Situational Sexual Behavior - Culturally Specific

Culturally Specific

Many contemporary societies, as those of the Muslim world, indigenous or rural Latin America and Japan, possess non-westernized concepts of male sexuality, and as such, sexual activities (and their imagined sexual orientation counterparts) are not instantly or necessarily correlated with individual identity.

Third gender categories historically emerged, as for example, the South Asian hijra, the Omanian khanith or the Latin American travesti, and some confusion between Western concepts of sexuality and these categories is likely to arise with cultural contact or gradual westernization. For example, Don Kulick described the gendered world of travestis in urban Brazil as having two categories: "men" and "not men", with women, homosexuals and travestis belonging to the latter category.

Since bisexuality is much less discussed in Western societies than homosexuality, further interpretations on where certain men-identified males who have sex with transgender males or gay-identified males in what category varies greatly. In urban Brazil, for example, generally those that have sex with travestis and women alike, but demonstrate affection only toward women, are seen as straight (and their attraction toward travestis is regarded as mere fetish), but those romantically or sexually attracted to man-identified males are seen as gay (bisexual visibility only appeared in recent years). An exception is to be made among individuals influenced by Western prejudices or taboos on male homosexuality (or non-normative male sexuality in a general manner) combined with the local machismo, and in their worldview those males that have sex with anyone but individuals of the opposite biological sex (including self-reported heterosexuals, bisexuals and pansexuals) are supposed to be gay, i.e. in the informal "not men" category since they do not suit a heteronormative gender role.

Nevertheless, these taboos do not always apply to youths, especially among young adolescents when heterosexual sex is not available. In the Arab world, the sexual segregation is reported to make homosexuality seen as more accessible for single males to a certain extent. In Latin America, more popularly known in Brazil, it is a step further, especially in rural areas, more liberal cities such as Rio de Janeiro or among older generations (when premarital heterosexual sex was less available). Among youths, bromance is seen with less suspicion—as would be expected in a society where machismo is prevalent—than among older males, and homosexual contacts among otherwise heterosexual young males in Portuguese are called meinha (literally "a little sock") or troca-troca (literally "bartering"), which is analogous to the circle jerk of English-speaking countries. Some sources also say that this environment of societal attitudes of disinformation, even repression, on the topic of sexuality, and self-demonstration before the group also make less of a problem for youths to engage in zoosexuality in rural Brazil, a practice reported to be relatively common, and which do not necessarily demonstrate permanent sexual or romantic interest in interspecies relationships (not illegal there).