According to Johnny Weir, “Masculinity is what you think it is... [it is] by perception, [I believe] that masculinity and femininity are something very old. - shaped... [there is a] whole new generation of people who are not defined by their race or gender or who they like to sleep with. This statement illustrates the definition of gender as a concept; gender corresponds to the expectations of a sex according to the culture of society. Sexuality, within this definition of gender, reflects the expectations of society, which are created in relation to the opposite sex. Differences between cultures mean that gender expectations change within different cultures. These expectations push each member of society to conform and respect the popular traditions of their own culture. Society's creation of gender expectations creates a restrictive definition of gender roles and sexuality that vary from culture to culture. Society has created gender roles and emphasized the differences between the two genders. Alma Gottlieb states, “the biological inevitability of sexual organs comes to represent a perceived inevitability of social roles, expectations, and meanings” (Gottlieb, 167). Sex is the scientific recognition that men and women are biologically different; gender arises from society's formation of gender roles and emphasis on the differences between the two sexes. Meaning-making focuses on expectations about the roles each gender should fulfill; society creates cultural norms that perpetuate these creations. Gender blurs the lines between differences created by nature and those created by society (Gottlieb, 168); gender is the cultural expectations of the sexes, with meaning assigned to the difference...... middle of paper ...... whether the woman actually identifies with the role prescribed for him or her depends on the socialization process and of the way in which she identifies with society. expectations of them. The social construction of gender and sexuality is based on the extent to which people believe there is a difference between the two sexes. Once this emphasis is put aside is when gender roles will no longer play an integral role in the structure of society. , Alma. “Interpreting gender and sexuality: approaches from cultural anthropology.” Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Line. Ed. Jeremy MacClancy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Kilbourne, Jean. Killing us slowly. Media Education Foundation, 2010. Lancaster, Roger N. Life is hard, machismo, danger and the intimacy of power in Nicaragua. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.