Inhabiting the Sexual Landscape: Toward an Interpretive Theory of the Development of Sexual Orientation and Identity

Abstract

Building on Paula Rust’s (1996) concept of a sexual landscape, we propose an interpretive theory of the development of both sexual orientation and sexual identity. We seek to reconcile human agency with active and shifting influences in social context and to recognize the inherent complexity of environmental factors while acknowledging the role that biological potential plays. We ground our model in the insights of three compatible and related theoretical perspectives: social constructionism, symbolic interactionism, and scripting theory. Within this framework, we explain how sexual orientation and sexual identities develop and potentially change.

KEYWORDS:

• sexual orientation
• sexual identity
• sexual fluidity
• homosexuality
• bisexuality
• changes to sexual orientation
• development of sexual orientation
• social constructionism
• environmental influences on sexual orientation
• sociological perspective
• reparative therapy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Nandi Crosby, Michele Bechard, and Kari Silva for their insights and comments on this work, and especially Martin S. Weinberg for providing the foundation from which our model grew. We would also like to thank the helpful comments of three anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1. See Diamond (2009) for a comprehensive account of sexual fluidity and how it is distinct from but related to sexual orientation and identity.

2. Symbolic interactionism preceded social constructionism, so it is actually social constructionism that is consistent with symbolic interactionism. We address social constructionism first because it has been much more widely used in studies of sexuality, and because doing so helps us explain our perspective by moving logically from the more macro to micro level.

3. BDSM stands for bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism.