7.1: Introduction to Bias and Discrimination in Human Sexuality
After completing this module, students should have a working knowledge of:
- An Understanding of Bias and Discrimination
- Social Constructionism and how it relates to Bias and Discrimination
- An Overview of a Sample of Marginalized Groups
- A Shift in Sexual Freedom for All
Introduction
Society is made up of classifications and types, including people, professions, material objects, and political parties. This process serves to place people into categories that are easily identifiable. Understanding that we use these classifications or labels to create meaning is part of how humans operate. It is when these classifications are also assigned value where discrimination and bias take place. Sometimes classifications leave those who do not fit a category we assign a positive value to be viewed in discriminatory ways or made invisible altogether. A social constructionist view allows us to see sexuality as created and defined by people, rather than an essential fixed way of being. Our media system shapes the ways in which we view our sexuality, in reference to the cultural norms we internalize by consuming media. When we are viewed as either invisible or as a negative in regard to sexuality, we experience discrimination. Chapter 4 introduced us to the notion of pleasure and the many ways people of all types enjoy pleasure. Here we will look at ways in bias and discrimination interfere with all people enjoying what is intrinsically their own expression of their sexuality, sensuality and the erotic. As an introductory example, our gender binary, those who do not identify as strictly, singularly, male or female, have been left out of the equation as though they do not exist, and their enjoyment of sexuality is not part of the normative sexual script we are taught to follow. Persons with disabilities are not perceived to have any sort of sexual self. We will also examine how grouping individuals into one box can be detrimental to their survival, as seen with African Americans who have a deep history in the U.S. as not being viewed as equal, rather as property, and have also been heavily stereotyped as hypersexual.
Author’s note : Space and time for one chapter in a book do not afford us the opportunity to dive deep enough into the vast and varied examples of bias and discrimination. We hope this will serve as an introduction, and that the reader will take it upon themselves to further explore the ways in which bias and discrimination intersect with our sexuality. We will offer resources for further investigation and invite readers to share resources they find instructive to the topic. One resource for a continued conversation on bias is: Sociology Student Work | School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences | University of Washington Tacoma