Sexual Relationships : Sex And Gender Essay

According to a research survey by UniSA’s Emeritus Professor Bruce Johnson, 77% of girls and 74% of boys cited their high school sexual education lessons as their number one source of information on sexuality and relationships, with friends being cited as their second most likely source. Such a large number of Australian teenagers count and rely on their PDHPE classes to teach them such paramount lessons about such an important topic. This leads us to assume that, if such a considerable percentage of high school students rely on these lessons for their sexual education, they must be learning everything they desire to know from these lessons. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Within the same research survey, it was discovered that there were many subjects students wished were taught more in depth. 52% of girls wanted more

Studies show that the national average for an adolescent’s first sexual intercourse encounter is seventeen years old. Despite this number being very close to the average age in other industrialized countries, the United States holds a higher percentage of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) contraction than those countries (Harper et al, 2010, p. 125). It’s becoming evident that while a majority of the nation’s youth is sexually active, they are not doing so with the appropriate knowledge to keep themselves and others healthy.

Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, and Paula England explain that millennials are not hooking up more than baby boomers were when they were in their 20s, it is just that more attention has been drawn to casual sex. Paula England surveyed 14,000 students from 19 different colleges and universities about their sex lives and only 72% of students had hooked by their senior year of college. 80% of those men and women had had less than one sexual encounter per semester. These statistics are quite different from what we are led to think about today’s twentysomethings.

They see the overwhelming importance given to sexual attractiveness in the media-one study estimated that the average teenager ahs witnessed nearly 14,000 sexual encounters on television- yet they also hear their parents and religious advisers telling them that sex is wrong. As a result, many young people begin having sex without really intending to and without taking precautions against pregnancy.

Glenn and Marquardt, on the contrary, suggest that college student’s view hooking up as a way to get sexual gratification without compromising their freedom (2001, as cited in Kelly, 2012). Paul and her colleagues (Paul et al., 2002; Paul et al., 2000) reported that over two thirds of the college students in their study (70%) reported a hookup experience and about half of those students reported having penetrative sex. Similarly in studies conducted by Owen

“A mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity. Different people will disagree about the veracity of this statement, but we know that it does not reflect the experiences of the majority of young people” (Collins 1). Sexual education is a mandatory part of every grade school curriculum and is funded by the federal government. “The content of sexuality education curricula in America varies widely by region, by school district, and sometimes, by classroom” (Collins 1). I believe that because of this fact that it should be taught in a one consistent way.

“A 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey indicates that more than 47 percent of all high school students say they have had sex; and 15 percent of high school students have had sex with four or more partners during their lifetime,” (NCSL). In our society today sex is a very open subject and is being observed by young adults in everyday life. Walking down the street we see half naked women plastered on billboards and street signs, leaving nothing to the imagination and making adolescents everywhere question why and wonder what that is. As children we are taught that abstinence before marriage is the right way to live, and engaging in such

Today 's casual sex culture and sexual risk may consist of adverse outcomes, as well as, emotional and psychological harm, sexually transmitted infections, sexual violence, and unintended pregnancy, despite the ubiquity of certain positive feelings.

Sexuality is an intrinsic part of being a human being. Hence, it follows that as we grow sexual development is normal and for most a point of curiosity. In an age where even a curious five year old could ask the internet where babies come from instead of asking their parents, it is becoming increasingly evident sexual education is a necessity for the sexual health of America’s youth. Sexual education is an important class that should be integrated into the public school system in order to prevent the problems of teen pregnancy and STDs such as HIV. The CDC reports that in 2015 about 230,000 babies were born to teen girls aged 15-19 and that nearly half of the 20 million new STD cases reported in 2015 were among young adults between the ages

Social Construction of Sexuality Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions to individuals of the opposite sex, same sex, both sexes, or more than one gender. These attractions and behaviors that express them, engender an individual’s awareness of their social identity and sexuality. Sexuality is composed of a broad range of behaviors and processes, including the way your body develops and the way you feel and respond toward others. To understand the social construction of sexuality we must pay attention to the factors that shape and constrain it: race, ethnicity, gender, and social class, without ignoring the limitations, constraints, and disadvantages faced such as poverty, prejudice

A growing body of research on non-committed, casual sex among young adults demonstrates that over the past two decades, a significant shift in sexual behavior has occurred among college students, creating a highly charged sexual culture. While the data on prevalence varies with studies demonstrating ranges from 40-55% (Glenn and Marquardt 2001) to 70-80% (Paul and Hayes 2002) of college students reporting sexual hookups, it is clear that “hooking up” has become culturally normative on college campuses. Beyond the curious emergence of this new language and culture of sexuality on college campuses, the study and understanding of college student sexuality is significant due to the high-risk nature of the sexual encounters. As a member of Greek

Many parents voice a fear about their child learning about gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. They think that hearing, seeing, or learning these things will influence their child. According to research, however, no matter how often children are exposed to these topics they still will make their own decisions later on in life on the matter. Often parents are upset when they hear their children are learning about these terms because they do not know the dictionaries definitions for these words are. According to webster; gender is the state of being male or female, the word typically used to reference social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. Gender identity is a person’s perception of having a particular gender that may not correspond with the sex they were given at birth. Sexual orientation is a person’s sexual identity in relation to the gender to which they are attracted. Many times a person’s sexual orientation can be labeled as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. Diversity is an important lesson to teach children especially at a young age. To understand how to best teach diversity about gender in a classroom background information, teaching strategies, and student’s understanding of diversity is important.

Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male

In college, the cultural norm is that one should engage with the opposite gender casually until a meaningful encounter occurs. The University of Colorado at Boulder is known for its high rates of festivities, which is a leading factor in sexual behavior. The hypothesis of this study being, if students are in relationships during college they will be more inclined to have sex due to intimacy, whereas single students will not be as sexually active due to not being as emotionally attached. This research will be effective in yielding information, about dating and sex, about both students who are single as well as those who

Prior to doing our research we expected males to have a higher level of promiscuity and sexual behavior. It is generally common for men to be more sexual then females. With that being said we quickly made the assumption they are more promiscuous. Also we predicted that freshman’s and sophomores would have higher levels in promiscuity and sexual behavior. We made this prediction based off of common knowledge and personal experience. As said before, when students are just getting to college most receive a large amount of freedom. With that being said they are able to do basically whatever they want. Students may change the way they dress, the way they carry themselves, and the way they act around the opposite sex. After taking our research into consideration we were still sure that young men will still have a high level of sexual behavior and