圖：雖然人類或許在生物學的生殖功能上被視為男性或女性，生物性別只是人類建立各種文化的行為、角色、意含的基礎。我們打從出生就學著演出（enact）文化的行為、角色、意含。圖片由Danny Gawlowski拍攝。
這些分類不是存在於真空中，而是給我們指導方針，以確定如何與其他人互動。某些社會期待年輕人尊敬長者；另一些社會期待年輕人去顛覆長者設下的現狀。某些社會鼓勵已婚男人與其岳母發展親密關系；另一些社會，岳母無論如何都得避開女婿。在某些社會，我們的種族決定我們應該如何與其他種族的成員互動；在另一些社會，我們的種族甚至決定我們能與誰結婚、不能與誰結婚。
作為特定團體的成員並被要求以特定方式行動，基本上是有人性的。畢竟，我們都是文化的生物。而且因為它在我們的生活中普遍存在，性向在我們的社會互動中交織來回：所有人都必定在社會中協調出一個「性向」的身分，不論他們如何生活或是在哪裡生活（這帶出一個重點，就像任何文化的事物，人協商出他們文化上被定義的身分。當然，性向在這個文化過程中是不可或缺的部分）。某些社會認為性向是永遠不變的；另一些社會認為性向很有彈性。但不論永遠不變或是富有彈性，我們對於性向的想法總是被我們所屬的團體所形塑。我們對性向的看法總是不斷改變，只是在程度的因人而異、因地域而異。
None of these categoris exist in a vacuum. They also give us the guidelines for defining how to interact with others. In some societies, youg people are expected to treat the elders with respect; in other societies, young people are expected to upset the status quo set by elders. In some societies, a married man is encouraged to develop a close relationship with his mother-in-law; in others, his mother-in-law is to be avoided at all cost. In some societies, our race determines how we should interact with members of other races; in others, it even determines who we may and may not marry.
Being a member of certain groups and bein expected to act in certain ways is fundamentally human. We are, after all, cultural beings. And because it so pervades our lives, gender weaves in and out of our social interactions: each and every person must negotiate a "gendered" position in society, no matter how or where they live. (This brings up an important point. Like everything else cultural, people negotiate their many culturally defined positions. And gender, of course, is an integral part of this cultural process.) In some societies, gender is considered immutable; in others, it is quite flexible. But whether immutable or flexible, our ideas about gender are always shaped by the groups of which we are a part. They always vary, if only by degrees, from people to people and from place to place.
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