The Importance Of Free Selection

Over the past 200 years sexual liberation and freedom have become topics of discussions prevalent within western culture and society. With the recent exploration of sexuality a new concept of sexual and gender identity has emerged and is being analyzed in various fields of study. The ideology behind what defines gender and how society explains sex beyond biology has changed at a rapid pace. In response various attempts to create specific and catch all definitions of growing gender and sexual minorities has been on going. This has resulted in the concept of gender becoming a multi- layered shifting hypothesis to which society is adapting. Since the 19th-century, philosophers and theorists have continued to scrutinize gender beyond biological and social interpretation. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale captures the limitations and social implications forced upon a set gender based on societal expectations. Gender is a social construct that limits the individual to the restrictions and traditions of a society, or if it’s an individually formed self-identification of sex and sexuality that is formed autonomously. Evidence of gender establishment can be seen within literary works and supported by various schools of gender and sexuality theory.

Freedom, opportunities, and information are some features of this modern society. Clearly, humans are now having a very different life compared to the past. Along with this well-developed world, people get more chances to express how they think, do what they want, and love who they love. Especially young people, they become more independent and are capable of living their own lives. However, while society provides people a lot of benefits, it actually makes their lives even more complex at the same time by leaving them pressures and confusions of who they really are. In her essay, “Selections from Hard to Get:Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom,” Leslie Bell mentions that while in this new-in between developmental period American twenty-something women have more freedom and opportunities about their sexual lives than previous generations, they are struggling with the paradoxes of their relationships and desires. Bell suggests that social expectations and culture guidelines, which are conventions of female sexuality and stereotypes of being a good girl, prevent these young women from pursuing their sexual desires and limiting their relationships with men. However, even these women have chosen the way they live and what kind of sexual life they want in order to be bad girls to break those old rules, they ended with losing their identities. In general, female sexuality is impacted more by establishing a women’s identity rather than clinging on

Unlike sex, the sexuality of a woman is not black or white; it is a complex multi-dimension abstract idea that is repressed from women by society. A female’s sexuality is viewed from our phallus-centered society as the male’s counterpart. Women are viewed as objects for men’s sexual behavior such that the female’s sexual preference is there for men to get off and our language on how we treat them solidifies this idea. Society has made a women’s sexuality so complex that it is unknown to women what they truly like. It has come to a point where if women do not have knowledge about the most sexual part of them, they won’t understand that sex is a type of knowledge in which society is blocking from them. Society is trying to impose a males sexuality,

Throughout time, there has been a battle present in which females try to rise above the power of men and the hold they have on women. Whether the battle be for the equal treatment of both sexes or simply establishing a level of respect and understanding from the opposite sex, the meaning stands the same in which there is an ever-present power struggle that is continuously ongoing between the sexes. No matter the intentional meaning of the work, women suppression by men are seen when one looks beyond the simple statements given and examines the female characters in great detail to better understand the struggle she endures daily due to men. One author in particular that allows an interesting viewpoint into the mind of a blossoming woman is Susan Minot. Minot demonstrates in her story “Lust” how the female narrator is influenced and altered by her male sexual partners. Through each sexual encounter, the reader is able to see the changes these encounters have on the young woman emotionally and other affects a man has on her as she grows up in a male dominated world. This can all be determined by observing closely the figurative language used in the story, the fluctuations in emotions seen in the female character, and the thoughts the woman has about men throughout the story.

he power that the female cultivates in her adolescent years during the prime of her sexual awakening is alarming. The theme of adolescent females not realizing the power that comes with their sexual awakening can be noted in two different short stories, An Ounce of Cure and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

With the constant push for conforming into what society deems as acceptable, it is no surprise how much of an impact society plays on limiting the perception of what one’s sexual relationship should be. Society manipulates women into behaving in a certain manner in order to fit into this ideal mold of how women should be. Yet only to a certain point, “Be assertive, but not aggressive. Be feminine, but not too passive. Be sexually adventurous, but don’t alienate men with your sexual prowess.” (Bell 26) Due to all of the conditions, which limit women, it is no wonder how many young women feel “weighed down by vying cultural notions about the kind of sex and relationships they should be having.” (Bell 26) Although these limitations proposed by society can cause personal battles between oneself, it is possible to change one’s perception of how one should act regarding their own sexuality. Bell points out that by using “strategies of desire of the Relational Woman”, (Bell 30) this will assist woman in navigating through their sexual and romantic lives. It is normal for women to feel a desire for relationships and it is inevitable that conflict will arise. If women are able to develop and fully accepting their desires, despite the limitations from society, this will to lead women to building lives that are filled with self-acceptance.

C. S. Lewis concedes to Clare that “it is a part of the nature of a strong erotic passion – as distinct from a transient fit of appetite – that makes more towering promises than any other emotion.” Our sex lives are more than expected; they are special to us. Sex allows us “the temporary transcendence of time, ego and our shared human fate of existential separateness. Sex connects us not only with another being, but with our own being and humanity” (Diamond). However, sex has its place in taboos across many cultures.

Castration, crime, evil, heretics, all those terms used to be linked with sexuality in the past centuries. Humans achieved their sexual liberty only in the 70’s with a sexual revolution based on the progression of medias and the regression of a restricting presence known as religion. Before that, especially in the first half of the 20th century, there were differences in the expression of sexuality between genders. The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields, illustrates the life of Daisy Goodwill, daughter of Cuyler and Mercy Goodwill, from her creation to her death. In the first chapter “Birth 1905”, Shields portrays the differences between men and women in society by looking at differences between Cuyler’s raging sexuality and Mercy’s repressed sexuality. There is certainly a contrast in their sexual needs and the author uses imagery to show how Mercy is seen as an object in Cuyler intense sexuality.

To do so, Levy turns to the experiences of several young women whom she interviews. From her interpretations of these experiences, Levy reaches the conclusion that these women’s sexual nature revolves around their need

To express your sexuality means to have capacity for sexual feelings and motives. Whether it is interest in gender preference, realization of sexual orientation, or expressing who you are gender wise, male or female, every single person is subjected to these individual rights. In the short poem “The One Girl at the Boys Party”, Sharon Olds defines a young teenage girl as she comes to conclusion with her sexuality and discovers her growth in maturity as a young woman. In her journey, mathematical metaphors are used to describe her confusing feelings towards her new found sexuality. As this young girl becomes a woman, values and symbolic numbers related to math are provided, which represent her quest towards maturity and sexual development as

Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the weaker sex. As a result of these unfair social assumptions, women have been working hard to dissociate themselves from this stereotype and become more independent with their lives. In the story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, he describes Elisa Allen's frustration with her marriage, her sense of isolation from the world, and her hidden desires to express herself as a woman and to explore her sexuality by living a more passionate life.

emphasizes that although reality is constructed by our social interactions, our perceived reality, including those of a sexual nature are not the same for everyone. It is critical that a situation is defined by the establishment of relevant identities of those involved in the interaction. It is this construction that involves

There is constantly cessation why women and men cohabitate, nurture, desire, and endure. Many shrug the similarities and differences to the side due to the complex nature that is involved in understanding the progression. Since the beginning of time, according to the bible, man was placed as the dominant sex, fending for the families well being. The woman has tended to the important jobs around the homestead as situations arose. Often in society, one will find himself in a battle depending on the views of the receiving recipients. Following is a dialogue explaining a safe and metro sexual view as a general whole.

In women, a history of sexual activity is not taken to suggest experience in a positive sense, expertise, and high-quality sex. On the contrary, it is seen as a negative mark that marks off a certain kind of woman; which can be labeled as “loose” or “easy”. In our society, women have become to be valued for their innocence.