conflicting beliefs regarding the sexual power balance in a heteronormative relationship, with some academics firmly believing that women held the power to be “gatekeepers i Theories and environment n heterosexual activity” (Kane & Schippers, 1996, p. 652). While sexuality had been identified as a key site of gender politics, Kane and Schipper felt that more attention needed to be directed at understanding the beliefs about gender inequalities regarding sexual power. Adrienne Rich’s 1980 article Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence and related work has been hailed as extremely influential i Theories and environment n the recognition of compulsory heterosexuality as a key practice in the social construction of gender inequality. R. W. Connell further highlighted the importance of this notion as a key struct Theories and environment ural feature of the “gender order of wealthy, capitalistic nations” (Kane & Schippers, 1996, p. 652). In his 1987 book, Gender and Power; Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics, Connell attempted to explain one of the potential complex reasons behind th Theories and environment e Western culture’s homophobia by stating that “part of it must be the degree to which the fact of homosexuality threatens the credibility of a naturalized ideology of gender and a dichotomized sexual world” (p. 248). The results of Kane and Schippers study found that there was little difference between male and female samples regarding the belief that males had a greater sexual drive, this belief w>