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The meaning of sexuality
Sexuality and identity
Essays on sexual identity
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What is the first word that comes to your mind when I say the word “sex?” Sex for me is when two people have intercourse. You don’t necessarily have to be in love to have sex. Many people enjoy having sex with other people, because it feels good, or they just want to procreate. According to Auleb, in the class reader “Human Sexuality”, he states “Sex has more than one definition and can be used in many contexts.” Sex can mean multiple connotations to different people. People can think your asking them their gender when you ask them what the word sex means to them, or they can be talking about their vagina or penis. On the other hand, the word sexuality for me means that you have the power to feel sexual, and that is your sexuality. Many people don’t have a sexual side to them, because they don’t really like talking about the word sex, or the word sexuality. According to Auleb, Sexuality means “the quality of possessing a sexual character or potency, although some individuals’ sexuality may encompass little to no sexual behaviors”. Sexual identity is a very important word to understand. For me sexual identity means what gender you see yourself as, or who you are sexually attracted too. I believe sexual identity can be a …show more content…
Women and men are not treated equally, when a man has a sex with a woman he is considered a “pimp”. When a woman has sex with a man she is considered a “slut”. It also plays out in a Mexican family when the son has all these girlfriends, but the daughter is not even allowed to date. I really just don’t get how that works. Most men use sex to their advantage just because they feel bored and want to have sex for pleasure. I feel most women have sex because genuine and they actually love that person they are going to have sex with. Sometimes girls have sex because they want to fit in with their friends, and be “cool” like them. Trust me having sex does not make you
This is a very subjective area. Individuals want to come up with the proper words and labels that accurately reflect themselves. There is some sort of power in identity, language and a sense of community. Evolving language and the words we use to classify our sexual orientation can also offer an understanding of sexual flexibility as a valid experience that challenges traditional concepts of sexual identity. It is a personal process we must respect. Klein also included the variable of self-identification. By completing the KSOG, individuals can ponder the spectrum of complex, interacting and unsolidified elements that make up our sexual
The terms gender and sexuality are usually mistaken for one or the other. Gender refers to the social term that is given to a specific sex. Gender is typically considered female or male. The term sexuality refers to people’s sexual interest or desires to other people. Different types of sexuality are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, and other types. Gender and sexuality are used for people to identify their sexuality, communication with others, and learn how to find a community of people that are alike.
When learning about the erotic plasticity I for one agree with the term. Society loves to put labels on a lot of things. Whether it is deviant or not, they will define the act as either a negative or positive social stigma. When an act is considered negative, it will now be viewed as deviant. In the life course men and women will go through certain developments. As they get older the individual will be attracted to another person. The issues is it may be of the same sex, and through society’s standard it is wrong. Sexual identity is different for genders, and there are more restriction applied to certain sexes. My theoretical response for erotic plasticity will be Symbolic Interaction. I will go into detail on how the self is related to erotic plasticity.
The term sexual orientation is known as the preference of one’s sexual partners, whether the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes. Sexual orientation occurs when a child reaches the adolescent stages in life (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Adolescents activate their sexual orientation within four steps that create their identity. Adolescents are unaware of their identity at the beginning stages of sexual orientation. They work their way into the exploration stage by learning their preference of sexual partners. Once they are aware of their sexual identity, they will start the process of acceptance. Once acceptance is achieved, they will begin to integrate their sexual orientation into their lives (Gallor & Fassinger, 2010).
Each of these words play into a bigger image in the social imagination. For example thinking about the word heterosexual or even homosexual I think of sexuality in relation to sex; e.g. heterosexuality is being attracted to the opposite sex. It seems to be that this excludes gender presentation however that sexuality is solely surrounded by the sex of the individual which plays into the social imagination that sex is determined by genitals which perpetuates the binary by excluding intersex folks. This ignorance is passed on into the perpetuation of oppression against those who have a different gender identity than their orginal sex. Therefore the fact that sexuality has the tendency to be thought about in these terms causes a disconnect from gender identity language because of how these terms are relational.
Sex can be interpreted in limitless definitions that all correlate with one another. According to Dictionary.com sex is defined as: “the sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished, or the phenomena or behavior dependent on these differences” (“sex”). Sex is a broad spectrum, although many people characterize it to be strictly intercourse little do they know sex is more profound. The thought or sight of the word sex is instantly depicted to be merely a single action, in spite of the fact it can be expressed in different actions. Intercourse is the main factor of sex although it can have other factors; such as being a determinant for a type of relationship two people may solely have based on physical attraction in which becomes the main focus that can lead up to sex, further along the lines of sex it can become a thing of passion and intimacy, and can also be exemplified as a creation of life through reproduction.
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.
The terms sex, gender and sexuality relate with one another, however, sociologists had to distinguish these terms because it has it’s own individual meaning. Sex is the biological identity of a person when they are first born, like being a male or female. Gender is the socially learned behaviors and expectations associated with men and women like being masculine or feminine. Gender can differentiate like being a man, woman, transgender, intersex, etcetera. Sexuality refers to desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (1). Sexuality can differentiate as well like being homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, etcetera. Like all social identities, gender is socially constructed. In the Social Construction of Gender, this theory shows
The concept of hegemonic masculinity is criticized for being framed within hetero-normative conception of gender that divides male-female difference and ignores difference and exclusion within the gender categories. Through this theory, many heterosexual and homosexual individuals find their sexual identities through their moral beliefs about their sexual behaviors and dictate whether they are virgin or non-virgin. With the flexibility about virginity loss and the different meanings of what it is being a virgin revolves around complexity, therefore we cannot give a set description of the sexual identity of virginity because of our multiple acts of coitus and sexualities such as gay, lesbian, or bisexual sexual behaviors. The reason why I propose this is because with the given different types of coitus, and dependent on the social group and social factors that play within the role of identity is far more difficult to come to an exact meaning of considering who and what makes you a virgin or non-virgin.
Gender has been around throughout history; however, within recent years, gender has separated itself from the traditional view of sex, e.i., male or female, and has become centered on ones masculinity or femininity. Of course gender is more than just ones masculinity or femininity, gender has become a way for one to describe, he or she, in a way in which they are different from everyone else. Gender has turned into a sense of identity, a way for one to feel different and fulfilled among all of those around them. Of course gender’s sense of freedom would seem outside of structure and only affected by one’s own agency, however, structure is a key component in establishing gender. We can look into both ethnic Mexican’s culture practices regarding sexuality, children songs and games, and see that cultural traditions still heavily influence gender, creating what is masculine and what is feminine and what is the role of each gender, as well as challenging the notions that gender is solely based on agency.
Defined identities impact female sexuality Nowadays, more people trend to care about and working on social justice, women’s rights, as one of the topics, draws people’s attention. Society and female-selves have changed their opinion of what being women means in the 21st century. Therefore, nowadays twenty-something girls start to behave differently from the early generation. One of the behaviors that becomes ambiguous, is female sexuality. In “Selections from Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom”, Leslie Bell argues that neither contradictory directing nor expectation from others are the main reasons that cause female sexuality.
What is sex and sexuality, and how would I define it? Sex seems to be a subject that society is becoming a little less shy to talk about. It should be an openly topic we could talk about, yes it is a personal act, but many young people have questions and wonders about sex. Sex is the act of two people engaging in sexual intercourse. That is my definition of sex, but sex has different definitions and meanings depending on who the person is. Sexuality as I stated above, is the discovering your identity, figuring out who you are. Sexuality consist of procreation, love, pleasure, and indentity. (Laack 1) Sex and sexuality are closley realated to each other, you get one with the other. Sexuality is a state of confusion for many teenagers they not sure about what is going on with their emotion, their hormones are flying in every direction possible. Another thing we should discuss about things that are common among teenagers, is masturbati...
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 the identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (Free Dictionary, 2009).
While researching if “Bisexuality is a phase for people.” I learned about a term called sexually fluid that has gained popularity with people. Being sexually fluid is when a person does not have a preference but feel that their sexuality is like water, it flows freely. They are attracted to everyone under the right circumstances and it does not matter if they are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transgender. People that identify with sexual fluidity feel free to love whom they want but how did this type of behavior start.
In order to discuss the biology of gender identity and sexual orientation, it is necessary to first examine the differences between multiple definitions that are often mistakenly interchanged: sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined by LeVay (2011) as “the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves, to persons of the other sex, or to both sexes” (p. 1). The typical categories of sexual orientation are homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Vrangalova and Savin-Williams (2012) found that most people identify as heterosexual, but there are also groups of people that identify as mostly heterosexual and mostly gay within the three traditional categories (p. 89). This is to say that there are not three concrete groups, but sexual orientation is a continuum and one can even fluctuate on it over time. LeVay (2011) also defines gender as “the ...