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Cultural construction of sexuality
Cultural construction of sexuality
Effects of western values
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African culture perceptions on sexual activity are negatively viewed because of Western views in Americans. How can one judge the basis of someone else’s culture? What’s considered morally right or wrong to them may go against everything Africans has ever believed in. Acceptable sexual attitudes and behaviors are a direct correlation of norms within the culture.
According to Lawoyin and Kanthula (2010) unsafe sexual behaviors are the norm on South Africa. There is an awareness of certain risk factors such as unwanted pregnancy or sexuality transmitted diseases, but traditions contribute largely to unhealthy decisions made by both male and females. Although Americans perceive such behaviors negatively, understanding the context of cultures and traditions (Lawoyin and Kanthula, 2010) is detrimental before casting fault on the individual.
Risky sex is described as having more than one sexually driven relationships with more than the primary one. Cherlin (2013) talks about serial monogamy, when individual engage in sexual activity with multiple individuals in a lifetime. Further sugg...
The focal point of this report is the Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan 2015 – 2019, created by the Victorian State Government after the imminent success of the original Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan allying the years of 2011 – 2015. The plan shares the ambitions of the World Health Organisation’s Global action plan on prevention and control of non-communicable disease. These ambitions of the distinct plan are “to reduce modifiable risk-factors and underlying social determinants by creating equitable health-promoting environments while aiming to strengthen and orient health systems for disease prevention and control through people-centred healthcare” (Department of Health, 2015). The report will tackle the priority area of Improving Sexual Health and Reproductive Health along with major components of the priority area such as the determinants of health and the at-risk groups affected by such an alteration. The determinants discussed are both biological and social, the biological; sex, the social; the social gradient, education and social support. The at-risk groups influenced by the priority area are; adolescents, pregnant women and new born children.
Homosexuality has become a hot topic of acceptability within the past few decades. The United States has its own fair share of legislation and debate among different cultural groups with the society. However, some societies across the world have instances of ritualized homosexuality as passage to adulthood. Gilbert Herdt is a noted cultural and clinical anthropologist who has conducted extensive research on human sexuality. He is a founder of the Department of Sexuality studies in San Francisco State University and maintains a position as a professor (Gilbert Herdt 2010). He has become an international figure in regards to child and adolescent sexuality, the gender relations involved in cultural views and development of sexuality, and orientation. His work The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New Guinea, has gained recognition and highlighted the dichotomy of gender in relation to sexuality and power. He won the Ruth Benedict Prize in 1988 for his research (Gilbert Herdt 2010). The Sambia are a “rugged mountain people” that call the rainforest of Papua New Guinea home (Herdt 2006: 1). Herdt began his research in 1974 to discover a group of people who broke the preexisting stereotypes of overly aggressive behavior (Herdt 2006: xvii). His ethnographic research included field observations through participant observation and interactions with informants (Herdt 2006: xxi). His close relations to his informants allowed him insight into traditions and the associate change. He looked to the evident gender differences in the Sambian society that preoccupied the people to the ritual initiation th...
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
“...an individual with [pedophilia] has the same ingrained attraction that a heterosexual female may feel towards a male, or a homosexual feels towards their same gender.” (Johnston, Pg. 1). Pedophilia - “the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 years or younger” (American Psychiatric Association, p.1) - a word that holds multiple negative connotations, is often seen as aberrant thought process or behavior, and is under debate as to whether or not it’s a sexual orientation. But can it be considered a sexual orientation? As a member of the LGBT community, this issue has surfaced among us and shocked the majority.
The term “compulsory sexuality” refers to a set of attitudes, institutions, and practices that enforce the belief that sexual...
This paper describes the potential study in how the societal norm of sexual permissiveness hampers the elusive attraction of “playing hard to get” within the genders. This is important in the advancement of social psychology in terms of situational factors influencing gender attraction qualities. This potential study may advance the concept of situational factors sometimes overpowering attribution factors when a population has a surplus of marriageable women, leading to a societal norm of sexual permissiveness and delayed marriages (Gutentag, and Secord, 1983). Hatfield, Walster, Piliavin, and Schmidt (1973) described “playing hard to get” as an attribution quality in that the women who is hard to get is a more desirable catch than the women who is too eager for an alliance. This paper analyzes studies and literatures on the impact of elusive attraction, sexual temptations, and situational factors that create attraction between the genders. It examines the elusive phenomenon, when does “playing hard to get” increase romantic attraction, sex differences in succumbing to temptations and the sex ratio question. After this examination, it will suggest the need for a study in how the societal norm of sexual permissiveness hampers the elusive attraction of “playing hard to get” within the genders.
By the looks of these starling statistics we can all optically discern sex inculcation is greatly needed. When children are still adolescent their brains are like sponges and it’s more facile for them to obtain information and it’s consequential for us to learn things early. Adolescence is a paramount duration with regard to sexual development considering hormonal changes increase sex drive, change appearance and amend the likelihood of reproduction. The stages of sexuality largely depend on perception but conventionally commence with autoerotic deportment, which translates into authentic sexual activity with another person (Steinberg, 2011), Even though adolescent sexual demeanor is by all accounts mundane, the implicative insinuations cognate to the utilization of contraception are concerning. For instance, “one worrisome finding suggests that most adolescents report verbalizing about contraception after they first have intercourse, rather than before” (as cited in Steinberg, 2011, p. 342-343). Due to the prevalence of sexual intercourse during adolescence efforts to edify the youth perpetuate to be a top priority of the inculcative system and regime. Nonetheless, these efforts have done little to solve the current crisis in our community with regard to adolescent sexual deportment.
Willoughby, B. J., & Vitas, J. (2012). Sexual desire discrepancy: The effect of individual differences in desired and actual sexual frequency on dating couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(2), 477-86. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-011-9766-9
Lightfoot, M. A., & Milburn, N. G. (2009). HIV prevention and African American youth: examination of individual-level behavior is not the only answer. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 11(7), 731-742. doi:10.1080/13691050903078824
According to anthropologist, Victor Turner, societies offer individuals only mainstream options for behavior, identity, and beliefs. People choose to adopt societal customs, in order to fit in for the benefit that the society provides. (Davidson, 2006.) As men grow up, they are encouraged to adopt gender and conform identities that is consistent with their physical sex, but they may encounter unexpected problems as they take the stereotypical masculinity, entering adulthood. Men are encouraged to internalize those identities due to societal pressure (Beggan and Allison, 2001). Physical identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender ideology are all components of sexual identity. The development of sexual identity
The purpose of this short interview is to ask an elder person, at least the age of 40 years old, about their view of sex during their time and their perspective of how the society has changed. This experiment will illustrate societal and sociological changes that have occurred. For this project, I interviewed Mrs. Ebony Jackson, a 41 years old Africa-American women. Mrs. Jackson was born in 1975 and grew up in Los Angeles, California. Her family that she grew up in consist of her two sisters, mother, grandmother, and grandfather. I asked Mrs. Jackson if her family ever talk to her about sex or sexuality and the respond I got was a 'no. ' She continued to explain to me how parents and their children are not supposed to mention anything
The behaviors of the Pokot wives and husbands illustrated in the article “Human sexuality in cross-culture Perspective” show the norms of sexuality behaviors that are different from the U.S norms. The Pokot wives believe that their behaviors are right things to be done or are the appropriate sanctions given to a husband who is not able to sexually satisfy his wife. However, the US perceives these behaviors differently. In the US perspective, it is considered to be a deviance that is against the law within the society. It is considers to be domestic abuse which might lead some individuals involved in this behaviors to be given a negative sanctions like sending them to prison.
There was a time when more smart-conscious decisions were made relating to sexual relationships. In particular, sexual relationships within a marriage. However, times have changed. The pillars that hold up our individual sexual values have started to crumble. It is estimated that two out of three marriages fail due to infidelity. This is a scary statistic considering that people believe a marriage can survive infidelity. This brings us to our first myth: Everyone has affairs.
Throughout Western civilization, culturally hegemonic views on gender and sexuality have upheld a rigid and monolithic societal structure, resulting in the marginalization and dehumanization of millions of individuals who differ from the expected norm. Whether they are ridiculed as freaks, persecuted as blasphemers, or discriminated as sub-human, these individuals have been historically treated as invisible and pushed into vulnerable positions, resulting in cycles of poverty and oppression that remain prevalent even in modern times. Today, while many of these individuals are not publicly displayed as freaks or persecuted under Western law, women, queer, and intersexed persons within our society still nonetheless find themselves under constant
As a student enrolled in a particularly large state university, I am consistently exposed to numerous individuals who hold different belief and value systems that guide their lives on a daily basis. One of the most fundamental systems that people adopt is a religious belief, varying widely from the Atheist to the Buddhist to the Christian, and these beliefs have the potential to have a profound impact on many of the key elements of a human experience, one of the most important being the sexual experience. Researchers have long sought out relationships between factors of different religious beliefs and practices and their effect on the individual’s approach to sexuality, finding varying results (Ahrold 619).