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==Social constructionism== {{See also|Queer theory}} Because sexual orientation is complex, some academics and researchers, especially in [[queer studies]], have argued that it is a historical and [[Social constructionism|social construction]]. In 1976, philosopher and historian [[Michel Foucault]] argued in ''[[The History of Sexuality]]'' that homosexuality as an identity did not exist in the eighteenth century; that people instead spoke of "sodomy," which referred to sexual acts. Sodomy was a crime that was often ignored, but sometimes punished severely under [[sodomy law]]s. He wrote, "'Sexuality' is an invention of the modern state, the industrial revolution, and capitalism."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dMAtGvry_IMC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=china+heterosexuality+love+western&source=web&ots=PKv2BfyPpd&sig=s43w6PzlNOgefEsjpHViwrxkM6A&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result ''Chinese Femininities, Chinese Masculinities: A Reader''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312212325/https://books.google.com/books?id=dMAtGvry_IMC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=china+heterosexuality+love+western&source=web&ots=PKv2BfyPpd&sig=s43w6PzlNOgefEsjpHViwrxkM6A&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result |date=2017-03-12 }}, by Susan Brownell & Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom (Univ. of Calif. Press, 2002 ({{ISBN|0-520-22116-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-520-22116-1}})). Quote: "The problem with sexuality: Some scholars have argued that maleness and femaleness were not closely linked to sexuality in China. Michel Foucault's ''[[The History of Sexuality]]'' (which deals primarily with Western civilization and western Europe) began to influence some China scholars in the 1980s. Foucault's insight was to demonstrate that sexuality has a history; it is not fixed psycho-biological drive that is the same for all humans according to their sex, but rather it is a cultural construct inseparable from gender constructs. After unmooring sexuality from biology, he anchored it in history, arguing that this thing we now call sexuality came into existence in the eighteenth-century West and did not exist previously in this form. "Sexuality" is an invention of the modern state, the industrial revolution, and capitalism. Taking this insight as a starting point, scholars have slowly been compiling the history of sexuality in China. The works by Tani Barlow, discussed above, were also foundational in this trend. Barlow observes that, in the West, heterosexuality is the primary site for the production of gender: a woman truly becomes a woman only in relation to a man's heterosexual desire. By contrast, in China before the 1920s the "jia" (linage unit, family) was the primary site for the production of gender: marriage and sexuality were to serve the lineage by producing the next generation of lineage members; personal love and pleasure were secondary to this goal. Barlow argues that this has two theoretical implications: (1) it is not possible to write a Chinese history of heterosexuality, sexuality as an institution, and sexual identities in the European metaphysical sense, and (2) it is not appropriate to ground discussions of Chinese gender processes in the sexed body so central in "Western" gender processes. Here she echoes Furth's argument that, before the early twentieth century, sex-identity grounded on anatomical difference did not hold a central place in Chinese constructions of gender. And she echoes the point illustrated in detail in Sommer's chapter on male homosexuality in the Qing legal code: a man could engage in homosexual behavior without calling into question his manhood so long as his behavior did not threaten the patriarchal Confucian family structure."</ref> Other scholars argue that there are significant continuities between ancient and modern homosexuality.<ref name="Norton 2016">{{cite book |last=Norton |first=Rictor |date=2016 |title=Myth of the Modern Homosexual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkTqDAAAQBAJ |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781474286923 |access-date=2020-07-16 |archive-date=2021-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511080439/https://books.google.com/books?id=DkTqDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} The author has made adapted and expanded portions of this book available online as [http://rictornorton.co.uk/extracts.htm ''A Critique of Social Constructionism and Postmodern Queer Theory''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330132639/http://rictornorton.co.uk/extracts.htm |date=2019-03-30 }}.</ref><ref name="Boswell 1989 17β36">{{cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |chapter=Revolutions, Universals, and Sexual Categories |editor1-last=Duberman |editor1-first=Martin Bauml |editor2-last=Vicinus |editor2-first=Martha |editor3-last=Chauncey, Jr. |editor3-first=George |date=1989 |title=Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=17β36 |s2cid=34904667 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304002205/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf |archive-date=2019-03-04 |chapter-url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf}}</ref> The philosopher of science [[Michael Ruse]] has stated that the social constructionist approach, which is influenced by Foucault, is based on a selective reading of the historical record that confuses the existence of homosexual people with the way in which they are labelled or treated.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ruse, Michael |editor=Honderich, Ted |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2005 |page=399 |isbn=0-19-926479-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJFCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT971 |access-date=2020-10-28 |archive-date=2021-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511080440/https://books.google.com/books?id=bJFCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT971 |url-status=live }}</ref> In much of the modern world, [[sexual identity]] is defined based on the sex of one's partner. In some parts of the world, however, sexuality is often socially defined based on sexual roles, whether one is a penetrator or is penetrated.<ref name=WHOMSM>[https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/Between_men_full_version.pdf ''Between Men: HIV/STI Prevention For Men Who Have Sex With Men''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615021020/https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/Between_men_full_version.pdf |date=2021-06-15 }}, International HIV/AIDS Alliance.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Prevalence of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior and Associated Characteristics among Low-Income Urban Males in Peru|journal=PLOS ONE|date=2007|volume=2|issue=8|pages=e778|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0000778|last1=Clark|first1=Jesse L.|last2=Caceres|first2=Carlos F.|last3=Lescano|first3=Andres G.|last4=Konda|first4=Kelika A.|last5=Leon|first5=Segundo R.|last6=Jones|first6=Franca R.|last7=Kegeles|first7=Susan M.|last8=Klausner|first8=Jeffrey D.|last9=Coates|first9=Thomas J.|pmid=17712426|pmc=1945085|bibcode=2007PLoSO...2..778C|doi-access=free}}</ref> In Western cultures, people speak meaningfully of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identities and communities. In some other cultures, homosexuality and heterosexual labels do not emphasize an entire social identity or indicate community affiliation based on sexual orientation.<ref>Zachary Green & Michael J. Stiers, ''Multiculturalism and Group Therapy in the United States: A Social Constructionist Perspective'' (Springer Netherlands, 2002), pp. 233β46.</ref> Some historians and researchers{{who|date=May 2019}} argue that the emotional and affectionate activities associated with sexual-orientation terms such as "gay" and "heterosexual" change significantly over time and across cultural boundaries. For example, in many English-speaking nations, it is assumed that same-sex kissing, particularly between men, is a sign of homosexuality, whereas various types of same-sex kissing are common expressions of friendship in other nations. Also, many modern and historic cultures have formal ceremonies expressing long-term commitment between same-sex friends, even though homosexuality itself is taboo within the cultures.<ref>Robert Brain, ''Friends and Lovers'' (Granada Publishing Ltd. 1976), chs. 3, 4.</ref>
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