Critique of “Stories from the Homefront: Perspectives of Asian

Adolescence is a dynamically evolving theoretical construct informed through physiologic, psychosocial, temporal, and cultural lenses. The most readily recognized hallmark of adolescence is the pubertal metamorphosis or chest rating the visible transformation of a “child” into an “adult. Development occurs both within the individual and through interactions with the environment. At the stage of adolescences, it’s hard for teenagers to figure out their sexual identity because girls menstruate cycle begins, the level of adult hormones increases, the pubic hairs begin to grow, development of sex interest increase, and one begins to wonder who they really are. The process of accepting one’s sexual orientation is particularly difficult for adolescents who identify as LGBTQIA and face that is not necessarily accepting of anything outside traditional expectation of

The topic of sexual orientation is both sensitive and controversial. This is evident in events, such as the Pride Parade, and also in media, where authoritative figures preach against it and speak of its “sinful nature” (Emmanuele, Blanchard, Camperio-Ciani, & Bancroft, 2010). Sexual orientation exists in various forms, it differs in the way it is viewed by different cultures, and researchers propose different perspectives to explain the emergence of an individual 's sexual orientation. In the discourse of sexual orientation,

Some women seek lesbian relationships because they want to reject this sort of powerless state they may feel in a heterosexual situation. Relationships between men to men and women to women hold several differences, but at the same time they share several similarities. Downing concludes the article by stating that there are both gay men and lesbians that dismiss the homosexuality myth, but it is crucial that they understand that the myth does hold a cultural vision on the power of gender and human selfhood. In order to get past the myth, we must understand to accept its existence.

Living in a world full of social perceptions, expectations and limitations make it difficult to survive when everything about a person contradicts those social ideals. Humans are composed and influenced by multiple constituents: they are more than just “gay,” “fat,” or “white.” But because of a society filled with magazines, super models and stereotypes, it’s easy to lose sight of that. Secluded, pushed away and punished, Joe Schwartz lived most of his adolescent life alone, like many others, due to his sexual orientation. From reading his life story, a new perspective can be seen.

In this paper, I will examine how women of color who deal with the lack of acceptance growing up because of their lesbianism help shape and/or will shape them to be future role models for LGBT people around the world. I will be using the coming of age drama, Pariah, directed and written by Dee Rees, as a primary source in order to argue how the cinematography in this film portrays Alike being the epitome of embracing one 's sexuality. I chose this film because it reminded me of a similar story that touched me in the form of a book written by Audre Lorde called Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Standing up in what Alike believed in and taking a stand by fighting back against so many in the community deal with on a everyday basis is the driving force I will use to show how she took a big giant step

Dillard uses the character of her mother to describe family relations and the role of women in the society in the olden days. She presents her mother as an enlightened woman who does little apart from taking care of the children. Sullivan uses his life story to explain how things have changed from the days when gays were under the closet to now when they can feel at home living amongst the straight in the United States. The two authors present different ideas relating to family values and gender roles; nonetheless, the two stories under discussion point to generational transformations that have seen drastic changes on the issues of gender roles and same-sex marriages.

I must confess that I am guilty of harboring unconscious stereotypes of Asian women. Kathleen Uno’s article “Unlearning Orientalism: Locating Asian and Asian American Women in Family History” brought this to light. She makes a very strong argument that Orientalism has exaggerated Asian patriarchy and the subordination of women; therefore, influencing research to highlight only the oppressive aspects of the Asian family. Uno states that once we can free ourselves from the “Orientalist blinders”, it will allow us to shed the stereotypes by revaluating the role of Asian and Asian American women and acknowledging their contributions. (Uno, 2003)

However, LGBT Asians and their family members often struggle with the pressure coming from the larger co-ethnic communities, as having an LGBT-identifying family member leads to the entire family “losing their faces” (Li & Orleans 2001; Hom

Many twenty-something women are confined by parental standards. One of Leslie Bell’s patients, Claudia, is a twenty-eight-year–old postdoctoral researcher who comes from a Mexican Catholic family. Claudia, a seemingly nice girl, reflected on her parent’s desire of being “a good girl who would marry her first boyfriend” (25). Claudia clearly did not do this as she enjoyed flirtation and sexual experimentation. This expectation brought upon by her parents has made Claudia uncertain as to whether she has made the right decisions when looking back at her twenties. Claudia’s Catholic parents have an expectation as to how Claudia will live her sexual life: reserved. This makes Claudia feel uneasy, as she has disobeyed her parents’ hopes and sought a different path of sexual expression. Claudia’s

“There is no reason that we should ever be ashamed of our bodies or ashamed of our love” (Levithan). This is a quote drawn from the book “Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan. This quote reinforces the idea that we as individuals should embrace who we are no matter our identification our sexual preferences. Levithan novel “Two Boys Kissing” brings attention and awareness to homosexuality relationships. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the sorted themes displayed throughout “Two Boys Kissing” and the effects the have on the LGBTQ community.

It was not until recently that those who identified as gender nonconforming or homosexual could feel comfortable coming out to the public without facing being ostracized. bell hooks describes her family’s struggle as they believed that she may be homosexual and their actions to attempt to counteract this outcome in her autobiography Bone Black. Her parents tactics remind me of those my friend’s parents adopted when they found out their child was not “normal.”

Sex and gender play a big part in american society today and are often misconstrued. These two topics have become progressive as people are starting to express their gender and sexuality in ways other than what is and has been considered the norm. Many people believe that sexuality and gender are synonymous with one another. Gender is socially constructed while sex is biologically determined. In society’s past, Americans often strayed away from discussing controversial topics, but with the rise of different ways of addressing people, it is deemed more important to understand. Along with the blurred lines of gender and sex comes sexuality, who someone is attracted to sexually. When people stray from society’s heteronormative mindset, they are often faced with many more challenges than the average hetero man or woman. People often have the preconceived notion that if something does not concern them, then they should not be involved in it. A person who could be your neighbor, co worker, or even child, may have to deal with the troubles of people confusing their gender identity with their sex. While also facing challenges that deal with the sex of the person they choose to love. Learning the difference between gender and sexuality will open the eyes of many people and see how the two are different but relate to one another very much.

In her essay titled “Compulsive Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” Adrienne Rich claims that any alternative to heterosexual outcome is discouraged by society. The essay claims that Western tradition has used the heterosexual family model as the basic social

We are all shaped by the environments in which we grew up, and our ways of thinking are shaped by the norms of the societies in which we reside. No one can help the inherent biases that are imprinted upon us by our contemporaries and the media of the society that surrounds us. From birth, we hear certain narratives that inevitably leave us with prejudices and expectations based not in fact, but in perception. However, for precisely these reasons, it is critically important to self-examine, and always consider issues within a framework of intersectionality. Manalansan’s reading states that “I explore the ways in which being “gay” and being “Filipino” are continually being shaped by historical events,” but there are many more reasons besides.

Upon entering this course, my understanding of human sexuality was decent; I was aware of certain aspects of sexuality such as being straight, gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, etc. Nevertheless, I did not realize how expansive sexuality is; it never occurred to me that sexual health, prostitution, marriage, rape, sex trafficking, divorce, families, etc., all fell under the umbrella of human sexuality. Books and essays such as Renee Hill’s Walk Together and David Shneer’s “Out of School” showcased the multiple facets of human sexuality and how terms like queer are not directly related to homosexuality. While sexuality and homosexuality are linked, frequently, people mistake them as being synonymous; before entering this class, I was searching for a definition of sexuality, and often in the thesaurus section of dictionary websites homosexuality and or sexual orientation was considered a synonym of sexuality. Formerly, I too would have agreed they were the same, however, after taking this course, I concluded that homosexuality is just one topic in the broad discussion of sexuality. My understanding of sexuality now is that it