ABSTRACT
In practice, within our society, as individuals leave childhood, they enter a world in which sexual meanings are attributed to such conduct. Sexuality differs from many other qualities, such as sporting ability and studiousness, in that it is never attached to specialised roles. Individuals can become sportsmen and students, but not sexualists. Accounts of how youth cultures transform children into adults, equipped with masculine and feminine skills, tastes and identities, were first offered by functionalist sociology. Sexual meanings require individuals to identify with, and forbid them distancing themselves from, prescribed gender roles. It is only through gender that they are allowed to express their sexuality and make sense of their own biology. Defining sport as masculine, and attributing sexual meanings to all male–female relationships, has more than playful consequences. Young people are sexualised through gender roles, and are given no opportunity to question sexual meanings.
