Table of Contents
Definitions of Sexuality
- (noun) A broad term, encompassing an individual’s sexual interests and behaviors, involving biological, cultural, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects.
- (noun) The experience and expression of people as sexual beings.
Examples of Sexuality
Sexuality Pronunciation
Syllabification: sex·u·al·i·ty
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /sek-shuh-wAl-uh-tee/
- British English – /sek-syu-A-li-tee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌsɛkʃəˈwælədi/
- British English – /ˌsɛkʃʊˈalᵻti/
Usage Notes
- Plural: sexualities
- Often written in the plural form “sexualities” to indicate that often people exhibit varied sexualities at once or their sexualities change throughout their life.
- There have been many attempts to establish proper terminology for an individual’s attraction to others. The primary two are sexual orientation, an essentialist view and sexual preference which is a constructionist view.
Additional Information
- Sex and Gender Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “sexuality” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Ellis, Havelock. 1905. Studies in the Psychology of Sex. New York: Random House.
- Foucault, Michel. 1978. The History of Sexuality. New York: Pantheon.
- Hyde, Janet Shibley, and John DeLamater. 2017. Understanding Human Sexuality. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Jarman, Derek. 1992. At Your Own Risk: A Saint’s Testament. London: Hutchinson.
- Katz, Jonathan. [1987] 1995. The Invention of Heterosexuality. New York: Dutton.
- Kimmel, Michael S. 2015. Sexualities: Identities, Behaviours, and Society. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Parker, Richard, and Peter Aggleton, eds. 2007. Culture, Society and Sexuality: A Reader. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
- Rathus, Spencer A., Jeffrey S. Nevid, and Lois Fichner-Rathus. 2013. Human Sexuality in a World of Diversity. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
- Rosenblum, Karen Elaine, and Toni-Michelle Travis. 2016. The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, and Disability. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Stombler, Mindy. 2014. Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader. 4th ed. New York: Norton.
- Weeks, Jeffery. 2016. Sexuality. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
- Wilkerson, William S. 2007. Ambiguity and Sexuality: A Theory of Sexual Identity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Crooks, Robert, and Karla Baur. 2014. Our Sexuality. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Ferrante, Joan. 2011. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Giddens, Anthony, and Philip W. Sutton. 2014. Essential Concepts in Sociology. Cambridge: Polity.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Kornblum, William. 2008. Sociology in a Changing World. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
O’Leary, Zina. 2007. The Social Science Jargon Buster: The Key Terms You Need to Know. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Thorpe, Christopher, Chris Yuill, Mitchell Hobbs, Sarah Tomley, and Marcus Weeks. 2015. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Sexuality
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “sexuality.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 20, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/sexuality/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
sexuality. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/sexuality/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “sexuality.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/sexuality/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“sexuality.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/sexuality/>.