[4] Although the term has undergone some changes since then, today it represents how an individual feels and expresses their gender, typically through masculinity or femininity.
[6] A study by McCabe, Tanner & Heiman[2] illustrates that gender, at least in the Western world, informs how we understand and conceive of the construct of sexuality.
By marketing clothing in this way, the individual's interpretation of sexuality can be externally controlled at an early age.
This refers to how gendered behaviour is driven and/or encouraged by the sexual situation within one's direct social community.
Some examples of this could be: a gay bar, a sex club (See Ping pong show), or hip-hop culture.
These experiences are all situation-specific in relation to gender and sexuality, and have a different meaning of what is considered as "normal" depending on the situational construct.
Men holding hands in India is much more acceptable than in the West, and due to these cultural differences, the perception and reaction to sexuality amongst gender varies.
Different sexual interactions will determine how much an individual is concerned with conforming to positive societal influences of gender.
This final postulate rests on the individual, or the subject, and how much a person strives to meet societal gender norms.
In the Western context, this can be seen particularly through the historic gendered division of labour where men and women are fit into different professional roles dictated by their physical capabilities, typically via sex.
Conformity to these beliefs occurs when others both encourage and accept these behaviours, which in turn, internalizes these gender roles within the minds of men and women throughout a particular group.
[11] Having to maintain an identity that conforms to these gendered sexual roles, however, has not necessarily suggested positive outcomes.
Historically, the sexual double standard has suggested that it is both acceptable and even encouraged for men to have sex outside of wedlock, but the same concept does not apply to women.
[10] Alexander & Fisher[13] conducted a study to determine whether or not men and women's self-reported sexual behaviours and attitudes are influenced by expected gender roles.
[16] Inherent within it is the constructionist paradigm, which has four main points:[16] These ways that social lives are constructed influences both gender and sex.
[16] From this standpoint, sex differences are simply byproducts of men and women attempting to adhere to their prescribed gender construction given to them by their society.
[3] It is also important to point out that gendered differences in regard to social construction are also said to be driven by relations of power, typically through patriarchal ideologies which privilege men over women.
[6] They concluded that these differences in behaviour can be attributed to the way in which the positions of men and women are constructed within society.
Baumeister[17] completed a study that looked at female erotic plasticity, suggesting that women are more susceptible to influence by social and cultural factors in regard to sexuality than men are.
[21] This objectification can lead women to look at their bodies as objects to be 'toyed' with, rather than an entity which works to keep an individual alive and functioning optimally.
[7] The majority of sexual objectification comes from the media, be it TV shows, magazines, movies or music videos.
These forms of information from the media have also been suggested to educate the public about sexual roles and portrayals of women, and these influences have been said to have different effects depending on the subgroup.
For example, there is evidence to suggest that teenage girls are most susceptible to these forms of knowledge, impacting female adolescent sexuality.
All in all, the structure and foundation of American culture allows for mass media to heavily impact the many different aspects of individualized and gendered sexuality.
[23] It is said to negatively affect young women by instilling shame, doubt and anxiety within them through body spectatoring and policing.
Throughout time, and through these surgeries, the vagina and female genital is something that is looked at as a problem that needs to be solved if it is not viewed by society as "perfect."
The pursuit for the "optimal vagina" consequently damages the health of women in their attempt to form themselves to idealized sexual function and appearance.