on the part of guys, because as it turns out pleasure isn't the first item on the hookup agenda. In fact, pleasure barely appears on the list at all. If sex were the goal, a guy would have a much better chance of having more (and better) sex if he had a steady girlfriend. Instead, guys hook up to prove something to other guys. The actual experience of sex pales in comparison to the experience of talking about sex.

When I've just got laid, the first thing I think about -- really, I shouldn't be telling you this, but really is the very first thing before I've even like "finished" -- that I can't wait to tell my crew who I just did. Like, I say to myself, "Omigod, they're not going to believe that I just did Kristy!" -- Ted, a 21-year old junior at Wisconsin University.

Hooking up may have less to do with guys' relationships with women and more to do with guys relationships with other guys. "Its like… the girls you hook up , they're, like a way of showing off to other guys," says Jeff, a proud member of a fraternity at the University of Northern Iowa. I mean you tell your friends you hooked up with Melissa, and they're like 'whoa, dude, you are one stud!' so I'm into Melissa because my guy friends think she is so hot, and now they think more of me because of it. It’s totally a guy thing."

He looks a bit sheepish "don’t get me wrong," he adds, with little affect "I mean Melissa is nice and blah blah blah.. I like her yeah."

"But," he lights up again: "The guys think I totally rule."

Jeff's comments echo those I heard from guys all across the country. Hooking up is not for whatever pleasures one might derive from drunken sex on a given weekend. Hooking up is a way that guys communicate with other guys - its about homosociality. Its a way that guys compete with each other establish a pecking order of cool studliness and attempt to move up in the rankings.

"Oh definitely," says Adam , a 26-year old Dartmouth graduate now working in financial services in Boston. "I mean why do you think its called scoring? It’s like you’re scoring with women, but your scoring ON the other guys. Getting over on a girl is the best way of getting your guys approval.

His friend, Dave, 28, sitting next to him at the bar is also a Dartmouth graduate. He nods, "Its not ... a simple tally, ... Its like WHO did you get? That’s how my guys, well... That's how we evaluated you for membership in the worldwide fraternity of guys."

They both laugh.

References for "Sexual Orientation" is a Western and invalid Concept

1. ^ The Psychology of Sexual Orientation, Behaviour, and identity By Louis Diamant, Richard D. McAnulty;Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995; ISBN 0313285012, 9780313285011; 522 pages; Quote from page 81: Although sexual orientation is a loaded Western concept, the term is still a useful one, if we avoid imposing Western thoughts and meanings associated with our language on non-Western, noncontemporary cultures.
2. ^ The Handbook of Social Work Direct Practice By Paula Allen-Meares, Charles D. Garvin; Contributor Paula Allen-Meares, Charles D. Garvin; Published by SAGE, 2001, ISBN 0761914994, 9780761914990 733 pages; Quote from page 478: The concept of sexual orientation is a product of contemporary Western thought.
3. ^ Sexual behavior and the non-construction of sexual identity: Implications for the analysis of men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women. Michael W. Ross & Ann K. Brooks; Quote from Page 9: Chou (2000) notes in his analysis of the lack of applicability of western concepts of sexual identity in China, just because a person has a particular taste for a specific food doesn’t mean that we label them in terms of the food that they prefer. A similar approach to sexual appetite as not conferring identity may be operating in this sample. McIntosh (1968) has previously noted that people who do not identify with the classic western, white gay/lesbian role may not necessarily identify their behavior as homosexual
4. ^ Transnational Transgender: Reading Sexual Diversity in Cross-Cultural Contexts Through Film and Video; Ryan, Joelle Ruby; American Studies Association; Quote: Many of the projects which have historically investigated sex/gender variance in non-Western contexts have been ethnographies and anthropological studies. Due to strong and lingering problems with ethnocentrism, many of these research studies have attempted to transpose a Western understanding of sex, gender and sexuality onto cultures in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Terms such as “homosexual,” “transvestite,” and “transsexual” all arose out of Western concepts of identity based on science, sexology and medicine and often bear little resemblance to sex/gender/sexuality paradigms in the varied cultures of the developing world.
5. ^ Sexual Orientation, Human Rights and Global Politics Matthew Waits, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom; email: m.waites@lbss.gla.ac.uk; web: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/sociology/staff/waites.html ; Quote from the Abstract: The paper problematises utilisation of the concept of 'sexual orientation' in moves to revise human rights conventions and discourses in the light of social constructionist and queer theory addressing sexuality, which has convincingly suggested that 'sexual orientation' is a culturally specific concept, misrepresenting many diverse forms of sexuality apparent in comparative sociological and anthropological research conducted worldwide. I will argue in particular that 'orientation' is a concept incompatible with bisexuality when interpreted within the context of dominant dualistic assumptions about sex, gender and desire in western culture (suggested by Judith Butler's concept of the 'heterosexual matrix'). I will discuss the implications of the this for interpreting contemporary struggles among competing social movements, NGO and governmental actors involved in contesting the relationship of sexuality to human rights as defined by the United Nations.
6. ^ [1] McIntosh argues that the labelling process should be the focus of inquiry and that homosexuality should be seen as a social role rather than a condition. Role is more useful than condition, she argues, because roles (of heterosexual and homosexual) can be dichotomised in a way that behaviour cannot. She draws upon cross-cultural data to demonstrate that in many societies 'there may be much homosexual behaviour, but there are no "homosexuals"' (p71).

Dude you're a fag

High school and the difficult terrain of sexuality and gender identity are brilliantly explored in this smart, incisive ethnography. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in a racially diverse working-class high school, Dude, You're a Fag sheds new light on masculinity both as a field of meaning and as a set of social practices. C. J. Pascoe's unorthodox approach analyzes masculinity as not only a gendered process but also a sexual one. She demonstrates how the "specter of the fag" becomes a disciplinary mechanism for regulating heterosexual as well as homosexual boys and how the "fag discourse" is as much tied to gender as it is to sexuality.
Contents
Acknowledgments

1. Making Masculinity: Adolescence, Identity, and High School
Revenge of the Nerds
What Do We Mean by Masculinity?
Bringing in Sexuality
Rethinking Masculinity, Sexuality, and Bodies
Methodology
Organization of the Book

2. Becoming Mr. Cougar: Institutionalizing Heterosexuality and Masculinity at River High
River High's Gender and Sexuality Curriculum
Pedagogy: The Unofficial Gender and Sexuality Curriculum
School Rituals: Performing and Policing Gender and Sexuality
Gender and Sexuality Regimes

3. Dude, You're a Fag: Adolescent Male Homophobia
What Is a Fag? Gendered Meanings
Becoming a Fag: Fag Fluidity
Embodying the Fag: Ricky's Story
Racializing the Fag
Where the Fag Disappears: Drama Performances
Reframing Homophobia

4. Compulsive Heterosexuality: Masculinity and Dominance
A Stud with the Ladies
Getting Girls
Touching
Sex Talk
Girls Respond
I'm Different from Other Guys
Females Are the Puppets

5. Look at My Masculinity! Girls Who Act Like Boys
Tomboy Pasts
Rebeca and the Basketball Girls
The Homecoming Queen: Jessie Chau
The Gay/Straight Alliance Girls
Embodying Masculinity

6. Conclusion: Thinking about Schooling, Gender, and Sexuality
Masculinity at River High
Theoretical Implications
Practical Steps

Appendix: What If a Guy Hits on You? Intersections of Gender, Sexuality, and Age in Fieldwork with Adolescents
Notes
References
Index
About The Author
C.J. Pascoe is Postdoctoral Scholar with the Digital Youth Project at the Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of California, Berkeley.
Awards
Outstanding Book Award, American Education Research Association

Men, Sex and Mateship: How homosociality shapes men's heterosexual relations

Dr Michael Flood

Abstract

Cutting-edge scholarship in Women’s Studies and Sexuality Studies recognises that gender and sexual relations are organised in part by local contexts and communities, personal and social networks, and other axes of social differentiation. Yet these insights only rarely have been applied to or tested among heterosexual men. This paper extends contemporary theorisations of gender, sexuality, and social life by examining the homosocial organisation of men’s heterosexual relations. Qualitative research among young straight men finds that their sexual relations with women are structured and given meaning by their social relations with other me n. Homosociality organises the male- female sociosexual relations of some young heterosexual men in at least five ways. First, male- male relations take priority over male-female non-sexual relations, and platonic friendships with women are dangerously feminising and rare if not impossible. Second, sexual activity is a key path to masculine status. Third, other men are the audience, always imagined and sometimes real, for one’s sexual activities. Fourth, heterosexual sex itself can be the medium through which male bonding is enacted. Lastly, men’s sexual storytelling is shaped by homosocial masculine cultures. Assessing the workings of male homosociality is significant in theorisations of both heterosexuality and masculinity.

Bionote
Dr Michael Flood is a Lecturer in the Centre for Women’s Studies at the Australian National University. His research interests include feminist scholarship on men and masculinities, sexualities and especially heterosexuality, interpersonal violence, sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, and boys and youth cultures.

Citation
Flood, Michael (2003) Men, Sex and Mateship: How homosociality shapes men’s heterosexual relations. Paper to (Other) Feminisms: An International Women’s and Gender Studies Conference, University of Queensland, 12-16 July.

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Marriage reduces dementia risk

The Times of India
New Delhi
Saturday, Augurst 02


Being single in middle age might increase risk of dementia. But being married halves the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, says a study. A team at Karolinska Institute in Sweden has carried out the study and found the imporance of clse comapanionship in midlife -- and in fact, those who stay alone after divorce have a threefold risk of suffering Alzheigmer's in later life. According to researchers, the study has highlighted a higher risk of developing memory and cognitive problems for all those who live alone, whether single, divorced or widowed -- the reason to a great extent being social isolation.

Men just tuned to lust: Study

20 Jul 2008, 2359 hrs IST,PTI

TOI

LONDON: Men are tuned to lust, irrespective of whether they found the women next to them attractive or not, a study has suggested.
Men have for long been seen as judging women on looks alone, but a study has now shown that the increase in male sex hormone level was not influenced by the perceived attractiveness of the women.

Human testosterone triggers an automatic reaction which has evolved in man when faced with a woman, to look for mating opportunities, and it does not matter if the woman is not attractive, the research reveals.

The research, published in the journal Hormones and Behaviour , suggested that the levels of their testosterone surged to the same extent whether they were talking to an attractive woman or someone they may not fancy at all.

The research involving 63 male students aged 21 to 25 found that their testosterone levels increased by an average of around 8% after just 5 minutes exposure to a stranger from the opposite sex and in some cases to women they not find particularly attractive.

"We found a testosterone increase after only five minutes of exposure to a woman. Our results suggest that the increase in testosterone levels that we found, may be an automatic male response that activates receptors in organs and the nervous system to prepare the human body for mate attraction," said Leander van der Meij, who led the study at the University of Groningen in Holland.

He said with the increase in testosterone levels males tend to display more dominant behaviour.

"They talk more with their hands, there is more eye contact, their posture is more upright, and they are more likely to tell stories designed to impress the woman. We know that women can be attracted by these kinds of things. All this, we believe, may be fuelled by the rise in testosterone that we have found," said der Meij.

Aggressive males showed greater rise in testosterone levels, an idea supported by research that men who exhibit more dominant-like behaviour tend to make more frequent successful contact with females.

In Brief Rams Will Be Rams

By Rams Will Be Rams

Sunday, July 4, 2004; Page BW07

Joan Roughgarden is a professor of biological sciences at Stanford Univeristy -- and a woman who was once a man. As such, she has a keen interest in sexual variation, a subject she addresses in Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People (Univ. of California, $27.50). One of the many surprising scientific findings she reports is that exclusively straight male bighorn sheep -- those who do not engage in sex with other males -- are, from many points of view, "effeminate." "These males are identical in appearance to other males," she writes, "but behave quite differently. They differ from 'normal males' by living with the ewes rather than joining all-male groups. These males do not dominate females, are less aggressive overall, and adopt a crouched, female urination posture." Meanwhile, most male bighorn sheep are busy having intercourse with both females and other males. "This case," as Roughgarden adds, "turns the meanings of normal and aberrant upside down."

Today's youth has no time for love

Love Takes Time. Singles Say They Don't Have Any.

By Laura Sessions Stepp
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 26, 2006; D02

Think romance is alive and well among young singles? That twenty-somethings are checking each other out in the office and cruising the bars at night, looking for someone to love? You might want to think again.

The major love story these days is this: maybe later.

It's not that they take relationships lightly, or that they don't want to become attached -- eventually. It's just, who has the time? They're working their butts off at college or in jobs that barely cover the rent and feel obligated to find fulfilling, well-paid careers. It will be easier to make their marks, they think, unfettered by relationships that, let's face it, can be so distracting.

This came as something of a surprise to researchers Lee Rainie and Mary Madden at the Pew Research Center when, in going over data in a larger dating survey, they discovered that among 18-to-29-year-olds, only slightly more than a third said they were in committed relationships. Among the remaining, more were not looking than looking.

The numbers do not astonish Pouya Dianat, 20, or Montana Wojczuk, 26, however.

"My job here is the most important thing I do," says Dianat, a staff photographer for the Diamondback, the student newspaper at the University of Maryland in College Park. A junior workaholic who has been known to sleep overnight in the office, he says, "I want to be the best. Any girlfriend would have to put up with that. . . . If she stumbled in front of me, I might get interested. Otherwise, no."

Wojczuk breezed through jobs in advertising, retail sales and grant-writing before ending up as an assistant in a talent and literary agency in Manhattan. "A relationship takes so much time and energy, and there's so much stuff I want to do with my career," she says. "I'm not that interested in looking."

Are they saying there's no use in starting to look until they're ready to stop looking? Not exactly, says Philip Morgan, professor of sociology at Duke University. They're simply being strategic: "Active looking requires altering their routine in some way, and they're not willing to do that yet."

Even flirting with the idea of a relationship requires effort, sometimes more than they're willing to give. "Sometimes I make plans to have a drink with someone, but I'm too tired," says Tiffany Sharples, 24, who works at a travel magazine in Manhattan. "Or a press event comes up at the last minute, so I cancel. Things get stymied before they get off the ground."

All of this raises questions among those a generation or two older. Are our grown children simply afraid to love? Afraid of the potential for either being hurt or hurting someone else? Maybe. Many of them have been in at least one relationship that ended badly or dragged on longer than it should have. They've also observed a fair number of marriages fall apart, from those of their parents or friends' parents to their own friends.

Instead, their friends are their partners. "I go into most social situations just wanting to expand my circle of friends," says Kate Campbell, a senior and 21-year-old reporter for the Diamondback. "I'd rather do that than troll for guys."

Relationships, they say, imply commitment, and commitment can consume too much personal space and time. College students talk about couples they know who take courses together, eat all their meals together and sleep together. That togetherness continues after college, says Matt McFarland, a 25-year-old sales rep who lives in Rockville. "I have guy friends who can't go out on Friday nights, or have to leave parties early. Who needs that?"

McFarland works 65 hours a week. He also goes to the gym three or four times a week and spends Friday and Saturday nights in bars or clubs. He and his buddies aren't lonely, he says. "There's a lot of casual hooking up."

Hooking up, an uncommitted sexual encounter, has become synonymous with dating, says Ele Izadi, a 21-year-old senior and Diamondback writer. Easy to do and carrying no obligations, it's a convention that is tailor-made for the time-pressed. And it has turned Izadi off to any relationships at this time. "All guys want is the physical," she says.

Some singles still date occasionally. But after the second or third date -- or hookup -- with the same person, they find they must confront a question: "What are we?" Leah Veneziano, 25 and a sometime TV guest host in Philadelphia, is in that situation with a guy whom she has seen four times. "He's moving toward a relationship, and I don't want those restraints." She is about to call it off.

"Why start something now that has no destination?" asks sophomore Brendan Lowe, 20, the Diamondback's deputy news editor.

Could it be that this generation takes relationships too seriously?

If so, we shouldn't be surprised. From their preschool days on, they've heard messages of boundless opportunity and high expectations: First the perfect school record, then the perfect job. Why settle, then, for anyone but the perfect mate?

The phrase "in time" is key, says Jeffrey Arnett, a research professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., who has spent much of his career studying what he calls "emerging adults."

"We've given them the freedom to take their time to decide what their adult life is going to look like. We don't have the expectations anymore that they should be married at 21 and have their first baby at 22. Fifty years ago, that would have been normal, but now, what's the hurry?"

The researchers at Pew, a nonprofit initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, were pursuing a larger project about online dating when they came across the young-singles data: 38 percent in committed relationships and 38 percent neither in committed relationships nor looking for them. Twenty-two percent were not in relationships but looking.

Wojczuk, the agent's assistant in New York, is certainly in no hurry. "I aspire to have it all," she says, "and not just in my career but my appearance, my activities and, at some point, a partner who reflects my best self."

And what kind of man would that be?

"Someone who's really smart and driven, but leaves work at work. Someone who goes out in the world, who likes the arts and doesn't take himself too seriously. Someone who gets my jokes, has a sense of humor and can get me out of my worry."

She admits she has "a lot of expectations. I'm sure I'll come to the point where I'm willing to compromise."

Until then, she's enjoying her girlfriends. "It's a lot safer just to hang out with them."

(Source: The Washington Times)

Studies on Sexuality are misleading

New York Times, May 11, 2006

"Patterns of Deceit Raise Concerns About Teenage Sex Surveys"
by Eric Nagourney.

New York, May 10: Does signing a virginity pledge after you have had sex make you a virgin
again?

It hardly seems likely. But how else to explain a new study in which teenagers who said they had had sex in o­ne survey then signed a pledge and told a different story in a survey a year later?

The study, which appears in the June issue of The American Journal of Public Health, was based o­n surveys by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development involving more than 13,000 students in grades 7 to 12.

The students were questioned two times, a year apart.

The most delicate questions were given through headphones, and the
students typed their answers into a computer.

Among the questions students were asked: "Have you taken a public or written pledge to remain a virgin until marriage?" They were also asked if they had had sexual intercourse.

In the first survey, about 13 percent of the students said they had taken a pledge of virginity. In the second survey, the study found, more than half of that group denied having taken o­ne.

Those who reported having sexual relations for the first time in the second survey were three times as likely to retract a virginity pledge as those who did report having had sex then.

About a third of the students said in the first survey that they had had sex, but about 10 percent of them denied it when asked the second time.

Those who had newly made a pledge were four times as likely to retract reports of sexual activity.

Why did so many students change their stories? "We can't really get inside their heads and know what they're thinking," said the study's author, Janet Rosenbaum, a doctoral student at the Harvard School of Public Health. But the study raises questions about how much reliance
should be placed o­n surveys about sexual activity among teenagers, and how accurately experts can measure the results of programs that encourage them to abstain from sex to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

"Survey respondents typically reconcile their memories with their present beliefs," the study said. "Respondents may recall o­nly memories consistent with their current beliefs or report actions that did not occur but are consistent with their current beliefs."

Such behavior is not unheard of when it comes to surveys. Studies have found, for example, that people who tell survey takers before an election that it is important to vote are more likely to claim falsely later that they did.

But there is a big difference between what happens in the voting booth and what happens in the bedroom or the car.

"Self-reported voting can be verified with official voting records," Ms. Rosenbaum wrote, "but self-reported sexual abstinence cannot."

Apart from what it says about the reliability of the pledges and abstinence programs, the study also raises concerns about whether they may make tracking sexually transmitted diseases more difficult.

"I think all of this has public health implications, particularly with respect to S.T.D.'s, insofar as we are not getting a clear picture from teens' own report of their sexual activity," said Cynthia Dailard, a public policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a research and advocacy group that studies reproductive rights.

Science and Crime, They're Young Men's Pursuits

Nature reports that scientist, like criminals, do their best work when they are young and single. Psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Political Science found that 65% of eminent scientists published their most significant work before they were 35. Similarly, criminals, do their most audacious crimes when they are younger than 30.

It seems that once you get a wife and settle down that old fire in the belly tends to reduce to a bit of a smoulder.

Of course this research has limited credibility as Satoshi Kanazawa was 40 at the time it was published.

(Source, the green man)

Men and Women Really Do Think Differently

Live Science

By Bjorn Carey, LiveScience Staff Writer

20 January 2005

Men and women do think differently, at least where the anatomy of the brain is concerned, according to a new study.

The brain is made primarily of two different types of tissue, called gray matter and white matter. This new research reveals that men think more with their gray matter, and women think more with white. Researchers stressed that just because the two sexes think differently, this does not affect intellectual performance.

Psychology professor Richard Haier of the University of California, Irvine led the research along with colleagues from the University of New Mexico. Their findings show that in general, men have nearly 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence compared with women, whereas women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence compared to men.

"These findings suggest that human evolution has created two different types of brains designed for equally intelligent behavior," said Haier, adding that, "by pinpointing these gender-based intelligence areas, the study has the potential to aid research on dementia and other cognitive-impairment diseases in the brain."

The results are detailed in the online version of the journal NeuroImage.

In human brains, gray matter represents information processing centers, whereas white matter works to network these processing centers.

The results from this study may help explain why men and women excel at different types of tasks, said co-author and neuropsychologist Rex Jung of the University of New Mexico. For example, men tend to do better with tasks requiring more localized processing, such as mathematics, Jung said, while women are better at integrating and assimilating information from distributed gray-matter regions of the brain, which aids language skills.

Scientists find it very interesting that while men and women use two very different activity centers and neurological pathways, men and women perform equally well on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as intelligence tests.

This research also gives insight to why different types of head injuries are more disastrous to one sex or the other. For example, in women 84 percent of gray matter regions and 86 percent of white matter regions involved in intellectual performance were located in the frontal lobes, whereas the percentages of these regions in a man’s frontal lobes are 45 percent and zero, respectively. This matches up well with clinical data that shows frontal lobe damage in women to be much more destructive than the same type of damage in men.

Both Haier and Jung hope that this research will someday help doctors diagnose brain disorders in men and women earlier, as well as provide help designing more effective and precise treatments for brain damage.

(Source: Live Science)