Page 43 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Gender and Sexuality 27

entirely a matter of biological destiny whose most palpable physical emblem
is our differing genitalia. We see expressions of gender nature everywhere,
from women ’ s birthing of babies to men ’ s usually larger bodies, and those
expressions are consistent over time. Women in ancient times wore dresses
and looked after children, and they still do so today in many places. But
sociologists argue that much of the behavior that is considered natural to
a gender identity is in fact taught and learned. The pressure of the social
power hierarchy, for example, which favors men over women in economic
and political life, imprints on women dispositions that may favor the
reproduction over time of that hierarchy. The seemingly spontaneous and
natural desire many young women feel in conservative social locations
especially to become caretakers of men and of children may not be spon-
taneously generated at all. It may be a lesson learned from the surrounding
culture that was placed there by men because their own interests were
served by it. And the imprinting of those ideals and norms on women
makes the existing gender power relations appear to arise spontaneously
from a natural process – women seem to spontaneously want to engage in
service labor for men – but in fact, those internal dispositions toward
certain kinds of behavior are learned. They seem original, but they are
repetitions, rote rehearsals of scripts whose scripted character has been
erased or forgotten.
What appears to be nature, in other words, may be a fabrication. It may
be culture.
Similarly, sexuality, which might be called the practice of gender, would
seem to be characterized by a clear male - female binary opposition in most
people. Biology would seem to sustain a limited dyadic heterosexual para-
digm or model. But sexuality is so forged by culture and experience and
so bent from the simple dominant heterosexual binary in plural ways that

it in fact consists of a fluid range of possibilities – even in those fi rmly
lodged in one of the binary heterosexual identities. In the Japanese “ queer-
scape ” on the Internet, for example, adult women, many of whom, one can
probably assume, are heterosexual, explore their fascination with adult
male – boy homosexuality. The dominant binary opposition would seem to
prescribe a matching scheme of desired objects – women for men, men
for women. But many people turn away from that simple choice and
seek other possibilities, and within each of the principle heterosexual
choices, there are multiple ways to practice sexuality, each determined by,
in all likelihood, a mix of biological and experiential influences. Some take

plea sure in being “ femme ” and passive, while other enjoy being “ butch ”