Homosexuals were viewed as suffering from gender disorders; they were not criminals, but abnormal and in need of a cure (Mottier, 39). What do all of these developments have to do with sexual behaviors becoming known as sexual identities? These changes of thought through time referenced in Mottier’s book serve as evidence towards her thesis that an understanding of sexuality develops from moral, biological, and social models of sexuality that can all be interpreted culturally (Mottier, 47). Mottier believes that understanding contemporary sexuality depends on understanding historical developments, and that from this understanding, we can precipitate change (Duncan, 2017). In short, ways in which sexual behaviors become known as sexual identities depend upon cultural and historical
The ability for parents to select the sex of their baby has been made possible by the advancement of technology with fertility procedures. Today’s parents want the option to select the sex of their baby and there are a plethora of reasons why a couple would want to take this route. John A. Robertson from Extending Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis mentions, one main reason is there are serious diseases that could be prevented by sex selection using preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Conversely, Marcy Darnovsky from Revisiting Sex Selection: The Growing Popularity of New Sex Selection Methods Revives and Old Debate; believe parents should not have the right to select the sex of their baby. He gives support that suggests selecting the sex of a baby is a slippery slope down the road of eugenics.
It is essential to the discussion that a proper definition of sex be established before addressing any other issues. I plan to establish a proper definition of sex with an account of sexual perversion and then continue on discussing the nature of cybersex, infidelity, and love. Sex is generally defined the medical definition involving the sex organs, and participation by more than one party, but as humans are complicated beings this is insufficient to provide an account of sex. In Thomas Nagel’s essay “Sexual Perversion” he addresses the psychological account of sexuality with a phenomenological approach. Nagel describes a scenario of Romeo being aroused by Juliet, and Juliet being aroused by Romeo, and Romeo being aroused by Juliet’s arousal, and so on and so forth (Nagel 37).
Sex selection is any practice, technique or intervention intended to increase the likelihood of the conception, gestation and birth of a child of one sex rather than the other (Gender Selection, n.d.). Sex selection is performed in a multiple of methods. These methods create a family balance, but also make the process of childbirth unnatural. There are many risks involved with selecting the gender of children and the effects the mother has to undergo as well as a family agreement, if the processes doesn’t go as planned. Sex selection should only be taken in consideration if there is a medical situation, otherwise the non-medical reasons will become catastrophic and the value of natural life will decease over time.
In addition Butler mention the re-evaluation of the effects that culture holds in the performance of our gender and sex. As we continue getting more acquainted with Butler’s work in the subjects of sex/ gender and desire we learned new terminology such as gender performativity, Heterosexual matrix, socially constructed gender that relates to our current society. Judith Butler open the topic of sex with the ideal that the separation of sex is a modern feminist view, where determined sex is a separation of biological sex. The understanding that I derived from the readings of Judith Butler’s was that an individual is not born with sex but rather sex is made by the everyday choices that we make in life. Our social roles that we performed in our everyday life is what help us determine the sex role that we will take in life.
In the name of a biological and historical urgency, it justified the racisms of the state, which at the time were on the horizon. It grounded them in “truth." (Foucault, 1990, p. 54) Sexuality gained a connection to the truth. This results into the idea that sexuality is a part of identity and a key aspect in understating who we are individual. And all of this is only possible due to the discourse of sexuality, which is determined by social culture and time.
Such meaning will emerge when (i) both men and women have identities as subjects, and (ii) the difference between them can be expressed. I aim to elucidate both conditions by appropriating Irigaray's 'Questions to Emmanuel Levinas: On the Divinity of Love.' I. Introduction Here I appropriate two questions from Luce Irigaray's 'Questions to Emmanuel Levinas: On the Divinity of Love' in order to disruptively refigure Paul Ricoeur's account of self-identity, without assessing Irigaray's reading of Levinas. Irigaray suggests the possibility of tracing sexual difference in philosophical accounts of personal identity.
Hormone Research Hormone research has been greatly influenced by cultural assumptions about the dimorphism of gender. Much of the scientific data produced and taken as ‘knowledge’ reaffirms social ideologies already thought to be true and uses this data to essentially prove these ideas. In the case of hormone research, ideas about the innate differences between males and females were imposed upon the scientific methodologies and the conclusions made. The misconception of estrogen and testosterone projected cultural ideas about femininity and masculinity, and implied difference. The fact that these hormones are secreted from ‘sexual organs’ gave scientific license to claim them as sexual hormones: the explanatory factor of the male female difference.
The main focus during her early work on gendercide was women and girls. She also focus on infanticide of female fetuses; in other words, the sex-selection that happens in certain cultures around the world. She did not dismiss the idea that victims of such discriminating murders could be males too. This is why Warren rejected the term gynocide which was made-up by Mary Daly around the same time. Charli Carpenter explains that to establish a proper definition of gendercide it is important to differentiate between sex and gender (2002).
Race, gender and sexuality have complex intersections; race decides how gender, sexual orientation and other aspects of identification are experienced, developed and practiced. Identity can be understood as a fragmentary sense of self that undergoes constant change. In Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties and The Rain God, the main characters forge plural identities by becoming aware of their ethnic and cultural heritages while discovering personally relevant sexual orientation labels, then reaching out and connecting to that specific community in some way. Instead of identifying a ‘true’ lesbian, Chicano or African-American identity, this paper will explore a process of self-definition that is multifaceted and challenges a monolithic form of identity, creating a hybrid sense of self with the possibility to access different spheres that provides the characters in these texts with new perspectives. Audre Lorde, Miguel Chico and Leticia Marisol Estrella Torez exist in a space that is in-between two worlds, but by integrating elements of their cultures and adapting them to their individual present circumstances, they are able to disrupt rigid sexual and racial categories and enable the formation of polymorphous identities which are subject to constant change.