ABSTRACT
In this chapter, James W. Chesebro, David T. McMahan, Preston Russett, Eric J. Schumacher, and Junliang Wu explore the increased visibility of alternative modes of sexuality across cultures and reassess and reconceptualize the widely accepted masculinity-femininity construct in cross-cultural communication research. They open their essay with a discussion on the burgeoning representations in popular culture that transgress the traditional dichotomy of sexuality and gender. Substantiated by their extensive review of literature, Chesebro and his colleagues disclose the prevalent and potent role of mediated communication in shaping, defining, or even regulating gender and mode of sexuality. They suggest that social movements in conjunction with advancement in communication technology have gradually transformed the binary categorization of gender and sexuality and deliberate the need to modify the conventionally assumed masculinity-femininity construct. Through a cross-cultural comparison of gender-ambivalent media personas in the United States and China, Chesebro and his associates propose to employ the concept of androgyny for understanding gender and sexuality as it recognizes the co-existence of masculine and feminine traits in each individual and views the application of sex roles as active choices and expressions according to situational appropriateness.
