Using the Kenneth Guest textbook Cultural Anthropology, after a class on Gender we tried “Sexuality” (chapter 8).
Sexuality Discussion Assignment
For the discussion comments, I borrowed an assignment from the Essentials of Cultural Anthropology Online Resources:
How long have you been straight? Have you always been attracted to the opposite sex? Why did you hide being straight from your friends? Homosexual men and women in our cultural are expected to go through a process of “coming out,” where they must publicly acknowledge their sexuality to their family and friends. Heterosexual individuals do not have to go through this process because our culture automatically expects people to have a sexual attraction to the opposite sex.
For this exercise, we want to explore the many ways in which sexuality is culturally constructed. After reading Chapter 9, write a description of two ways in which you have seen sexuality culturally constructed in your own culture. You can consider a broad array of cultural norms, from institutions such as Homecoming Kings and Queens to the modern wedding industry, in your answer.