Date of Award
1999
Document Type
Research Paper
First Advisor
sal johnston
Second Advisor
Kim Russo
Abstract
What is ‘normal’ sexuality? How and why has gender become a factor in determining human sexuality? What are some of the attributes of human sexuality and gender? Do sexual desires and fantasies make people deviant? Where is the boundary that separates normal people and deviant people? Who and why would anyone want to cross this boundary, knowing the negative repercussions that could follow? Which is more important- to be a sex, to have sex, or to posses sexuality? And the key to this paper: how have human sexuality and gender been fused to mean one and the same thing? These are but a few of the questions that will be addressed. The fact is that many people express themselves sexually in a manner that does not conform to society’s standards of a distinct male and female sexuality and their gender identity, such as in the Sado-masochist (S&M) community. In doing so, an outright challenge is made that will show just how human sexuality and gender have been engineered. This construction of human sexuality and gender has enabled Western society to manipulate and keep a sexual system of male dominance and female submissiveness. The S&M community offers a place to investigate these concerns by challenging the status quo.
Recommended Citation
Fuente, A. A. (1999). The Social Construction of Gender and Human Sexuality as Explored through Sado-Masochism. Retrieved from https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/scholars/255