Sexuality And Its Effects On Children Essay

Reflecting on this question, the influences of religion, science and media that may have an affect on the way I might view or think in regards to my sexuality, I find very interesting; the author’s view that we as individuals or society are influenced solely by these outside sources in our sexuality, my thoughts are different towards this. As a youth and young adult I would say yes there might have been a slight influence directed by the media (music), but today as an adult I feel no influence at all from theses forms of direct sources to my sexuality. This could be because society is over run and conditioned by the media and what is constantly in our faces, by television, radio, advertisement and other forms that we do not notice anymore becoming

From birth, one's sexuality is shaped by society. Cultures institute behaviors that are to be seen as the societal norms, which work to constantly reinforce societal expectations of how genders should act in relation to one another. Although some may argue that one's sexuality is an innate characteristic resulting from genetic makeup, there is a large amount of evidence pointing to its social construction instead. Through the power differences between males and females, established gender roles, and drastic economic shifts, society establishes sexuality and reinforces the behaviors that are expected of its citizens.

Human sexuality can be fascinating, complex, contradictory, and sometimes frustrating. Sexuality is interwoven into every aspect of being human; therefore, having knowledge about sex is as essential as having education about human anatomy. However, it is highly recommended to pay close attention when sex education is delivered to youths. (Donatelle 171)

In any given society, at any given moment in history, people become sexual in the same way they become everything else…without much reflection. They pick up directions from their social environment. They acquire and assemble meanings, skills and values from the people around them. Their critical choices are often made by going along and drifting. People learn when they are quite young and few of the things they are expected to be, and continue slowly to accumulate a belief in who they are and ought to be throughout the rest of their childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Sexual conduct is learned in the same ways and through the same processes; it's acquired and assembled in human interaction, judged and performed in specific cultural

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

They are going through transitions in intellectual development and the process and transition of primary to secondary education.’ There are various intellectual skills that an adolescent will learn within this life stage. When in the adolescent life stage, the emotional development norms for an individual is to learn their personal identity and they must leant about who they are about how to control their emotions within the change of puberty. Low self-esteem and confidence issue is often something most teenagers struggle with. With adolescence secondary learning occurs, a person’s self-worth can change within this life-stage due to the social situations that an individual had to be within, also their use of clothing, language and religion etc. The introduction of hormones can often change how teenagers see themselves. Adolescent’s independence that they go through can affect their social and emotional development.

When I was only 11 years old, my male friends would ask me if I have ever masturbated. I had no idea what it was and quite frankly I was not really interested. It was the in thing to say that a guy was weird if he did not masturbate. Because of the continued conversations on this topic and finally felt the urge to step in and ask what it was. One of the guys mentioned everything about it, and that he had gone on to a specific website to find that out. Of course, it was foreign to me because never did I hear that term in my life. My friend had not heard it either, so he went online to research for himself. Yes, I understand that things such as that are difficult to commute to a young child, but it is better to inform children at a younger age, because then their minds will believe what is heard. Children do what their parents do and say, so if parents informed their child at a young age, they would probably not want to rummage around for explicit material on their own. He even went on to say things about imagining things about girls, which he called: ‚dirteh tinking.‛ Lust of the mind is something ever teenager has experienced or will experience. They will have an attraction to the opposite sex some time in their life. However, if parents would only take the time to mention the crucial issues, and the effects, teens would probably hate it in their minds. Joseph Knable, Sex and the Single Guy author, states that "If we tolerate lust, we give sin a foot in the door and

It is in the interest of everyone to be concerned about how sexualization is changing our current society, most of the change occurring with young girls. Young girls are like sponges soaking up the sexual messages and images given to them by the media, advertisers, and their mothers. The impact of this early sexualization can be found in studies, it is not good. Although girls become sexual as they age without influence, the influence from the media, advertising, and self-objectifying mothers persuades girls to become more sexual. It is a problem that can be altered with proper teaching, a healthy body image, and a confident attitude.

America, a country that preaches equality for all and may be considered the land of opportunity, has had a bad history of oppressing groups that differs from the norm: white, heterosexual, and male. While legislation has been passed to rectify past oppression of racial, gender and sexual orientation groups, America remains a patriarchal society whose institutions are structurally designed to favor white, cisgender, heterosexual males. The film Higher Learning, brings to light this issue of institutional racism, while perpetuating in majority of the male characters what the ideal man represents and how that is related to racial issues and sexual orientation in the film. Issues of homosexuality is not only brought up in opposition of masculinity, but also femininity. Thus, American society has an attitude or belief that endorses hyper masculinity in males, but this is not viewed as a positive attribution in African Americans, nor is homosexuality considered a normative behavior.

Professor Levesque is now upholding the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Not only is this the first journal devoted to the study of adolescence, it is also one of the most cited journal of its kind. Professor Levesqueia also the editor of Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, which is a book series examining not only social but individual factors as well that contribute to adolescents and their responsibility in many ways and point of views. This is a source that can be used in many ways. I am going to use this source to exemplify how the child’s development is affected by the way they are raised and nurtured. Another factor that is discussed is the genetics, the nature side of things. This will help me evaluate the process of child development and whether genetics or surroundings are

Sex education has been an ongoing debate for decades. In the early 1970’s, twenty states voted restricting sex education from the school curriculum, leaving the District of Columbia and only three states (Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey), requiring schools to teach sex education. By the mid 1980’s, a deadly disease permitted through sexual intercourse was recognized; the fear of catching a disease sex education quickly became accepted. In 1986, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop felt sex education should start as early as third grade stating, ‘“There is now no doubt … that we need sex education in schools and that it [should] include information on heterosexual and homosexual relationships. The lives of our young people depend on our

Just as other interpersonal themes, sexual themes in film are often depictions of sexual themes that exist in real life relationships. For this very reason, it is very easy for a person to compare his relationships with that of a relationship shown in media or film. Some relationships are total train wrecks from the start while others are not necessarily ideal, but healthy. Although not seen very often, ideal couples in film are attributed with characteristics that are seen by society as desirable; youthful, attractive people who are hyper-sexual and affectionate. As cliché as it sounds, sometimes relationships are simply “complicated”. Such is the case in the film It’s Complicated.

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

Adolescence changes in a child in various ways, physiological, culturally, cognitively. The adolescence years are a period of rapid growth unlike middle childhood. This is the stage where puberty and hormones hit a growing child. Pubic hair and budding of breast is seen in girls while in boys the growth of pubic hair and the penis growing

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the