Sexual Behavior And Attitudes As Well As Power And Authority Within The Household Essay

How does one define family? Throughout our readings, we find ourselves learning the ideas of theorist, concepts, and definitions to help us define and describe what family is. The family could possibly be what or who we say they are, or in simpler Bozett’s term, who the patient says it is! (Plumer, 2010). A family could consist possibly of values, roles, communication, environment, and relationships. Families may transition through all of these principles that either unites them or tears them apart. For instance, the movie Mrs. Doubtfire portrays these perceptions of what family is when family processes are shifted within a household. We will now discuss in more detail of the family assessment found throughout the movie starring the Hillards.

Traditionally, the U.S. family begins with a marriage, cohabitation and finally, children. However, the “typical” family is beginning to evolve very rapidly, just as in France and Quebec. In Quebec, it is more common to find couples living together that aren’t married than to find married couples living together. Surprisingly, only 3 in 10 families in Quebec are married couples with children under 25 living with them. In France, children tend to live with their parents until they’re in their early to mid-twenties. Quebec and the United States are generally evolving together. It is more common in present day to find couples living together that aren’t married, yet may or may not have children. However, in France, couples generally won’t marry until they’re in their thirties. My family is composed of the traditional American family: marriage, creating a home together, creating a family together. Although I was raised in an orthodox household, I was also raised seeing and learning from unorthodox living and parental situations. The role of family in the U.S., Quebec, and France nowadays are all transforming to purposefully cease all structure. Same-sex marriage is now legal in these areas, and this change has definitely produced the question of what is a “typical family” anymore. There is not a typical family anymore, there is only the family one was brought up in and one creates.

Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.

The American family has changed throughout history and has brought along gender and sexual norms. However, some parts of the family and these gender norms have been fairly constant as America has progressed and may even be seen today. These changes and similarities can be seen through the families during the colonial times, the 1800s, and the 1950s.

For example, during the 1970’s, single parent households did exist, but these arrangements were considered to be the exception, not the rule. In contrast, today’s family structures are as diverse as the people within them. Given that it has become routine for some parents to live separately, and couples of same sex marriages are now common place, unique areas of consideration have opened up and are in need of further scrutiny. Through updated theories and advanced equipment, inventive techniques have been applied to study people adjoined to the modernized world they live in. Also, social sciences have fundamentally altered their beliefs of acceptability and acknowledged

            One of the biggest factors affecting teen Latinas is lack of sex education. Latinas have a difficult time communicating with their parents about sex and schools do not offer the education they need since they are marginalize. In the book Latinos in American Society, the co-author Zambrana mentions that “Two family factors have been found important in early family formation are romantic socialization and a lack of communication with parent and knowledge of sexuality and sexual behavior” (2292). What Zambrana is referring is the difficulty Latinas feel when talking bout their sexuality especially with their family members. The biggest problem with

Many of my friends in high school came from single parent fatherless homes like mine. A lot of us, especially my female friends, were looking for a filler of the void our father’s left in us. I found mine at the age of fifteen in a twenty year old named Jay. My mother never spoke to me about the dangers of unprotected sex. Most of what I learned about sex was taught through cable television and my friends. This was a dangerous way to learn about something as important as sex. There have been several studies that have indicated that living with only one parent, especially fatherless homes, is an indicator of early sexual behavior in adolescent African American females (Hogan and Kitagawa, 1985). From a daughter’s point

Human sexuality is a common phrase for all, and anything, pertaining to the feelings and behaviors of sex for the human race. Sexuality has been a topic that has been discussed and studied for as far back as 1000 years B.C. and is still being studied today. As the discussion of sexuality has progressed through history, theories have been created based on research and experiments that scholars have implemented, based on their own perceptions of human behavior. Out of the many theories that pose to explain sexual behavior, Sexuality Now explained ten that are seemed to be the most overlapped, and built off of theories. Of these theories, two that were discussed in the text were the behavioral and sociological theory. These two theories cover some of the basic ideas of what could possibly influence a person’s sexuality.

Until quite recently, the traditional view of family that has predominated society has been comprised of gender roles. The “ideal” family in the past has consisted of a white, middle-class, heterosexual couple with about 2.5 children. In this heteronormative nuclear family, the father is the head of the household and the breadwinner of the family, while the mother is the one who cares for the children and completes household duties. Of course, most families do not fit into this mould and those who do not fit have been repeatedly marginalized due to their differences. It is no question that race, class, sexuality, ability, and many other identity markers intersect in how forms of family may vary. As explained by the concept of intersectionality, gender must be analyzed through a lens that includes various identity markers which contribute to how an individual experiences oppression. It is through the use of intersectionality, the discussion of patriarchy, and the deconstruction of “family” that bell hooks (1990) and Michelle K. Owen (2001) paint family as a site of belonging and contestation.

Throughout time, media has been used to reflect society. One popular method of doing so is television. Many people rely on television as a source of entertainment and history. From shows from the 1950s to now, culture and society have been shown in its truest forms. Looking back at the shows from the past gives one a good insight on how families acted in different time periods. One can analyze different shows in different decades to see how family dynamic and trends have changed over time. To get a grasp of the how the perception of families changed throughout time, I choose 5 decades and watched an episode of a popular television show at the time. I watched the 1950s show “The Honeymooners” to start off with because it shows the dynamic of a white, heterosexual, cisgender couple. I then watched “Good Times” from the 1970s to show an African American, heterosexual, cisgender couple and their family. Next, I watched the 1980s show “Growing Pains” to illustrate a white, heterosexual, cisgender family. I choose these 3 specific shows to get a baseline of three different family dynamics (White, African American, family, and couple). I then compared specifically “Good Times” to the 1990s show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, and “The Honeymooners” and “Growing Pains” to the 2000s show “Modern Family”. Please note that homosexuality and non-cisgender will not

n the upcoming page’s I will answer the following questions. Why is family the most important agent of socialization? What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are the changes? I will discuss the differences in marriage and family, I will discuss how they are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choices. The purpose of this study is to explore the many different family functions and the paths that people are now choosing. I will give my opinion on whether these changes have had a positive or negative affect. I will finally discuss the trend of the modern family, back to pre-World War II family structure, how would that effect the strides that have been made in the progression of women rights.

There is much debate on what constitutes as a family today. However, Ball (2002) states, “The concept of the traditional family…is not an immutable one. It is a social construct that varies from culture to culture and, over time, the definition changes within a culture” (pp. 68). There is a growing diversity of families today including the commonality of sole-parenting. In order to explore aspects of sole-parenthood objectively, I need to reflect and put aside my personal experience of growing up in sole-parent household. Furthermore, this essay will explore the historical origins, cultural aspects discussing the influences and implications of gender identity, and social structures of sole-parent families, as well as consider the

As I endured the prospect of creating a genogram, I allowed myself to reflect and interpret the history and impacts that affected my family. During my review of my genogram, I was able to consider my family within a multigenerational, diverse, and socio-political context. By creating a genogram, a dialogue was started within my head and with my partner about which family traits, issues, strengths, and resiliencies made me who I am today. Subsequently, this dialogue made me aware that being raised in a small family has many advantages along with some disadvantages when acquiring information about influences and the history of preceding generations. Consequently, I did not have to contend with many conflicting recollections but I did have to rely mostly on my own memory, public records, and journals to piece together my genogram. Although all things discovered and recollected are not always fortunate on the surface, they subsist as basis to my personal resilience and strength as a gay man.

In today’s society things are being expressed and experienced at younger ages, than ever before in our time. Children and teenagers are discovering their sexuality at very early ages. Sexuality is the discovering of who you are and what makes you different from everybody else.

Today, in a world of the “postmodern family” the traditional lines of family structure are blurred. Children may come from diverse types of homes, or a couple, married or not may choose to have no children and consider