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Perspectives on human sexuality
Perspectives on human sexuality
Gays fighting for equal rights
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In Brandon Ambrosino’s “I am Gay – but I Wasn't Born This Way”, the author states his reasoning as to why he believes he chose to be gay. Being one of the few who questions the born this way ideology, Ambrosino, along with other LGBTQ activists, are “cast as homophobic, and their thinking is considered backward”(par 10). However, just because an argument like this is popular, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. Even scientific organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) believes that people have no control over their sexual orientations, however, no findings have been found that determine if sexual orientation is determined from hormones, genetics, or cultural influences(par 21), therefore contradicting the previous claim. …show more content…
Not only that, but terms like ‘pansexual’, ‘bisexual’, ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ are all new terms to our society, so how do we know that they’re incorporated into our genetics? The author believes that our desires change throughout our lives, “in the very specific contexts in which we discover and rehearse them”(par 37). Ambrosino claims he didn’t grow into his sexualiy nor did he just accept the truth, instead, he allowed himself to assert his queer identity. The “born this way” argument can be seen as a “self-hating narrative”(par 46) partly because you can’t change yourself in that mindset. Therefore, Ambrosino expresses that people are born human, we grow to discover and try out identities until one fits. That identity may not stick forever, but we have the freedom to choose and be who we
In How Sex Changed by Joanne Meyerowitz, the author tell us about the medical, social and cultural history of transsexuality in the United States. The author explores different stories about people who had a deep desired to change or transform their body sex. Meyerowitz gives a chronological expiation of the public opinion and how transsexuality grew more accepted. She also explained the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and the law. In there the author also address the importance of the creation of new identities as well as how medication constrain how we think of our self. The author also explain how technological progress dissolve the idea of gender as well as how the study of genetics and eugenics impacts in the ideas about gender/sexuality and identity. But more importantly how technology has change the idea of biological sex as unchangeable.
H - Poetry and song have had a major impact in portraying how Australians are represented in a variety of ways, depending on their background, experience and the time period in which they lived. I –Australians view themselves as being a welcoming community and acknowledging their past. However, non-Australians stereotypically see Australians as rowdy and known for enjoying a “shrimp on the barbie”. This shows that Australians have been represented in many different ways.
Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity problems, especially in adolescents.
This represents a change in avenue of attack, not a broad ideological shift from historic eugenic arguments. Similarly, the search for the "gay gene," while a relatively new scientific concept, is highly reminiscent of previous understandings of queer sexuality, which located deviance in physical and/or hormonal "abnormalities." The idea that queer people's queerness is loc...
...were initially skeptical, until gradually, the weight of scientific fact has shifted the opinion to the belief in these views. As seen in the film, Paris is Burning, homosexuality is not much of a choice, but a way of life that not many would chose living unless biologically destined to be. We must trust that the very knowledge of the natural and biological springs of sexual abnormality will bring about the recognition that the syndrome is natural, and may change our perceptions of what is normal. After all, the problem, such as Bornstein stated, is with our intolerance that they do not conform with what we think is 'normal' gender identity and sexual behavior. Though it is our biologically wired mind that makes us intolerable and aggressive to the 'outsider', it is our duty as a society to erase this ignorance by education of the genetically sexual 'deviant' ones.
First; comes, the notion of nature. West and Zimmerman term this as sex, referring to a person’s biological makeup through genitalia, having a penis or vagina, or simply chromosomal pairing of XY or XX (29). Although there is no escape or control an individual has, if their foetal tissues formed into a penis or vagina, biology does play an underlying role in an individual’s identity and personality formation which is socially constructed. What is the correlation between biology and socially constructed gender then? The case study West and Zimmerman present of “Agnes, a transsexual person who was born (31), ” and raised a boy, but went through sex reassignment surgery, and identifies as a female, shows that although biology may result in a certain genitalia, an individual’s response to that may be one that is conforming or opposing to it. By the terms conforming and opposing I mean to say that Agnes could have either continued to
52% of teenagers do not identify as exclusively heterosexual. (according to a report by the J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group) 35% of millennials fall in the same category, and the percentage keeps declining as you move to older generations. This is because gender identity is not primarily caused by nature, but by things like upbringing, your environment, and your education. My partner and I stand in affirmation of the following resolution: Gender identity is caused more by nurture rather than nature. We will argue this case with the following two contentions:
The debate over homosexuality as nature or nurture dominates most topics about homosexuality. People often confuse the nature/nurture issue with the development of gay identity. In fact, the nature/nurture argument plays a small, insignificant role concerning gay youths (Walling 11). Homosexual identity is the view of the self as homosexual in association with romantic and sexual situations (Troiden 46) Many researchers have either discussed or created several models or theories concerning the development of homosexual identity. However, the most prominent is Troiden’s sociological four-stage model of homosexual identity formation. Dr. Richard R. Troiden desc...
The holocaust attested that morality is adaptable in severe conditions. Traditional morality stopped to be contained by the barbed wires of the concentration camps. Inside the camps, prisoners were not dealt like humans and thus adapted animal-like behavior needed to survive. The “ordinary moral world” (86) Primo Levi refers in his autobiographical novel Se questo è un uomo (If This Is a Man or Survival in Auschwitz), stops to exist; the meanings and applications of words such as “good,” “evil,” “just,” and “unjust” begin to merge and the differences between these opposites turn vague. Continued existence in Auschwitz demanded abolition of one’s self-respect and human dignity. Vulnerability to unending dehumanization certainly directs one to be dehumanized, thrusting one to resort on mental, physical, and social adaptation to be able to preserve one’s life and personality. It is in this adaptation that the line distinguishing right and wrong starts to deform.
Throughout Kazu Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, he choices to depict children as outsiders to the world which can be furthered by the setting in Britain’s countryside because it helps give a sense distance from true reality. In the framework throughout his novel Ishiguro focuses on three main characters Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy. These three students are seen by others to have an advantage because they were lucky enough to be raised at Hailsham by the guardians. Over the watchful eye of the Guardians the children were able to grow accustom to being different than others. This can be seen when the characters all mature and grow after they leave Hailsham and become accustomed to life at the cottages. There newly found freedoms at the cottages lead them to question many of their previous schooling standards and beliefs. These freedoms can be seen by every student trying to hold on to their sense of individuality through small and random collections. This suggests that humans attempt to create an appearance through their own belongings and incorporate into their own lives. The students at Hailsham are encouraged to seek creativity and individuality in the things they create which could include sculptures, paintings or poems. These many collections that each student holds close to themselves offers them a small chance for control in their life because they can pick and choose the pieces they would like to incorporate into their individual collections.
Because there is no definitive evidence that proves people are born gay, people continue to rebuke the idea that someone can be born homosexual. Micheal Brown is an author who believes that there is no specific “gay gene” regardless of the current evidence provided. In all honesty, I’m not certain exactly what kind of evidence he’s looking for but, to him, being born gay is simply an idea that the homosexuality community has taken and ran with. On the contrary, it is stated in his writing that one can still have homosexual attractions but it is their choice on whether they want to act on them. For example, as a woman, I may find another woman attractive thus, I don’t necessary want to have sexual relations with a woman. “Again, this does not
In Burkett 's article, she trusts that sex is the same as gender and what comes next changes from a man to another. As Burkett mentions, “so long as humans produce X and Y chromosomes that lead to the development of penises and Vaginas, almost all of us will be “assigned” genders at birth. But what we do with those genders- the roles we assign ourselves, and each other, based on them- is entirely mutable”(59). Burkett distinguishes the gender of a man in view of the parts that the individual doles out to him/herself, which totally varies from each other. Along these lines, the main two generalizations that society can basically depend on depend on the birth state. Case in point, if two individuals were conceived with penises, they will promptly be stereotyped as guys. Consequently, Burkett trusts that gender is the thing that figures out who a person is, however the roles that take after is the thing that really differs. Then again, Bloom 's perspective is that gender is not based the biological state that is relegated during childbirth, however it is for the most part about the body that a person feels good with, which implies that “they will be motivated, whether or not they succeed, to have surgery that will bring their bodies into accord with the gender to which they have known
In today’s society we as humans are aware and accepting of more identities than we ever have been before. Civil rights movements all over the world are advocating for everything from marriage equality, to laws protecting gender-queer people. However, it isn’t perfect. Just as there will always be racists and homophobes, there will always be people who say gender identity is a choice. Well, a study done earlier this year proves those people wrong.
From the moment people born, there are certain basic functions that will be with them throughout their lives. The abilities to eat, breathe, sleep, or to have the capacity to learn are a natural occurrence for most people. There are, however, traits that are specific to each individual. They are traits that set them apart from everyone else. The traits such as eye color, ones dominate hand, or susceptibility to a specific disease are a few traits that aren’t easily changed. However, there are some that are controversially questioned as to whether or not one is born with the trait or if it is a learned behavior. One of the biggest of these controversies is the question of whether sexual orientation is a choice or something that is beyond the individual’s influence. Although the evidence is commonly disregarded because of personal beliefs or opinions, sexual orientation is not a choice.
The sexual orientation of a person has been a critical debate over the past several centuries. For several...