How to know how mainstream culture influences your preferences?
Tips you need in your life
What follows has been written based on a live conversation at LVRSNFRNDS where members discussed “Beyond gender, do you find yourselves reverting to types?” Quotes are extracts from this conversation.
In this episode of “attempting to dismantle the patriarchy”: have you taken a closer look at your type preferences beyond gender?
Before we start, we want to introduce you to a couple of terms that we find very relevant to this topic: gynesexual/gynosexual and androsexual.
#1: Gynesexual/gynosexual folks are individuals who experience sexual attraction toward women, and/or femininity, regardless of whether they were assigned female at birth.
#2: Androsexual folks are individuals who experience sexual attraction toward men, and/or masculinity, regardless of whether they were assigned male at birth.
As usual: this is a judgment-free zone, we want to inspire you to engage in some constructive introspection not to invalidate anyone’s sexuality or feelings.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s find out how you can spark an inner discussion about the potential influence of popular media on your preferences.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself…
#1: Am I less attracted to femininity and hyper-femininity because it is often connected to negative traits?
Popular media has long been demonizing hyper-femininity, and femininity in general, showing feminine folks as either empty-headed, mean, or childish. This portrayal has led to these associations being internalized.
#2: Is my lack of interest in masculine non-men or feminine non-women based on normative gender-role expectations?
Societal and gender roles have long been enforced and continue to be in most contexts. This leads to the being engrained in our functioning, even while trying to go against them, which can sometimes result in unintentionally adopting those attitudes without even realizing it.
#3: Is my lack of interest in masculine non-men or feminine non-women rooted in internalized homophobia and transphobia?
The silent rejection of biological sex non-conforming individuals, even by other members of the community, can sometimes be associated with the internalized shame and phobia resulting from the years of being exposed to negative attitudes towards breaking queer gender expression.
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