Sexuality And Religion

The study of sexuality and religion has been developing over the years. I was first exposed to this field of study as a freshman in college; it’s been several years since this experience, and it has developed my academic and personal skills. I aspire to have this same influence on my prospective students.

At the end of this course, my students will be able to identify religious influences in society (i.e., gender roles, politics, race), evaluate and compare sex positive and sex negative societies, analyze the evolution of heteronormativity throughout cultures, and critically examine religious texts. Along with these objectives, the readings chosen for this course will enable students to identify fundamental concepts in the discussion of religion

Through various topics such as marriage, slavery, divorce, and idealism of Christian women, Knust truly shows how multifaceted the Bible is. Further, Knust details the interconnecting web of religion, sexuality, and society. In America, Christianity is the dominant religion, and American laws often exemplify this. For the longest time, Gay Marriage was illegal in the United States. People (politicians and civilians), who openly went against gay marriage often used the bible as leverage, as to why gay marriage was wrong. Along with LGBTQIA community, women face a plethora of problems in society. The identity of the women is confusing. Society often contradicts itself when discussing the standards of women, specifically a “good” Christian women. Notions such as a “women should be attractive, but not sexy because then she is a whore” or “She is a slut because she has had more than two romantic partners” often puts women in a tight corner. These rigid Christian-influenced standards for women are continually emphasized in the media. Knust takes note of this in her essay when describing the Biblezine, Revolve. “From the perspective of

A girl like this succeeds at being the good Christian that God wants her to be .” Statements like “pleasing to boys, but she never tempts them to sin” make the roles of women in society toxic. What exactly does temptation mean? In rape culture, women are often portrayed as instigators rather than victims. Excuses by the perpetrators being “she was wearing certain clothes she asked for it,” or “She let me kiss her.” Even schools are infamously known for asking a woman “what were they wearing?” or “Did you lead him or her on in anyway?”. However, it is not entirely the rapists or schools fault in the demonization of rape victims. The media plays a large role in condemning these women as well. On tv shows, the “loose” woman is always portrayed as a wild girl who wears “promiscuous” clothing (short skirts, shorts, tank tops, etc.) and does not hold what is considered “Christian values.” This woman is depicted as a wayward soul who loves trouble. Even if we are not discussing promiscuous women, women, in general, are still highly sexualized in the media. For example, in magazines, women are posed in suggestive positions giving men a