Controversy On Gender, Sex, And Sexuality

When I signed for the human sexuality class, I was so excited to take the class and learn more about sex and gender in a psychological matter. What made me more curious to take this class two elements. Firstly, I have never taken a human sexuality class before neither in schools nor colleges. Secondly, we know that every culture has different beliefs about sex, and as I am an international student and have a different background about sex, I wanted to gain experience from other cultures that will make my thoughts to be more broadened and will extremely help me in my future career.

In Toni Morrison 's Sula, the society of Hannah and Sula is divided over each character 's sexual choices. Even though they both engage in the same activities, they are each judged for these actions differently. Society has no qualms with the sexual choices of Hannah. Her character sleeps with many men throughout the novel, and all the while, society never objects. This is because she was once married. After her husband died she longed for the touch and embrace of another man – a man who might fill the empty hole in her heart, a man who might cure this affliction. Sula, on the other hand, is despised for the choices she makes. According to society, Sula is using men solely for her own selfish pleasure. Unlike Hannah, society feels

In Debating Sex and Gender and After Identity, Dr. Warnke presents various arguments that demonstrate how sex, gender, and race are all social constructs. Do you agree or disagree with her argument, and why?

There are many things in this day and age that could be defined as cultural landmarks - pivotal views and information around which our society revolves. While each of these can provide interesting and enlightening insights into our culture and social behavior, this article will be focusing on one I personally find exceedingly upsetting: gender identity. Since birth, we have been taught a certain kind of segregation - man and woman, mother and father, boys and girls - taught it as if it were fact, as if it were as concrete as a law of physics; more so, even. We are taught that gender and sex are synonyms, interchangeable, taught even less of gender divergence than we are of sexual orientation. However, recently in the media more and more prominent figures have come out as genderqueer, pushing the topic into general debate and the eyes of the public.

The article The Opposite Sex: with Lisa May Stevens excerpted from the book Lousy Sex, by Gerald N. Callahan dives deep into the concept of gender that we humans have deemed a taboo subject. This article sought to question what gender is and why humans feel the need to have it. Callahan explores other species that ignore our strict rules regarding gender and thrive just the same. This article was extremely fascinating and helped me to open up my perception as to what gender truly is. It was also surprising to me that so many other people are confused as to what gender really is. Humans have tried so hard to make gender black and white, but it is often more flowing and unique to each person. Gender is an amazingly interesting topic that seeks

Her section on gender begins with asking the question, what is sex? Mardell then delves into the science of sex’s definition while continually comparing it to the social construct that humans have interpreted sex as. She paints a picture that shows, rather than tells, the difference between sex and gender with why and how it exists. This understanding allows her readers to grasp the more complex topics easier and sets a standard of acceptance for different ways of thinking.

Gender roles and gender identity are topics that are prevalent in today’s society, and cause many debates in classrooms and in everyday life. There are varied opinions on the subject. Most people have very strong beliefs on how children develop their gender roles and identity and can backup those beliefs with personal experiences behind their reasoning

Gender and sex are two words frequently misunderstood and mistaken for each other. To simplify, sex is considered the biological aspects of male/female (the reproductive system, genetics, and outward physical characteristics). Gender, on the other hand, comprises the psychological and social aspects of identifying to a sex (social roles, the way one thinks, and gender identity). These biological and psychological factors ultimately play a role in the way an individual thinks and acts as a person. Gradually, society has acknowledged and added mutability between gender and sex; individuals' social identity determines how they act and think, and anyone behaving differently may be regarded as abnormal.

Are lesbian more accepted by society than gay men? Acceptance amongst lesbian more so than gay men is one of the few of many discriminating factors that occur amongst the homosexual community. When it comes to homosexuality women has a better chance of being accepted by society than gay men. In most cases lesbians are taken less serious, people do not react to lesbians the same way they react to gay men. Studies have shown that gay men are more victimized by society than lesbians. It does not take much to notice the different ways society treats lesbians and gay men. Although, they have both encountered struggles from being rejected by friends to physical attacks or threats by people who do not believe in homosexuality at all, no matter if you are a lesbian or a gay man (Schulman, Sarah). In the perspective of society, two men being together is much more repulsive than seeing two women being together. According to the Pew Research sample of LGBT 19% adults describe themselves as lesbian and 36% describe themselves as gay men. A large percentage of the LGBT community is gay men (A Survey of LGBT Americans).

In our current society it is not abnormal to see couples of all different styles. Someone who is gay is a man who is attracted to other men. Lesbians are women attracted to other women. Someone who is straight is anyone attracted to the opposite sex. Seeing a gay or lesbian couple is becoming as normal as seeing a straight couple. Straight couples used to be the most typical type of couple, and this used to be viewed as the only normal type of couple, however now it’s not uncommon to see couples of the same gender. Couples of the same gender have different roles compared to couples of opposite genders. Same gender couples face different types of relationships issues that a straight couple may not have to deal with. Every type of couple

The goal of any good psychology class is to leave students with a better understanding of themselves and others. Psychology of gender is a special topic to most because it is a class based entirely on how we as living social creatures operate, elude ourselves to others, and it delves deep into the underling themes of why and how people naturally form and judge other’s identities. A judgement that is often harsh when people go out of the heteronormative scope of our western society that often leaves negative marks on how someone is able to operate freely within their gender (Purdie-Vaughns & Elbach 2008). One major take home point from a class such as this is that gender cannot be looked at on a sexual binary scale because gender is a lucid

This is a bias that I am working very hard to unlearn. In terms of gender and sexuality, I was raised in a world where everyone was a cisgender person and heterosexual. If we're not either of those, you were othered. With that said, traditional gender roles were very much the norm. Despite efforts, I began to categorize people based upon their presumed gender; for example a masculine woman must be a lesbian. However, this changed once I became older and realized presuming somebody’s gender/sexuality based on their outer appearance is not okay. Then I realized I was an LGBT person.

When you go on with your daily lives and norms, you tend to not give much attention to what kind of roles certain genders play or how we perceive certain gender to perform said roles. Lorber mentions in the early part of her argument that we seem to treat sex, gender, and sexuality and the norms that come with them like fish and water (Lorber, 1994) . We have almost become numb to the norms and expectations that come along with certain genders and roles. However, when we see something out of the norm or missing, we notice it. Whether we keep it to ourselves or point it out, that is up to the individual.

Gender is a fundamental part of personal and amicable identity for all of mankind, but gender is also a biological, intellectual, and cultural foundation for people everywhere. In the article “Learning to be Gendered” Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet explain how people are not born, but are made. How the making of a man or woman begins even before birth and turns into a never-ending process. The difference of male and female is the ground upon which we build ourselves. From the moment of learning whether the child is a male or female, gender is thrown into play. With the separation of colors, pink for girls and blue for boys, and also the separation of toys, cars and trucks for boys, and preferably dolls and play kitchen sets for

Males and females are classed differently from the moment they are pronounced boy or girl. Gender determines the differences in power and control in which men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their health, lives and status in their community. Our society moulds how men and women should and should not behave and can be observed in all parts of our society. As a result of these Gender stereotypes men and women have issues which affect their health which are unique to each gender. Males for example are perceived to be greater risk takers as a whole in our society than that of females. We represent risk taking behavior with masculinity and violence, high speed driving and contact sport with the male gender. (Doyle 2005)