Inhabiting the Sexual Landscape: Toward an Interpretive Theory of the Development of Sexual Orientation and Identity |
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Authors: | Liahna E. Gordon Tony J. Silva |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Sociology, California State University, Chico, Chico, California, USA;2. Department of Sociology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois, USA |
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Abstract: | Building on Paula Rust’s (1996) concept of a sexual landscape, we propose an interpretive theory of the development of both sexual orientation and sexual identity. We seek to reconcile human agency with active and shifting influences in social context and to recognize the inherent complexity of environmental factors while acknowledging the role that biological potential plays. We ground our model in the insights of three compatible and related theoretical perspectives: social constructionism, symbolic interactionism, and scripting theory. Within this framework, we explain how sexual orientation and sexual identities develop and potentially change. |
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Keywords: | sexual orientation sexual identity sexual fluidity homosexuality bisexuality changes to sexual orientation development of sexual orientation social constructionism environmental influences on sexual orientation sociological perspective reparative therapy |
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