Gerald Bivens

The definition of essentialism has largely been developed in the writing of the social constructionists and refers to the view that sexual categories and sexual identities represent fixed personal characteristics that are inherent, objective, transcultural, and transhistorical. Essentialism treats sexuality as a biological force underlying genuine sexual differences which in turn serve as the basis for sexual categories and identities. In relation to sexual orientation, essentialism argues that differences in sexual desire create categories of persons known as homosexual and heterosexual which are fundamentally the same across time and in different cultures.¹