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Sexualities
Click on each question to check your answer.
1. What information can you derive from Figure 5.2 on page 126 of your textbook?
Answer: Different countries have different rates of acceptance towards homosexuality. More affluent and secular societies are often more open to homosexuality. Those in Africa and the Middle East are less open to homosexuality than those in Latin America, North America, and Europe.
2. What did Dr. Alfred Kinsey say about human sexuality?
Answer: Dr. Alfred Kinsey was writing in the 1940s and 1950s. He was writing in the era of “Victorian prudery.” Dr. Kinsey shows that human sexuality lives on a continuum with heterosexuality at one end and homosexuality at the other. For these reasons, people who identify as heterosexual may feel attraction to the same sex. And those who are homosexual may feel attracted to the opposite sex. Thus, people are neither fully heterosexual nor homosexual.
3. Why is “coming out” with one’s sexual orientation sociologically important?
Answer: “Coming out” is important sociologically because until the person “comes out,” it is difficult for the person to win acceptance in the LGBTQI+ community. People’s identities are connected with the roles they play. Coming out is a statement that people make to themselves as well as to others around them. It is important to disclose your sexual identity to your workplace.
4. How do you define the term “queer”?
Answer: This is a common term that refers to anyone who does not identify himself/herself as heterosexual. The term is not fully accepted in the heterosexual community. It is a challenge to the long-held belief that heterosexuality is the norm.
5. What are some interests of symbolic interactionists regarding sexual orientation?
Answer: Symbolic interactionists argue that sexual identities vary with cultures and time. They ask, how do people negotiate different sexualities in different social settings? They also look at the outcomes of labelling people as gay, straight, or lesbian.