Homosociality

Homosociality is the practice of socializing within gender-segregated groups; socializing with members of one's own sex. Part of queer theory, the concept addresses same-sex subcultures, such as have often existed in the military, girls' schools, and convents. Homosociality is a necessary result from any gender-segregated society. Homosociality can lead to homosexuality, sometimes described as situational homosexuality, as in prisons which are generally gender-segregated, or the Navy (turned into a "floating joke" by queers, according to Homer Simpson).

Distinguish from gender segregation, which is the social, political, or legal enforcement of separation of and division between the sexes. Homosociality reflects the social aspects of what happens when the sexes are divided, whether they are forced to divide or whether they choose to do so.

Examples in SF

• Sheri Tepper's The Gates to Women's Country portrays a sex-segregated world in which most men live in a militarized environment outside the walls of the cities; almost all women and a few men live within the cities. The sex ratios created homosociality for day-to-day life for most people. Tepper's society purportedly eliminated homosexuality as a (presumably undesirable) hormonal and genetic variant, so this society shows homosociality without homosexuality.
• Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue examined the creation of subcultures within homosocial cultures of women.

See also:

• Separatist societies