Sociology

The term gender is used in reference to social roles, activities, behaviour and other characteristics that a society associates to men and women. The outward expression of a person is controlled by ones gender. Sexuality on the other hand refers to how people relate to their sex. Sex in this regard refers to the identity of a person as a male or a female. In this context, sexuality would best refer to the resultant ways in which people express themselves with respect to their sex. Humans regard to sexuality with a lot of psychological and arousing reactions (Taylor Villegas, 1994).  The recognition of oneself either as a male or a female has a lot of influence in ones roles and sexuality. It is of most importance for one to have a psychological identity that helps to articulate the outer person. The lack of self identity leads to gender variant behaviors.

At an early age, boys tend to be more obsessed in activities that are more physical and involve a lot of energy like rough plays. Girls in the other hand are known to like fancy activities which are less aggressive (Michael  Whitley, 2002). However, there are some gender variant disorders where one feels discomfort in identifying himherself in the gender of their sex and continually fantasize about being of the opposite gender.

In relation to culture, there have been some roles that have been accepted to belong to certain genders. For instance in Europe, male have been accepted to take the role in medicine while the same role is dominated by female in Russia. In U.S.A, the role of physicians has been thought to be a male career.  
One of most common feature of gender in relation to sexuality is the sexual orientation. This brings about the issue of variant behavior in sexual attraction between different people. In one hand heterosexuals are known to develop attraction in members of opposite sex. While on the other homosexuals are known to have sexual attraction in members of similar sex. Other cases of bisexuals develop sexual attraction in both male and female genders.  Sexual behavior is known to be driven by a set of factors. Some of these factors are common among all people (Taylor  Villegas, 1994). The sexual pleasure associated with all sorts of sexual activity has been known to be a reason for one to indulge in it. The thrill of orgasm and its associated positive health implications like stress reduction puts sexuality at a focal point in reference to human development. Among all religions, sexuality and its applications has been regarded as pleasurable.

Studies in gender and sexuality have put across the reasoning that gender identity disorder in children may go ahead to be manifested in later years as an adult. In some cases the victim may become a homosexual or become bisexuals. Other studies in sexuality have revolved around the issue of sex and competence of humans as either male or a female. According to Sigmund Freud, he viewed women as an inferior sex due to their lack of a penis (Michael  Whitley, 2002). His superiority was based on the common notion of superiority of male gender in the love making process and the submissiveness of a female gender in the same. Similar studies by Mark Blencher focused on the sexual orientation where he saw the gender of a person in a sexual attraction has been given undue attention over the other aspects involved in the sexual attraction.

In the different cultural orientations which exist across the globe, there exist different yet similar cultural expectations especially for both boys and girls. In almost all cultures boys are nurtured in a way that would promote the development of masculine features distinguishable from feminine features (Michael  Whitley, 2002). Boys begin to play rough tumble games and get exposed to activities which should nurture their masculinity. On the extreme contrast, girls in almost all cultures are taught on how to conform and develop self seeking behaviors in order to advance the development of their feminine attributes.

Thus, in majority of the cultures the projection and perception of both boys and girls is equally similar. However, variations may occur based on the socialization strategies used and this may be the cause of the major differences we observe between boys and girls from diverse cultures (Taylor Villegas, 1994). The society the basic element for propagating cultures from generation to generation plays an integral role in inculcating values and especially gender related values in both males and females of a given category.