Social Construction Essay

A social construction is “a social mechanism, phenomenon, or category created and developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is 'constructed' through cultural or social practice” (Dictionary.com, 2014). To paraphrase, a social construction is a norm, expectation, or practice in a particular group of people that has been constructed by members of that society. This essay will relate the concept of social construction to the idea of human sexuality, using cross-cultural examples, as well as examples from different periods in time.
An example of social construction of sexuality and how it differs culturally is one of pre-marital sex in the 1950’s. A young Zulu woman was expected to remain a virgin until marriage. This young woman was trained to be a nurse, and when first met colleagues from more urban areas in the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal, as well as the city of Johannesburg, she was surprised at how many of her fellow
This is a social construction, because in an ideal world the responsibility should be shared between both men and women. This social construction is further strengthened by the range of contraceptives available for men and women, as pointed out in the lecture on the 22nd of September 2015. There are only two contraceptive options for men, while women have a variety of options, placing the responsibility more firmly in the hands of women. The social construction of women being largely responsible for contraception has changed slightly from practices in the past, when only married women had access to contraceptive methods so the onus was still on women to obtain contraception, but only on women who were married (Burns,