Sociocultural Issues, Culture, Race, And Sexuality

There are several things that reflect sexual behavior, culture and gender are also factors in this discussion. Culture and gender influence certain sexual behaviors and expectations because “we” as a people, admire and entertain what we see, hear, and learn from others; despite what we’ve been raised to think or adhere to. Certain things can influence sexual behavior such as body art, the way we’re dressed, marriage types, and religion.

The texts that are going to be discussed and compared in this short essay are ‘Ethnicity, Sexuality and Globalization’ by Joanne Nagel and ‘Not So Strange bedfellows: Sexuality and International Development’ by Susie Jolly. These texts have been chosen because of their thought-provoking and informative content and the ways in which they both discuss the restrictive and controversial nature of sexuality in the heteronormative world, sexuality in regards to sex work, and the ways in which they focus on sexuality itself as well as women’s sexuality globally.

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.

One of the most significant discourses on race and sexuality revolve around socio-economic position within society. As Chad Heap has aptly discussed, upper class elites defined their own heterosexual and patriarchal position by contrasting themselves with people in the slums, red light districts, and disadvantaged neighborhoods. These elite white men stood atop the racial and sexual hierarchies that they themselves created through the moral reform campaigns, the lack of funds to certain geographic spaces, and the policing/regulation of nonconforming bodies. By doing so, they essentially created a fiction in which they controlled sexual and racial norms. This held true for gender nonconforming elite men as well. Although some would venture into the slums to find sexual satisfaction, many simply created private and hidden institutions; these clubs often masqueraded as “athletic societies, chess clubs, and dramatic societies.” If one had enough money and influence, they were protected from the dangers of living an openly nonconforming life.

Derald (2013) stated, “The adage “counselor or therapist, know thyself” is the basic building block to cultural competence in the helping professions.” (P.6) Part of connecting with clients includes the separation and awareness of the helping professional versus the other person. The helping profession has not always embraced the awareness of self in regards to culture. To be culturally competent the helping professional should conceptualize the issue with the understanding of the cultural background of their client. In this paper I will summarize significant historical changes in society that influenced

An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate

A few weeks ago I was required to read Feminist Intersections in Science: Race, Gender and Sexuality Through the Microscope by Lisa H. Weasel and the article opened an avenue for me to explore new ideas. Weasel’s paper works to investigate the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality with science. She supports her argument with a story about Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who had cells stolen from her body. After violating the simple rules of consent, the scientists then proceeded to suggest that her cells represent a separate, inferior race. Some people even linked the HeLa cells to HPV and implied that Ms. Lacks “slept around”. Reading about this particular form of exploitation made me quite uneasy. Contrastly, reading Lisa Weasel’s work

Have you ever been guilty of listening to a voice of a random caller on the radio who is eager to win tickets to the next Bruno Mars concert or a hopeful caller requesting for a song to play next, and automatically assumed that you knew what race he or she was? Maybe you have had the television on low in the background as you complete a last minute paper. Your eyes are not on the television, but you hear a voice and you are certain that the speaker is a White female or a gay male. This phenomenon is called Linguistic Profiling. Linguistic Profiling is the act of identifying one’s social characteristic based on his or her dialect or accent (Alim, 2005). It may be too easy for one to drawl a conclusion about the sexuality and race of someone based solely on the way he or she sounds.

In all parts of the world people have been speaking their minds since the beginning of time in every single race/ethnicity. People have been rioting for the right for equality for as long as time. If it was not one race it was another. In the 1960’s riots had sprung in Los Angeles, Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Newark, and Detroit. All for the same reason that people are beginning to riot about in today’s world for Equality no matter what race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

With the elimination of the class system, talked about in Marx and Mantsios, would bring down the walls of inequality. Race, sexuality, gender, etc. would be irrelevant in the means of social status and the economy. When you eradicate a system that controls wealth of a country changes the economy greatly. Changing the flow of money to create a more equivalent distribution with decrease the striking gap between rich and poor. So not only will you affect a social outlook, but a financial one as well.

“Conflict itself is not dangerous to intimate relationships; it is the manner in which the conflict is handled…” I would like to start with this line that I found through the lecture in Human Sexuality Diversity in contemporary America - chapter 8. The reason is because it simply amazed me how much true this line has between its words. Coming from a divorced and conflict family, I grew up believing conflict between couples was something normal and had no solution nonetheless screaming or hurting (physical, emotional, or psychological) each other. I liked the idea of understanding how different a relationship can be and how all relationships suffer from conflict, though, how this book mentions “The ways in which couples deal with conflict, reflects

The theoretical justification of the author is that previous studies have found that sexual minority youths report worse mental health, lower academic achievement, and less adult support than their heterosexual peers. This I believe is a concern because these sexual minorities have somewhat less support in almost every aspect talked about above and probably comes to no surprise to most people. Also, because these are each facets of the Five Cs, it is likely that sexual-minority youths experience lower positive youth development than heterosexuals do, this might be because of violence and victimization they experience. Which that may help explain the numerous health disparities experienced by sexual-minority youths. There has also not been a

Sexuality has taken a big part in American culture, which has brought new and changed laws. Some rules have gone too far such as bathroom rights. This allows transgender people or anyone to use either bathroom of their choice and this includes anyone who corresponds with their current identity, for example a predator. People can live as their identified gender, but other people can falsely identify someone they are not. These people can take advantage of the bathroom right and make it dangerous for women and

Analyzing sexual and gender issues within the realm of theological ethics is a topic some shy away from, others avoid entirely. Dr. Todd Salzman meets the challenge head on. He is a professor in the Theology department at Creighton University and I have the honor of being enrolled in his course, THL 272: Theological Ethics – Sexual and Gender Issues this semester. Early on I sensed that Dr. Salzman has a kindness that makes him approachable. Lectures are rarely only lectures, with much of the time dedicated to discussion within the class. Dr. Salzman treats each student fairly and listens to their commentary and opinions with respect. While meeting with Dr. Salzman for this interview, I quickly realized he had the same demeanor outside of

Sex culture in modern day Japan has demonstrated to be an integral part of their cultural identity and is more progressive than any other countries. Japan’s sex culture has surpassed boundaries that are standardized in other countries. The West sees the Japanese as emotionless, controlled and even sexless. Publicly they are shy, reserved and terribly proper, however Japan is an extreme contradiction. If we examine the surface of their culture, the private life of these Japanese people can be a real eye opener. The role of sexuality and more specifically the role of pornography in women’s lives is perhaps the biggest debate among the people from the West. This paper will examine how pornography is gendered in Japan and the effects of this to the West. It will also delve into the Japanese cultural identity and its contradistinction to the American cultural identity. An important argument that people may debate about is the fact that Japanese people have the oddest sexual culture that outstands their cultural identity.