Question# 1
A. Describe how the idea of sexual identity developed in social sciences. (15 points)
The term sexual identity is rather a new term. Although sex has always been around the identity within sex is a new idea that has recently been introduced as a set of sexual practices and attitudes that lead to the formation in a person’s mind of an identity mas heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual. Our sexual identity typically becomes an important part of our sense of who we are. We assume everyone has a sexual identity because we see this as “natural.” Before the emergence of sexual identities there was merely sexual acts. The terms heterosexual and homosexual was non existent and would have left Americans stumped before the nineteenth century. …show more content…
However others take the position that biological influences may also play a significant role. The social constructionist perspective on human sexual identities hold that sexual identities are entirely socially created (Cherlin, p182). The kinsey report is a 1948 book by Alfred Kinsey detailing the results of thousands of interviews with men about their sexual behaviors. His findings on homosexuality shocked the country because half of all men in his sample admitted to having erotic feeling towards other men at some point in their life. KInsey concluded that homosexuality was a continuum running from exclusively heterosexual behavior to a mixture of heterosexual and homesexual behavior to exclusively homosexual (Cherlin, p.183). The integrative perspective argue that it is influenced by both social and biological factors. They claim that although the social construction of sexual identities is very important, people may also be born with a sexual nature (Cherlin, …show more content…
Some homosexuals use the term “family” to describe their close relationships, but they do not mean the typical marriage-based family. The family of choice is a family formed through voluntary ties among individuals who are not biological or legally related. That is the major difference between a kinship network and the network of friends. The kinship network requires each member to be blood related and/or legally related to be part of the kin. That is not the case with the network of gay or lesbian couples. Homosexuals are forced to form a family of their own choosing because some states do not allow same-sex marriages and some have little to no contact with parents or siblings who do not accept their
A. Describe how the idea of sexual identity developed in social sciences. (15 points)
The term sexual identity is rather a new term. Although sex has always been around the identity within sex is a new idea that has recently been introduced as a set of sexual practices and attitudes that lead to the formation in a person’s mind of an identity mas heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual. Our sexual identity typically becomes an important part of our sense of who we are. We assume everyone has a sexual identity because we see this as “natural.” Before the emergence of sexual identities there was merely sexual acts. The terms heterosexual and homosexual was non existent and would have left Americans stumped before the nineteenth century. …show more content…
However others take the position that biological influences may also play a significant role. The social constructionist perspective on human sexual identities hold that sexual identities are entirely socially created (Cherlin, p182). The kinsey report is a 1948 book by Alfred Kinsey detailing the results of thousands of interviews with men about their sexual behaviors. His findings on homosexuality shocked the country because half of all men in his sample admitted to having erotic feeling towards other men at some point in their life. KInsey concluded that homosexuality was a continuum running from exclusively heterosexual behavior to a mixture of heterosexual and homesexual behavior to exclusively homosexual (Cherlin, p.183). The integrative perspective argue that it is influenced by both social and biological factors. They claim that although the social construction of sexual identities is very important, people may also be born with a sexual nature (Cherlin, …show more content…
Some homosexuals use the term “family” to describe their close relationships, but they do not mean the typical marriage-based family. The family of choice is a family formed through voluntary ties among individuals who are not biological or legally related. That is the major difference between a kinship network and the network of friends. The kinship network requires each member to be blood related and/or legally related to be part of the kin. That is not the case with the network of gay or lesbian couples. Homosexuals are forced to form a family of their own choosing because some states do not allow same-sex marriages and some have little to no contact with parents or siblings who do not accept their