Sexuality: Categorisations and Complexities

Abstract

As understandings of intimate partnerships tend to depend so significantly on the genders and sexualities of those involved this chapter will focus upon the intricacies of identificatory strategies in relation to sexuality. As with gender, I explore the ways in which people are regulated as to the sexualities with which they feel able to identify, as well as examining how some people are reworking their own perceptions of sexuality, and also sometimes those of others. Coming to identify in a specific way with respect to sexuality depends upon a number of factors, as will be shown here, such as heteronormativity, recognition from others, and the gender both of the individual and of those they are attracted to.