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Human male sexuality

 
Wikipedia: Human male sexuality
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Human male sexuality encompasses a broad range of issues, behavior and processes, including male sexual desires and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sex. Various aspects and dimensions of male sexuality, as a part of human sexuality, have also been addressed by principles of ethics, morality, and theology. In almost any historical era and culture, the arts, including literary and visual arts, as well as popular culture, present a substantial portion of a given society's views on human sexuality, which also include implicitly or explicitly male sexuality. In most societies and legal jurisdictions, there are legal bounds on what sexual behavior is permitted. Sexuality varies across the cultures and regions of the world, and has continually changed throughout history, and this applies equally to male sexuality. Aspects of male sexuality include issues pertaining to biological sex, body image, self-esteem, personality, values and attitudes, gender roles, relationships, activity options, and communication.

Contents

Male gender and sexuality in non-westernized societies

Non-westernized concepts of male sexuality may vary considerably from concepts of sexual orientation prevalent in Western culture.[1][2][3] Recent scholarship has questioned the applicability of Western concepts of sexual orientation and identity in non-Western cultures.[4][5][6][7]

The concept of sexual orientation is relatively recent in origin, coming into being during the last 150 years. In Western (and perhaps other westernized) cultures, a male who displays sexual attraction to other men may be classified as bisexual or homosexual. The use of such categories places him into the same classification as males who cross-dress and engage flamboyantly in purportedly effeminate behavior.[dubious – discuss] In a number of other cultures, a male is defined by his (putatively internal) gender; in such a culture, a masculine gendered male (of any sexual orientation) might simply be labeled a man, and males putatively gendered as feminine (transvestites of any sexual preference, flamboyantly effeminate males who are believed to indulge in receptive anal sex, and transsexuals) would not be considered 'men' but would be classified as members of what is sometimes called the third sex, i.e. partly male and partly female.[8][9][10]

Views regarding the concept of sexual orientation

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Human female sexuality · Human male sexuality · Intersexuality · Third sex · Two-Spirit
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The universal applicability of modern Western concepts of sexual orientation has been questioned by such scholars as twentieth-century French philosopher Michel Foucault.[11] The debate here is an instance of a broader conversation in social theory between social constructionists and essentialists.

Essentialists maintain that people across time and cultures, can be neatly divided into sexual identities determined on the basis of the sex of the partner desired as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, claiming these identities represent natural divisions. Thus, they also deem it valid to use these categories or descriptions on animals. Social constructionists argue that sexual identities, especially those based on the sex of the partner, have been socially constructed, and are thus culturally specific. While essentialists claim that there have always been equivalents of 'homosexual' identity in all times and all cultures, social constructionists claim that in all times and cultures, only passive sex by effeminate/ transgendered males (third sex) was identified as a separate category[12], and rather than a sexual identity, these were gender identities. Social constructionists assert that these identities are specific to certain cultures and historical periods. Historian David Greenberg, for instance, argues that the concept of homosexuality did not exist prior to the mid-nineteenth century. He argues that "the production and dissemination of a medical discourse in the recent past ... gave birth not just to the concept of a homosexual person, but also to homosexuals themselves, and at the same time, to their antitwins, heterosexual persons."[13]. Thus according to social constructionists, it is misleading to judge past relationships of men, with men, women and the third gender, through the concepts of 'sexual orientation'.[14]

Some evidence suggests that not all people have found that the categories introduced, (according to Greenberg, in the nineteenth century) are helpful in characterizing their own sexual and gender feelings/ experiences. [15][16][17][18]. Some researchers have argued that the majority of males in Western and Westernized cultures frequently engaged in same-sex sexual behaviours before the concept of sexual orientation was introduced[19], but avoid doing so now because of social pressures generated by the way male gender and sexuality has been socially constructed in the West, post-sexual orientation. Men who do acknowledge sexual attraction to other men experience significant isolation now, whereas in the past only those who acknowledged a desire to be penetrated experienced such isolation.[20][21][22]

Other scholars have suggested that even when there has emerged a 'homosexual identity' for one class of males, the corresponding 'heterosexual identity' is either not present or is undeveloped. [23]

Ideas of gender and sexual orientation are closely linked. (The putatively homosexual identity exhibits some continuity with third sex identities[20] and is more closely associated by some modern Western stereotypes with putative femininity in males.[24] The contemporary heterosexual identity is arguably more closely associated with putative masculinity and may reflect earlier delineations of mainstream men's spaces). Gender provides a lens through which cross-cultural (and intracultural) differences regarding male sexuality may appear particularly clear.

Cultural differences related to male gender and sexuality

Strong men's spaces

As evidenced from published references from different parts of the traditional (non-westernised) non-western world (India, Indonesia, and certain countries in the Arab world)[25]), the society is often divided into men's, women's and third gender spaces.

The men's spaces are very strong in the sense that they guard against the process of heterosexualization —- which has the effect of isolating and removing male-male sexuality from these spaces into a separate ghetto—and also provides men a lot of relief from pressures of social manhood (such as exaggerating one's sexual need for women, and suppressing one's sexual need for men). The strength of men's spaces can also be seen by the fact that these spaces resist the imposition of the western practice of isolation of same-sex male sexual bonds from these spaces, through the concept of homosexuality. Men's spaces refer to spaces which are exclusively for men, and where women are either not allowed or their entry is highly restricted. These spaces are extremely important for men and their manhood and very congenial to bonds between men, including sexual bonds. These sexual bonds are very open if the formal society is accepting, otherwise hidden to various degrees, depending upon how hostile the formal society is.[26]

Socially, men are extremely comfortable showing physical intimacy with other men, publicly, and it is seen as masculine, something which according to the Western standards will be seen as gay and unmasculine, since only gays indulge in such intimacy in the West.[27]

It is said that before the heterosexualization of the West, similar openness about intimacy existed amongst who are today known as 'straight' men in the West.[28]

Perceptions of men’s sexual desires for other men as universal

Some anthropological research has suggested that in Afghanistan (especially Kandahar), India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Morocco and elsewhere, men's sexual desires for other men is understood as universal, and not the characteristic of one or more sexual minorities. According to this research, a man's display of sexual interest in another man in social environments in which this understanding is shared may not be seen as a sign of difference from the societal mainstream.[29] Belief in the ordinariness and ubiquity of male same-sex desire may be freely acknowledged, as it apparently is in Kandahar.[30][31] In other cultural settings, same-sex desire may be openly acknowledged in spaces socially defined as male but denied in formal or mixed gender spaces (e.g., in India).

Similar conceptions of the universality of sexual attraction between masculine males (i.e., those who are classified in modern West as 'straights) are documented in ancient Greece—popularly considered the precursor of modern Western culture—and in more recent Western sources that predate the construction of modern Western notions of gender and sexuality.[21]

Role of conception of “third gender” in shaping understanding and practice of male gender and sexuality

See also: Third sex and Hijra (South Asia)

In regions including South Asia,[32] Southeast Asia,[33] Arab, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and Polynesia, more than two genders are acknowledged, and usually there are three sexes or genders of humans beings. Apart from the masculine and feminine genders, there also is a third gender which is considered to be both male and female at the same time (or in some societies neither male nor female; neutral)[34]. It includes feminine gendered males, who are considered to have male “outer” sex but feminine gender. While there is no division on the basis of the Western pattern of sexual orientation, there is a strong division of the male population between masculine-gendered males and feminine-gendered males. While the former are referred to as "men", the latter are known as members of the third gender, regardless of (what might be referred to in the contemporary West as) their sexual orientation. The third sex is considered a separate gender category, and its members are not considered men or women but rather members of a neutral or intermediate gender. Thus, sexual relations between a man and another man are not treated as equivalent to sexual relations between a man and a member of the third gender. [35]

Active vs. Passive

Across the non-Western world, the western division of straight vs. gay is seen in terms of active vs. passive. Masculine males typically adopt active roles in sex with other males and are seen as equivalent to Western straight males, while third gender males typically adopt passive roles and are seen as gay. Thus straight and gay do not denote sexual orientation but (a) the masculinity or femininity of the male, and (b) whether he takes the active or passive role in sex with men.[36][37]

Homosexuality and Third Gender

Because the Western concept of Homosexuality segregates certain 'different' males from mainstream men, in a pattern quite similar to that of 'third gender' present in traditional societies, 'homosexuals' and 'homosexuality' are seen to denote third gendered people in these societies. Thus, homosexuality in this context is seen as referring to a third gender male's sexual need for men (which is generally seen as that of desiring receptive anal or oral sex). Only feminine gendered males are considered to be 'homosexuals', often irrespective of their sexual preferences as defined in the West. Thus a TV character who is effeminate but only pursues women is called 'homo' by Indian men in various workshops conducted by an NGO on manhood. These men do not identify two masculine males engaged in sex exclusively with each other (and no women) as 'homosexuals'. Several NGOs working in India on giving information on HIV to those who they identify as 'men who have sex with men' have reported that men refuse to identify themselves as MSM or homosexuals, even when they have sex with men, since these two terms are supposed to denote a different gender of males (Third Gender).

If we draw a parallel with the modern West, both gay and straight spaces in Western societies, often see 'homosexuality' as being closely associated with male transgenderism and passive anal/ oral sex, and a major part of the straight stigma attached with homosexuality has to do with its transgender nature. In fact, almost all slang names used for gays in the West hint at the transgendered and 'passive' nature of what is termed as 'homosexuality'. Examples are queer (which means effeminate male, and is used by transgendered heterosexuals too), fag, pansy, fairy, poofter, etc. (which denote an effeminate male who indulges in passive sex with men). Gay itself originally meant a campy, effeminate, flamboyant, frivolous and promiscuous male who sought passive sex from men.

Impact of Westernization

Heterosexualization

Heterosexualization of a society or of social spaces refers to a process whereby the gender-based spaces in traditional non-Westernised societies (which are divided into men's spaces, women's spaces and third gender spaces) are abolished as part of Westernization of the society and replaced with heterosexual, mixed-sex spaces. This is also accompanied by introducing heteronormativity in the society[38] It further involves segregating the society, especially the males, on the basis of chosen identities based on a complex mix of gender and sexuality, into Straight and LGBT (which identities may or may not correspond to an individual's unchosen objective heterosexual or homosexual desires).[39][40][41][42][43]

In other words, heterosexualization of a society involves changing the character of a society from 'gender segregation' to 'sexual orientation segregation'.

Heterosexualized spaces exert a lot of pressure on boys/ men to be heterosexual in order to be recognised as masculine. Heterosexualized places also exert intense pressures on men to guard against any kind of intimacy with other men, by creating intense hostility against man to man intimacy.[44][45][46][47] The process of Heterosexualization is reported by some scholars to be an integral part of imperialism, Westernization and modernization of traditional societies.[48] Some authors have described Heterosexualization as a process which is forced on people, rather than something that is voluntary or spontaneous. [49][50]

Reaction to westernization of male identities

Westernized populations in India may follow both western as well as traditional concepts of sexuality.[51][52][53] However, when western constructs of sexuality are forced upon societies such as India in the context of AIDS activism, for example, it creates problems.[54]

Non-Western cultures often resent the imposition of these Western definitions on them, but may be rendered helpless due to the economic and technological powers of the West.[52][53][55] [56] [57][58]

However, there are some positive developments in some places, like within North America, where locals have resisted the imposition of the concepts of 'sexual orientation' in the name of AIDS education and redeveloped AIDS education modules as per their own cultural classifications. E.g. the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, Oakland California has developed their own modules for HIV/ AIDS education, that rejects the division of males on the basis of 'sexual orientation' while giving or wording AIDS information, and instead uses images of 'third gender', without associating it with 'sexual orientation' and stresses that what it calls the 'Western concept of Homosexuality' is inappropriate to talk about native same-sex relations.[59]

In the West

Masculinity

Masculinity is manly character: It specifically describes men; that is, it is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have degrees of comparison—more masculine, most masculine. The opposite can be expressed by terms such as unmanly, epicene or effeminate.[60]

Masculinity has its roots in genetics (see gender).[61][62] Therefore while masculinity looks different in different cultures, there are common aspects to its definition across cultures.[63] Machismo is a form of westernized masculine culture. It includes assertiveness or standing up for one's rights, responsibility, selflessness, general code of ethics, sincerity, and respect.[64]

Homosexuality

The ancient Roman and Greek cultures generally viewed penetration as the key aspect of male sexuality. They typically did not stigmatize or distinguish homosexuality as such, rather stigmatizing the act of being sexually penetrated; to be a penetrator was to be masculine, regardless of the sex of the penetrated person.

Most modern Westernised cultures are very concerned with distinguishing homosexuality and heterosexuality, particularly male homosexuality, and traditionally tend to equate masculinity and heterosexuality, regarding homosexual men as effeminate. These views are now being challenged by more recent social tolerance, as well as increasing acceptance of homosexuality.

See also

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References

  1. ^ Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World, Review of Joseph Massad’s book Desiring Arabs
  2. ^ Homosexual behaviour without homosexual identity: The case of Chinese men having sex with men (MSM); Winkelmann C.; Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. WePeD6407
  3. ^ Sacred Sexuality; Bob Trubshaw; Quote: Anthropological studies have revealed a great variety of approaches, all of which seem entirely 'natural' to the societies in which they are encountered. Western concepts of sexuality are, of course, deeply influenced by Christian concepts of sexuality, which makes them more problematical than many (although most Western people have, at least until recent years, regarded them as entirely 'natural').
  4. ^ The Dictionary of Anthropology; By Thomas Barfield; Published 1997, Blackwell Publishing; Ethnology
  5. ^ Struggles for sexual, gender liberation rooted in national liberation movements, Lavender & red, part 113, By Leslie Feinberg,World.org.
  6. ^ Heterosexual Identity and Male-to-Male Sexual Activities: Implications for HIV Transmission and Prevention in India. Bhattacharya G; International Conference on AIDS. Int Conf AIDS. 2002 Jul 7-12; 14: abstract no. WePeE6483. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States BACKGROUND: This study examined the social and cultural contexts that shape the expression of sexual identity in India and the ways those contexts attach meaning to sexual behavior, including male-to-male sexual activities in various social arrangements and situations among heterosexually identified men in India. METHODS: This community-based study included in-depth audiotaped interviews with sixteen participants in India. A semistructured interview guide was used, and the text of the interview was transcribed, coded, and organized for descriptive presentation in this study. Empirical and scientific data on HIV infection and transmission, literature on Asian Indian culture, and theoretical frameworks for research complemented this study. RESULTS: Male-to-male sexual activities were reported common for having "fun" (masti) and or for initiating sexual experiences. Procreation determined the socially prescribed gender identity in heterosexual relationships. Married and heterosexually identified men may practice occasional or regular male-to-male sexual activities for sexual pleasure and satisfaction. Male-to-male sexual activities were not equated with sexual identity as "gay", "bisexual", or "homosexual". The Indian Penal Code 377 criminalizes "homosexual" behavior. CONCLUSIONS: For understanding the epidemiology of HIV transmission and for preventing the risks of the transmission of HIV that an individual may be exposed to in multiple social arrangements in India, interventions must target unsafe sexual behaviors and risks of HIV transmission, rather than relying on specific and delineated classification of self based on sexual identity. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by a grant from the International Council, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Gauri Bhattacharya: Principal Investigator, 2000-2001).
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Kuru, Selim S. 2000. A Sixteenth Century Scholar: Deli Birader and His "Dafi`ü'l-Gumum Ve Rafi`ü'l-Humum." Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Harvard University. P. 258
  9. ^ El-Rouayheb, Khaled. Before Homosexuality in the Arabic World, 1500-1800. p. 153
  10. ^ Needs Assessment of Males whoe have sex with males in calcutta and suburbs prepared by:Research team of Male Sexual Health ProgrammePraajak ( formerly Naz Calcutta Project) It has been observed that MSS in developing countries generally adopt a gendered sense of identify which influencesthe role they take in male to male sexual activities. In Calcutta these gendered selves are expressed in the concepts ofdhurani, feminine man who takes the so-called “passive” role in sex with men, and parikh, masculine man of whatever sexual orientation, but who takes the so-called ‘active’ role in sex with men.
  11. ^ Cartographies of Desire: Male-male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950; By Gregory M. Pflugfelder; Published by University of California Press, 1999, ISBN 0520209095, 9780520209091 399; Quotes from pages 5 and 6; In speaking of sexual desires and practices between males, I use the term male-male sexuality" rather than the more familiar "homosexuality" for deliberate reasons. To begin with, as I explain in Chapter I, inhabitants of the Japanese archipilago before the last century did not usually draw a conceptual link between male-male and female-female forms of erotic behaviour. Thus to adopt the term "homosexuality," which implies an inherent connection between the two, is to accept uncritically the effects of a discursive process whose very emergence demands historical accounting... To impose such categories as "homosexuality" and "bisexuality" upon a society or conceptul universe, whether non-European or pre-nineteenth century, in which they would not have been understood in the same sense that they are currently understood, if indeed at all, and in which behaviour often followed patterns quite different from those we associate with them in our own societies, is unwittingly to hide from view the experience of those very historical subjects whom we seek to comprehend. Even the word "sexuality" invites misinterpretation, so clarification is in order. By "sexuality," I do not mean fixed sexual orientation, as late twentieth century speakers of English tend to do, for instance, when they refer to a particular individual's "sexuality" -- meaning that person's place within the currently canonical trinity of "homosexuality," "heterosexuality," and "bisexuality." For much of the period examined in this study, the notion that each individual possesses a deeply rooted personal identity based on the biological sex of the preferred sexual object or objects (and specifically whether it is the same as or different from her or his own), and the tripartite taxonomy of sexual types that has resulted from this construction, held no currency in Japan, nor had they emerged even in the West.
  12. ^ PASSIVE ROLES, A critique of social constructionism and post modern queer theory, by Rictor Norton; Quote: The social constructionist argument that premodern and indigenous cultures have no word for the more abstract concept of the homosexual, but only a word for the effeminate/passive male, entirely misses the point.
  13. ^ Greenberg, David. The Construction of Homosexuality. Chicago, Illinois:University of Chicago Press, 486-487. ISBN 0-226-30628-3.
  14. ^ Love Stories: Sex between Men before Homosexuality by Jonathan Ned Katz; Quote: "...referring "to early nineteenth-century men's acts or desires as gay or straight, homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual" places "their behaviors and lusts within our sexual system, not theirs."
  15. ^ Mark A. Yarhouse, Erica S.N. Tan, Lisa M. Pawlowski (2005). "Sexual Identity Development and Synthesis among LGB-Identified and LGB Dis-Identified Persons". Journal of Psychology and Theology, Vol. 33
  16. ^ Androphilia: Rejecting the Gay Identity, Reclaiming Masculinity by Jack Malebranche
  17. ^ Sexual Networks of Non-Gay Identified Men Who Have Sex with Men by Peter Bearman (Sociology) and Richard Elovich (Sociomedical Sciences), ISERP, Columbia University
  18. ^ Men who have sex with men (but do not have a gay identity)--a strategy for HIV-prevention within a mass media campaign for the general public. Muller WH; International Conference on AIDS.NLM Gateway
  19. ^ Love Stories: Sex between Men before Homosexuality by Jonathan Ned Katz
  20. ^ a b Review of Sex and the Gender Revolution, Volume One: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London, by Randolph Trumbach; Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1998. (xiv), 509 pp.; Reviewer: Lesley A. Hall of Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London.
  21. ^ a b The Changing social construction of western male homosexuality: Association with worsening youth suicide problems: chapter: Male homosexuality: from commonality to rarity; By Pierre J. Tremblay & Richard Ramsay Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary.
  22. ^ Picturing Men: A Century of Male Relationships in Everyday American Photography by John Ibson, The University of Chicago Press
  23. ^ Accounts of sexual identity formation in heterosexual students; Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, June, 1995 by Michele J. EliasonThe 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.
  24. ^ Mollies Arrested in London, Gayhistory.com
  25. ^ Negotiating Gender: Calalai' in Bugis Society: Sharyn Graham; also, Bissu are gender transcendent, pre-Islamic priests. See Leonard Andaya, 'The Bissu: Study of a Third Gender in Indonesia', in Other Pasts: Women, Gender, and History in Early Modern Southeast Asia, ed. Barbara Andaya, Hawai'i: Hawai'i University Press, 2000:27-46.
  26. ^ Worlds of Gender: the Archaeology of Women's lives around the globe by Sarah Milledge Nelson, published by Altamira press 2007
  27. ^ Hold Another Man's Hand? Lessons from Adamu, Shashingo and Vincent Patrick Repp, MA, LP, LMFT
  28. ^ Seeing Males Together: Brokeback Mountain and Picturing Men The Chicago Blog, Publicity news from the University of Chicago Press including news tips, press releases, reviews, and intelligent commentary
  29. ^ Imams and homosexuality. A post-gay debate in The Netherlands (1) Quote: The traditionality of Moroccan culture and its ubiquitous but hidden homosexuality have very much contributed to sexual pleasures of white gay (Green, 1992) and local men in Morocco to this day.
  30. ^ Tim Reid (2002-01-22). "Kandahar Men Return to Original Love: Teenage Boys". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,44067,00.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-20. 
  31. ^ Brian James Baer (April 2007). "Closely watched Pashtuns-a critique of western journalists' reporting bias about "Gay Kandahar"". Pukaar, the journal of Naz Foundation International. http://www.nfi.net/NFI%20Publications/Pukaar/2007/Pukaar%20-%20Apr%2007%20.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-20. 
  32. ^ Peter A. Jackson (April 1996). "Non-normative Sex/Gender Categories in the Theravada Buddhist Scriptures". Australian Humanities review. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archive/Issue-April-1996/Jacksonref.html. Retrieved 2008-04-20. 
  33. ^ Kathoey: The term kathoey or katoey (Thai: กะเทย, IPA: [kaʔtʰɤːj]) generally refers to a male-to-female transsexual person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand.
  34. ^ Intersexuality and Alternative Gender Categories in Non-Western Cultures]; Claudia Langa, Ursula Kuhnleb; Department for Anthropology and African Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University, and Center for Child and Adolescent Health, Munich, Germany; Abstract: Background: In the Western world, it is widely accepted as natural - and seen almost as a law of nature - that mankind is divided into two sexes or genders - males and females. In many cultures and societies, however, more than two sex and/or gender categories are recognized, which in some instances refer to the biological sex and in others to gender roles and social status. Aims: To give an intercultural comparison of various ways of dealing with gender variance. Methods: In the following paper, we review the anthropological literature during the last 100 years describing individuals who live neither as men nor women in various non-Western cultures. Results: Only rarely, these individuals suffer from disorders of sex development in the modern medical or biological definition: in many if not all societies there have been individuals who are not covered by the gender category of male and female. Conclusion: There thus appears to be a cultural need for people with a special neither-male-nor-female status, which might be classified as 'gender variance'
  35. ^ SITUATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF SEXUAL HEALTH AMONG MALES WHO HAVE SEX WITH MALES AND THEIR SEXUAL PARTNERS IN SYLHET, BANGLADESH; Naz Foundation International; Report for Family Health International; Quotes: (Page 5) Beside the kothi frameworks, there is also another dynamic of male to male sexual behaviours, which because of a shame-based culture cannot be readily accessed. This includes inter-family male to male sex, sex between friends, and sex in male only spaces. Such behaviours are not identity-based. Here desire is based not so much on same gender/same sex, but rather on immediacy, “body heat” and felt “discharge” needs...... (Page 18) At the same time, male to male sexual behaviours in the region do not appear to "fit" into a heterosexual/homosexual framework, of fixed sexual identities leading to fixed and oppositional behaviours based on same-sex and gender versus opposite sex and gender patterns. Rather, what appears to exist to a large extent is that of female gender identification by the penetrated or "passive" partner who have (to a significant extent) a socialised, gendered, sexual identity known as kothi. These "passive" partners tend to have high levels of sexual partners, with low condom usage, and considerable levels of risk taking behaviours. Many of these "passive" partners are also married or will become married. The penetrating or "active" partner does not have a homosexual identity. Such males are called panthis by the kothis, meaning that they are "real men" who behave as "real men". In this way a panthi is not "having sex" with another man, but with a kothi. In this way, the pattern could be seen as same sex/different gender!...... Kothi relationships are based on gender roles - a “husband and wife” relationship. Kothis are not friends with their panthis, but “wife". This is a relationship based on same sex/different gender identification dynamic. Kothis make friends with other kothis with whom they “never” have sex with. For kothis this would be like having sex with their sister...... (page 38) But perhaps we should accept that often Bangladesh male sexualities are amorphous, opportunistic, spatially bound, discharge oriented, time-based, as well as those based upon same sex desire and love, but framed within concepts of differing genders....... (Page 28) Self-identities amongst MSM in Sylhet varied across the spectrum of divergent categories, where those most public in the expression of same-sex desire, usually identified themselves as a different gender category which was feminised, expressing themselves in feminised language and body language, sometimes through crossdressing, as well as utilising their own "secret" language (a derivative of the hijra language) which is unavailable to the majority population. These individuals call themselves kothis. This is a socialising and socialised role, where kothis can recognise each other even though they maybe strangers, where ready friendships are easily facilitated, and where a "new" kothi will make friends with "older" kothis and learn the characteristics, roles, behaviours (including sexual), mannerisms and language. And it was this kothi framework which appeared to the predominate framework among MSM in Sylhet. Kothis see themselves as the feminine in a masculine/feminine sexual partnership, and play out the perceived gender role in the culture. Most kothis in this study felt relatively comfortable with their choice, although expressing a varying degree of shame arising from its cultural context. The men who access these kothis for sex, and sometimes for sexual relationships and partnerships, are seen as "real men" by the kothis, men who play the "dominant", "active" and "penetrating" role. Such men do not see themselves as "homosexuals", since the people they have sex with are not "men", but feminised males. They do not have a sexual identity term for themselves, but practice a sexual behaviour, very often based on "discharge" and "body heat", even as they may desire the other male. They see themselves as men. The term panthi is used by kothis to describe them, meaning a "real man", a man who will penetrate them, and who also will have sex with women given the opportunity. Many kothis speak of all men as potential panthis, accessible to them as sexual partners, accessible, not based on male to male desire, but because of what was perceived as an urgent need for sexual discharge.
  36. ^ Imams and homosexuality. A post-gay debate in The Netherlands (1) Quote: Censure in traditional Moroccan society is directed mainly to those men who enjoy the passive roles. For them, Moroccan Arabic has several words such as zamel, m'haoui, hassass and attay but none for the active partners who do not lose their honour for fucking men or boys (id, 152).
  37. ^ needs assessment of males who have sex with males in Calcutta and its suburbs; Deep Purkayastha; Quote (Page 18) It has been observed that MSS in developing countries generally adopt a gendered sense of identify which influences the role they take in male to male sexual activities. In Calcutta these gendered selves are expressed in the concepts of dhurani, feminine man who takes the “passive” role in sex with men, and parikh, masculine man of whatever sexual orientation, but who takes the so-called ‘active’ role in sex with men.
  38. ^ Imams and homosexuality. A post-gay debate in The Netherlands (1) Quote: Most modernizers do not see, however, that the "progressive" turn to modernity also meant a strict heterosexualization of society in European history, and this already means the same in Morocco ... In both Europe and the Arab world, modernization means heterosexualization while both traditional and high-modern societies have a gayer reputation.
  39. ^ Queer-Ing Sociology, Sociologizing Queer Theory: An Introduction; Steven Seidman; Sociological Theory, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Jul., 1994), pp. 166-177 (article consists of 12 pages); Published by: American Sociological Association Quote: Moreover, their own science of society contributed (unwittingly, we like to think)
  40. ^ [1] This project reproduces the heterohomosexual binary, a code that perpetuates the heterosexualization of society (Namaste 1996)nk) to the making of this regime whose center is the hetero/homo binary and the heterosexualization of society.
  41. ^ A TALE OF TWO SEXUAL REVOLUTIONS; STEPHEN ROBERTSON AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF AMERICAN STUDIES Quote: The most striking addition to the picture offered by D’Emilio and Freedman is aworking-class sexual culture in which only those men who took the passive orfeminine role were considered ‘queer.’ A man who took the ‘active role,’ whoinserted his penis into another man, remained a ‘straight’ man, even when he hadan on-going relationship with a man who took the passive role. ..... The sexual revolution did not simply fail to expand thetolerance of those same-sex relations, it helped to significantly curtail the sexualfreedom of gay men and women. It ushered in ‘heterosexualization’ of society,to use Rupp’s term, that established an exclusive desire for the opposite sex as a key component of gender identity.
  42. ^ Masculinity for boys: A guide for peer educators published by UNESCO, New Delhi, 2006, Page 69
  43. ^ Bibles that matter: biblical theology and queer performativity; Stone, Ken; Publication: Biblical Theology Bulletin Quote: For Wittig, binary categories of sex constitute the foundation upon which the imperative of sexual reproduction, the heterosexualization of society, and the subordination of women and sexual minorities all rest.
  44. ^ Identity work at the teen party - Age and sex in heterosexualized space, Jakob Demant, Project Youth and Alcohol (PUNA), Department of Sociology, Øster Farimagsgade 5 PO.Box 2099, DK-1014 Copenhagen, Email: jjd@sociology.ku.dk, Web: www.sociology.ku.dk/puna] Quotes: ...Görlich & Kirkegaard emphasize that to be a real boy one has to live up to a series of principles on masculinity (See also Søndergaard 1996; Demant & Klinge-Christensen 2004). One of those principles is to choose and direct your heterosexual desire towards girls.
  45. ^ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Xy7gTumcofEC&pg=PT90&lpg=PT90&dq= A Desired Past: A Short History of Same-Sex Love in America; By Leila J. Rupp; published by University of Chicago Press, 2002; ISBN 0226731561, 9780226731568 The bubbling up of the sexual underworld that brought about wahat looked like the sexualiszation of society prompted the breakdown of public barriers between women and men: young women and men had more freedom to participate in heterosocial leisure pursits and to form heterosxual relationships outside courship and marriage ... the relentless "heterosexualization" of society limited opportunities for same-sex interaction and raised the specter of sexuality in every interaction and raised the specter of sexuality in every interaction between individuals of the same sex.
  46. ^ Identity work at the teen party - Age and sex in heterosexualized space; Jakob Demant; Project Youth and Alcohol (PUNA), Department of Sociology, Øster Farimagsgade 5 PO.Box 2099 DK-1014 Copenhagen; Email: jjd@sociology.ku.dk; Web: www.sociology.ku.dk/puna] Excerpts: On the one hand he knows that it is considered a bit childish to hang out with one’s male friends only, because it very clearly reveals that one is not very experienced when it comes to being with girls, except from the very formal social relation in class. On the other hand he does not want to go to the party, because he does not live up to, and cannot position himself as one who is part of, the sexualised space of the party. Torben thus makes use of a strategy about turning sport into his reason for not joining in, while he tries to insist on being ’up to’ the mixed-sex parties. This masculine way of positioning himself as a guy interested in girls, but without the “time” to do something about it, is not appreciated by the girls in the interview. They maintain the picture of him as not being mature enough to take part in the parties with the girls, without his male friends. Basically, he seems not to be oriented in a heterosexual way towards the girls, but ‘still’ (hanging on to) the non-sexual relationship with his friends. Thus, the girls imply that Torben is not old enough to be with girls. Further on,when Torben admits that he is more confidential with his male friends, his strategy seems poor. Torben cannot say that he is ‘drinking through’ with his friends which may have been a successful way of positioning himself. Instead he’s into sports, thereby appearing even more ‘wrong’, that is, even less masculine. The way in which Torben chooses to party is not in agreement with the norms of a heterosexual agent. Contrarily, it is obvious that Torben is still capable of making his mark in the interview; he argues for his position and to some extent draws upon some socially acceptable norms. He wants to party, and he (unsuccessfully) tries to present himself as someone interested in partying with the girls. However, he does not succeed in positioning himself as masculine in a way, which is attractive to the girls. In this respect he seems too immature. In other words, he is a ‘child’ in the eyes of the girls, and thus asexual. At the same time, though, it is obvious that Torben does not end up being positioned as girlish or as gay. arguably Torben is practicing erroneously, when it comes to partying, so that this practice cannot be part of a successful strategy to appear masculine. But he avoids being regarded as someone who is doing his gender wrongly. What he is doing wrong is the relation between age and gender.
  47. ^ The power of the Masculine; The man2man alliance Quote: Because heterosexualization was dependent upon changes wrought by the industrial revolution... And masculine men in general have been cut off from their same-sex needs and desires by an enforced heterosexualization of society...
  48. ^ "heterosexualization+of+society"+queer-Ing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in Thinking Historically about Lesbian Marriages by Barbara Baird Quote: The GLAA’s article concludes with reference to US queer theoristMichael Warner’s claim that ‘the heterosexualization of society was … a funda-mental imperative of modern colonialism'.
  49. ^ Difference Troubles: Queering Social Theory and Sexual Politics; By Steven Seidman; Published by Cambridge University Press, 1997; ISBN 0521599709, 9780521599702] Quote: A lesbian and gay liberation movement emerged in response both to the forced heterosexulaization of society and to the assimilationist politics of the homophile movement (Adam 1987; Faderman1991).
  50. ^ Sexuality Is Used to Attack Women's Organizing; © 2000 IGLHRC Quote: "the lesbian contributionconsisted of engaging [heterosexual] feminists in discussing the Page 28 [compulsory] heterosexualization of society as the ultimate control mechanism over the lives and bodies of women."
  51. ^ It's what you do: most of the men who have sex with men in the South probably don't identify themselves as `gay' or `bisexual'; Internationalist, Oct, 2000 by Jeremy Seabrook
  52. ^ a b Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern Japan; by Mark McLelland; Murdoch University
  53. ^ a b Struggles for sexual, gender liberation rooted in national liberation movements, Lavender & red, part 113, By Leslie Feinberg
  54. ^ The social construction of male ‘homosexuality’ in India: implications for HIV transmission and prevention Sheena Asthana, a and Robert Oostvogelsb; a Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK b AIDS and Anthropology Group, Anthropological Sociological Center, University of Amsterdam, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185, 1012 DK Amsterdam, Netherlands; Abstract: Over the past 20 years, there has been a growing recognition of the relativity of sexual norms and of the difficulties of exporting Western conceptions of sexuality to different socio-cultural settings. This view has been most clearly articulated in studies of men who have sex with men (MSM) which suggest that the ways in which male–male sexual activity is shaped and constituted vary significantly from place to place. Despite this, ‘homosexuality’ continues to be treated as an unproblematic category in HIV/AIDS discourse, epidemiological studies of and HIV prevention strategies for MSM in widely different contexts being based on the North American/West European example of gay men. This paper, which draws upon ethnographic research in Madras, highlights important differences between India and the West, not only in the sexual identities and circuits of MSM, but in their sexual partnerships and practices. These differences, it is argued, are not only significant to the epidemiology of HIV transmission, but have important implications for the development and implementation of HIV prevention strategies.
  55. ^ The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures By Bonnie Zimmerman, George E. Haggerty; Published by Taylor & Francis, 1999; ISBN 0815319207, 9780815319207; Quotes from page 182: Westerners, through various forms of colonization, distorted the sexuality and gender constructions of colonized peoples. Lesbianism, as the modern west defines it, is not the only way same-sex experience has been understood. The profound impact of Western sexual ideology on colonized peoples has helped create a complex spectrum of identities. For many peoples, the discrete analytical category of sexuality itself is a colonial imposition that addresses the realities of only a small part of the spectrum of women who have sexual and love relationships with other women. Many worldviews entail cosmologies in which sexuality is an integral force of life and not a separate category of existence or identity. A preoccupance with "sexual deviance" is a recurrent theme in colonial writings; from first contact, Western concepts of indigenous sexualities have consistently distorted, misrepresented, and degraded the experiences they attempted to describe. ... Lesbian identity, in contrast to sexual behaviour between women, is a modern phenomenon that is often predicated on the ability of women to break from kinship ties and autonomously support themselves. In many cultures, there may be no concept of lesbianism as a separate lifestyle even though there may be same-sex intimacy, because people may not define themselves outside of kinship or have the means or desire to be economically autonomous. This link between individualism and lesbian identity has led many women who struggle with the persistence of colonial legacies to resist the contemporary categorization of "lesbian," a resistance that is often presumed by dominant lesbian communities to be a desire to hide same-sex sexual behaviour. Lesbians reckoning with legacies of both colonialism and anticolonial nationalist struggles, which often turned Western constructions back on themselves and restigmatized lesbianism, are redefining their identities and practicess in their own terms and constructions within postcolonial formations.
  56. ^ Reclaiming the past to inform the future: Contemporary views of Maori sexuality Clive Aspin and Jessica Hutchings; published in "Culture, Health & Sexuality", Volume 9, Issue 4 July 2007 , pages 415 - 427; Abstract: Abstract For hundreds of years, indigenous peoples have struggled to resist the imposition of Western, colonialist views of sexuality. Today, this tension continues as religious bodies attempt to impose a form of sexuality and sexual expression that derives from narrow fundamental interpretations of religious scripture. For the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, the struggle to resist this imposition has a long history, which continues today. This paper draws on historical accounts including oral histories, depictions of Maori sexuality that reside in art forms such as carvings and archival material in order to describe Maori sexuality as it was lived and experienced in pre-European times. More recent information from the Maori Sexuality Project is used to inform these historical records. Together, these historical and contemporary sources provide a view of Maori sexuality that contrasts strongly with the view espoused by some Christian churches. Our understanding of Maori sexuality indicates that Maori were traditionally accepting of sexual diversity and difference and sought to embrace these elements of sexuality rather than to exclude them. The implications of these findings for the sexual rights and health of indigenous peoples, as well as for the ongoing development of Maori communities, is discussed.
  57. ^ Kenya;(Jamhuri ya Kenya) Norbert Brockman, Ph.D; Quote: The imposition of Western social notions of homosexual/gay patterns tends to obscure any true picture of same-sex activities in Africa. To say that there is no organized gay community in Kenya does not mean that there is no homosexual activity.
  58. ^ “Behind the Mask”: An African Gay-Affirmative Website Jonathan Alexander; Department of Language Arts, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210205, Cincinnati, OH, 45221; Abstract: In this interview, conducted entirely via email, the Webmasters of Behind the Mask, a gay-affirmative Website serving Southern Africa, discuss the origins and goals of their project. The digital conversation touches on the need to disseminate information about sexuality to African peoples and the concurrent difficulties of establishing gay communities in Africa, since many Africans do not use terms such as gay or homosexual to describe identities or behavior.
  59. ^ Pulling coyote's tail: American Indian sexuality and AIDS-education and prevention in a cross-cultural setting; Tafoya T, Rowell R, Beaulieu L, Green Rush A; International Conference on AIDS; Int Conf AIDS. 1989 Jun 4-9; 5: 748 (abstract no. W.D.P.32); National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, Oakland California, USA; OBJECTIVE: To illustrate the effectiveness of using traditional legends as a way of understanding Native concepts of behavior and expectations and as a vehicle for doing HIV prevention education among Native people. METHOD: The National Native American AIDS Prevention Center has incorporated the use of traditional legends, such as those in which "Coyote" plays a central role in its training on AIDS with both urban and reservation-based communities in the U.S. and Canada. These legends have been combined with slides of "third gender" individuals (whose tribal social roles usually overlap, but do not encompass Western concepts of homosexuality) to discuss how currently available curricula from non-Native sources may not be appropriate in describing same-sex sexual relationships in some tribal communities. Specific examples of successfully adapted Native American AIDS curricula will be provided. RESULTS: Pre-/Post-test results showed increased understanding of AIDS by participants. CONCLUSION: Traditional legends are an effective tool in AIDS education for Natives.
  60. ^ Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, 3rd. ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
  61. ^ John Money, 'The concept of gender identity disorder in childhood and adolescence after 39 years', Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 20 (1994): 163-77.
  62. ^ Laura Stanton and Brenna Maloney, 'The Perception of Pain', Washington Post, 19 December 2006.
  63. ^ Donald Brown, Human Universals
  64. ^ Mirande, Alfredo (1997). Hombres y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture, p.72-74. ISBN 0-8133-3197-8.

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