 Relationships (Outline) |
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Insociology,heterosociality describessocial relations with persons of the oppositesex or a preference for such relations, often excludingrelationships of aromantic andsexual nature.[1] The opposite of heterosociality ishomosociality.
At an institutional level, the spread of heterosociality, epitomized by the entrance of women into public life and space, is closely associated with the progress ofmodernization.[2]
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The termheterosocial can refer to either:
Whether the term can be applied to groups of three or more people has been disputed. One possible argument is that such a group is homosocial if composed of people of a single sex, and bisocial if composed of people of both sexes, since in the latter case each member will be interacting with people of both sexes. On the other hand,Collins English Dictionary[3] definesheterosocial as "relating to or denoting mixed-sex social relationships", without specification of whether it applies to relationships between two people or among larger groups, suggesting that the term can describe social interactions involving people of both sexes more generally.
The pervasiveness of heterosociality in contemporary life can lead to the obscuring of itssocial construction as a late development in Western history. Writing of early society,Freud considered that there was "an unmistakable tendency to keep the sexes apart. Women live with women, men with men".[4]Durkheim associated sexualtotemism, binding men and women into two separate totemic corporations, with such a social division of the sexes.[5] Even in the twentieth century, rules of etiquette in some traditional villages dictated that men and women do not greet each other when passing in public.[6]
Urbanization and modernization have seen a gradual erosion of the barriers to male/female socialising, not without significantculture wars along the way over each particular new arena. Thus, for example, part of the hostility to theElizabethan theatre lay in the fact that men and women freely intermingled in its audience;[7] while dance halls and cabarets later offered similarly controversial new areas for heterosocial interaction,[8] as too didamusement parks.[9]
In the 21st century, the challenge presented to traditional societies by the way the discourse ofmodernity encourages heterosociality over an older homosociality continues to be a live issue.[10]
The 20th century opening up of the public sphere to women[11]—work, politics, culture, education—was both fueled and fed by thefeminist movement, but the increase in heterosociality which accompanied it was seen as double-edged by many feminists. On the one hand, it served to undercut older feminist homosocial bonds and support systems;[12] on the other, it split the new feminist movement, as calls forseparatist feminism challenged heterosociality, let alone heterosexuality,[13] in ways many found unacceptable.
Post-feminism has generally accepted heterosociality, along with a new strategy ofgender mainstreaming, but not without reservations as to the exploitative aspects of (for example)raunch culture within the new 21st century public gender regime.[14]
Acquiring heterosocial competence is a key adolescent task.[15] Other-sex friendships, even more than romances, can play a key role in this process.[16]
Different societies and differentsubcultures place varying restrictions upon adolescent heterosocial roles and opportunities.[17] Americanteen culture in particular has been seen as aggressively promoting heterosociality over homosociality.[18]
The advancement of culture was seen byHenry James as linked to heterosociality.[19] Similarly,Kenneth Clark saw the flourishing of 18th-century French culture as rooted in the heterosociality of thesalon.[20]
Postfeminist criticism ofBuffy Summers as a powerful femalerole model has centred on the heterosocial nature of her particular universe of social networks.[21] Cross-sex relationships play a predominant part in the Buffy world, foreclosing more politicised readings[22] from a feminist viewpoint.