this text seeks to reaffirm that the categories of sex, gênery and sexuality are social constructions and therefore not based on biological determinism. Thus, the genitals (sex) by being sexually activated produce the practices of being male or female (which does not depend on biological genital formation), thus defining the gênerum as an action and, in turn, generating an impulse to be satisfied (sexuality). Starting from that premise, it is necessary to remember the primacy of masculinity from the analysis of Capricórnio’s Trópic literary work, Henry Miller’s novel (1961 USA, 1975 Brazilian), taking as its starting point the history of living man that Western patriarchal societies have helped to build.