Sexuality is so vastly complex and compelling, an unavoidable part of being a human animal, and yet shrouded in mystery. Sexuality is an interplay of desire and denial, fantasy and reality with a complex physical and biological template tangled with an equally complicated cultural overlay.[1]
“The Sotadic Zone” by Sir Richard Burton proposes the idea that homosexuality is not racial, genetic or moral based and that homosexuality is actually a geographic result. “The Sotadic Zone” argues that within this geographical area of the world (including all of North America), the gender differences between men and women are fewer and this results in a confusion of sexuality among the masses and ultimately leads to an increase in the number of individual who are homosexual.
Burton argues that “within the Sotadic Zone there is a blending of the masculine and feminine temperaments, a crasis which elsewhere occurs only sporadically” (204). This argument is used to say that homosexuality is more concentrated in areas of the Sotadic zone. Burton’s ideas of sexuality are drastically different from those we have seen up unto this time period. Burton’s idea of sexuality as a geographic result instead of an innate feature of gender, as previously believed, creates a new idea surrounding how one comes to their own sexual identity. Burton’s theory would assume that being born and raise in a specific area of the world would make you more or less likely to be homosexual. Although this is not the modern conclusion, it does hold true in part.
Sheri Winston in “A New Paradigm For Our Times” states that sexual identity is, in part, a result of the cultural overlay one is exposed to. This idea is similar to Burton’s understanding of sexuality as geographic area greatly contributes to the cultural experience of an individual. Burton’s forward thinking ideas help to move individual away from the focus on gender as the sole reasoning behind sexuality and more towards the modern belief of sexuality through a combination of experiences and genetic influences.
[1] Winston, Sheri. “A New Paradigm For Our Times.” Wholistic Sexuality. 2003: 105-117.
