Hi,
I believe sexual essentialism is defining sex based on biological principles, but then what is the theory of sexuality?
Thanks

Hello brittanyS,

Well... while sexual behaviour is as old as human kind, sexuality, as a concept, was not introduced
into the language until the early nineteenth century. Heath (1982) identified the word as first
appearing in 1800, specifically in relation to sex as a reproductive function, in both plants and
animals. The term was used to refer to the human capacity for the possession of sexual
powers, or the capability of sexual feelings for the first time in 1889, by a physician who used
it in reference to the surgical removal of a woman’s ovaries. Since then it has appeared
regularly, both in medical and other settings, and its meaning has become increasingly
complex.

In the nineteenth century, the newly emerging sciences of psychology and sexology, started
to classify human sexual behaviour in order to describe and quantify it in every detail. This
cataloguing of sexuality resulted in a shift away from sexual relations being seen only as
something people do (behaviour), to something they are (identity); thus the object of desire
started to define the individual’s sexuality.



Sexual essentialism is an idea that sex is a natural force based on our biology. Some would say them men are "visually sexual" while others say that women are inclined to such natural instincts as motherhood. To disagree with sexual essentialism is to believe that culture and surroundings form human sexuality.

Hi Pulkit,
Thanks for your input. I appreciate your post.
Thanks again

Originally Posted by brittanyS

Hi Pulkit,
Thanks for your input. I appreciate your post.
Thanks again

You are most welcome brittanyS. It was my duty to answer your question.

Hi,
I want to know more on sexual essentialism. Can you please explain me this term. And I am also curious to know the meaning of your name.
Thanks

Hello brittanyS,

Thanks for your reciprocation.

There is no clear meaning attached to gender essentialism. However, gender essentialism is the idea that knowing someone’s sex or gender tells you anything useful and innate about any individual within that gender or sex category. For instance, sex essentialism tells us that if women are weaker than men, than any individual woman should be slower than any individual man, or it tells us that if women are naturally more nurturing than men, than any individual woman is more nurturing than any individual man.


I have googled it for you and I came across this note which I would like to share with you. Please click on the link below to view its contents.

The link is : http://web.mit.edu/rubinc/Public/Schull/SexOutline.pdf

You can also have a look at the following links to.

1) What is Feminism? and other tangents

2) Gender

3) http://pubpages.unh.edu/~cewitt/Site...tialism%3F.pdf



I hope, these will prove helpful to you in understanding the term.

Answering the second part of your question, the meaning of my name - Pulkit is " Happiness all around ". The same is what I try to do i.e. make people around me happy.

Looking forward to your reply.

Thanking You.