PERFORMING SEXUALITY AND GENDER: KEY ISSUES IN SOCIETY AND HEALTH IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA 14 th Psychosocial Oncology New Zealand Conference Wellington, 24 th -26 th November 2016 Gary W. Dowsett, PhD, FASSA Professor, Deputy Director and Chair Melbourne, @LTU_Sex_Health Australia
Biological determinism, sex and sexuality Biologically determinist theories of various kinds reduce social organisation and social complexity to an effect of biology or nature Biological determinists include sociobiologists, some geneticists, psychologists and pop psychology writers Complex, socially embedded behaviours are explained as an effect of evolutionary reproductive strategies
Body as machine In the biologically determinist school of thought: Biological facts of sex constitute natural differences between men and women Heterosexuality is a natural outcome of this sex difference due to the drive to reproduce the species Key assumption driving biological determinism: The primary function and goal of all human sexual activity is the reproduction of the species Humans have sex because we must reproduce Other sexual expression becomes explained as unnatural genetic deviation
The gay gene Geneticists search for a gay gene to prove there is a biological basis for, and explanation of, male homosexuality Small differences found between the post-mortem brains of heterosexual and homosexual young men (LeVay, 1991) Research on pairs of homosexual brothers found that some had similar markers on the X chromosome, indicating a genetic basis for sexuality (Hamer et al. 1993) LeVay s work proved difficult to replicate Hamer et al. refuted
Challenging determinism If reproductive differences between the sexes naturally drive individual behaviour, why do we need social institutions that police and set moral guidelines for sexual behaviour? The family, religion, law, government, the military The research evidence for many biologically determinist claims simply does not hold up Sex difference research may be popular, but it masks a great deal of evidence for sex similarities Differences often context-specific
There s more to sex than. A lot of sexual activity is seeking NOT to reproduce Many sexual practices are non-reproductive Oral sex, anal sex, coitus interruptus, contracepted intercourse, Homosexuality in all cultures throughout history No heterosexual gene has been found either Masturbation 72% of men, 42.4 % for women (2 nd ASHR Study 2014 past 12 months) 92% of men, 62% for women (Kinsey et al. 1948, 1853 life time experience)
There s even more to sex than. Masturbation and some other sexual activities do not involve contact with another person Are these heterosexual or homosexual? Or just sexual? Human sexuality more complicated than survival of the species or of one s gene pool Biological drive arguments are political Often used to resist social change and legitimate an unequal, gendered and sexualised social order Men s natural drive to rape - but Helliwell s work What s normal and un-normal and who decides? Institutionalised power relations
Complexities of sex & gender One use of sex refers to sexual acts, as in having sex Do we all mean the same thing when we talk about or think of sex? First year course Contemporary Issues in Sex and Sexuality Questions for JAMA study
Is this sex? Yes or No 1. A person kissing or licking another person s breasts or nipples 2. Having one s genitals stimulated by another person s mouth or tongue 3. Penile-anal intercourse (penis in anus) 4. Having another person s fingers inserted in one s vagina or anus 5. Penile-vaginal intercourse (penis in vagina)
Gender one definition Gender is the structure of social relations that centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices that bring reproductive distinctions into social processes (Connell 2002) Allows for the biological categories and the reproductive capacity but does not see this as determining Centres heterosexual sex in gender But requires a relation to the social
A reliance on binary oppositions Sex and gender often considered in binary pairs: Male or female Man or woman Masculine or feminine Binary challenged by intersex: between 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 2,000 people or 1.7% of the population
Hijra in India Caster Semenya, South African athlete A Tom in Thailand
Sex vs gender? Temptation to make an absolute distinction between sex and gender: Nature vs nurture, or essentialism vs social constructionism Understanding of the sexed body as natural can sustain social inequity between men and women Butler (1990) argued that gender determines sex Sex is not natural but a social construction Knowledge systems used to describe and reinforce sex differences already gendered by the language used to express ideas about the body
Sexed body = Gendered body Cannot neatly separate the sexed body from the gendered body Mutually constituted through social processes Biological science is a social construction, expressed through language that is gendered and value-laden
Social embodiment Bodies cannot be understood as just the objects of social process they are active participants in social process They participate through their capacities, development and needs through the direction set by their pleasures and skills. Bodies must be seen as sharing social agency. (Connell 2002: 40)
Another possible definition Gender is the extent we go to in order to be loved. (Robert Glűck, Margery Kempe, p. 57)
Quite a new term What is sexuality? Came into English, French and German usage at the end of the 18th century Usually meant reproduction through sexual activity among plants and animals Used in relation to love and sex matters in European discourse in the 1830s What does it mean according to the dictionary? Depends on which dictionary you read Macquarie Dictionary (1981): The definition or recognising of sexual matters.
Thinking about sexuality Three intertwining strands of sexuality: Sexual desire or attraction To whom (or in some cases what) someone is attracted (physically and emotionally) Sexual activity or behaviour What a person does or likes to do sexually (intercourse, masturbation, oral sex, watch pornography) Sexual identity or orientation How someone describes their sense of self as a sexual being (e.g. heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, homosexual, asexual) No clear boundaries!
A definition of sexuality I am suggesting that what we define as sexuality is an historical construction, which brings together a host of different biological and mental possibilities, and cultural forms gender identity, bodily differences, reproductive capacities, needs, desires, fantasies, erotic practices, institutions and values which need not be linked together and in other cultures have not been. (Weeks, 2003: 7)
Is this sex? Is it gender? Is it sexuality? How do we know?
Sex, sexuality, gender & health
Acknowledgements Conference: Psychosocial Oncology NZ Conference for the invitation. Material developed by La Trobe University for Advancing Sexuality Studies: a short course on sexuality theory and research methodologies, in collaboration with the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society and the Ford Foundation Colleagues: Deb Dempsey, Sean Slavin, Gillian Fletcher, Liam Leonard