Sex and Sexuality

Abstract

Symbolic interactionist approaches to sexuality state that human beings become sexual as they become whatever else and learn sexual definitions and sexual meanings just like they learn any other kind of meaning. Therefore, interactionist analysis shifts the focus of inquiry into sex from being sexual towards becoming sexual, which takes into account how sexualities are produced, organized, and negotiated, rather than tracing their sources in an immutable (conception of) nature. Sociosexual meanings give people the chance to define themselves and others sexually, to construct their sexual self and doing sexual things together in the shaping of more complex sexual choreographies and performance.