Lowery 1
Ryan Lowery
Professor Worley
29 October 2014 Sexuality Exhibited Through Adulthood Sexuality undergoes many changes throughout the human life cycle. After the transition from child to adult, there is a second transition from what’s considered young adulthood to the latter stages of life, including death, called late adulthood. During this transition from early adulthood into late adulthood, an individual will essentially establish their ideal Gender Identity, express themselves sexually, and eventually develop a sexual philosophy in the young adult years. Following young adulthood, come the period of middle adulthood
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For the majority of individuals that are heterosexual, their sexual orientation is easily established and integrated into society due in large part to the wide societal acceptance of heterosexuality. For those who are not heterosexual, these individuals have a much harder time in declaring their preferred sexual orientation/Gender Identity because of the negative stigmatization that has become attached to the gay, lesbian, and transgendered orientations. Once sexual orientation is established, individuals can freely express themselves sexually with others. As the sexual relationships with others progress in young adulthood, individuals will soon find themselves confronting the traditional values of love and sex. “Traditional gender roles call for men to be sex-oriented and women to be love-oriented.”(W.Yarber, B.Sayad, pg.189) Young adults must marry the concepts of love and sex together in order to successfully establish long healthy relationships and commitments with others. Through the successful bonding of sex and love, young adults will then seek to further their relationship commitments to a more long term commitment with the possibility of co-habitation or marriage. Childbearing is largely shunned during the adolescent years, yet during the young adult years becoming a parent is more widely accepted. Decisions regarding fertility and childbearing often arises in the individuals who have chosen to stay in long term and committed …show more content…
In these middle adulthood years, the necessity and emphasis on work and family becomes significant. Because of the re-directed focus on work and family, sexual activity in middle adulthood tends to diminish. The demand for openness, communication, trust, honesty and other key elements that are needed for a healthy relationship increase in value as the importance and focus of sex diminishes with the influx of outside obligations. With the frequency of sex diminished and no longer a major focus, sex is seen more to resemble caring and intimacy. Outside obligations to work and family may also lead to relationship issues which could result in extra relational or extramarital sex. With the onset of aging becoming more apparent in the later years of middle adulthood, an individual may find themselves gradually becoming less visually appealing in a societal context. As the first signs of grey hairs, the realization of blurred vision, and the other signs of early aging such as the decrease in the elasticity of skin become detectable; individuals must learn to cope and accept the natural physical progression of the human body that carries into late
Over the last century, the life expectancy of the elderly has increased. This means that the largest growing population right now, in the United States, is persons over the age of 65 (Sex Tips for Older Adults, 2000). With this in mind, it would be helpful to talk about the personal aspects or as I like to call it, "sex lives" of the elderly. When people in our society think of the elderly, they almost never think of this population having sex or good sex for that matter. But they do! Unfortunately, the elderly encounter problems with sex as they become older and that is what I will be discussing along with way of coping with sexual dysfunction.
Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Note: This paper has a very long Annotated Bibliography. In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms.
Although same-sex teenage relationships were looked down on before and were not common, today many teens are in a same-sex relationship. This is critical to developing sexual and social identities. In this paper, readers will learn the ups and downs of teenagers in a world of relationships and sexuality. Growing up in a home with parents of the same sex is viewed in negative ways to a lot of people, but studies show that a child is well adjusted to being raised under a roof with parents of the same sex just as well as a child with a male and female parent under the same roof. (Same-Sex Parents Raise Well-Adjusted Kids, Louise Chang, MD)
Osmundson, Joseph. "'I Was Born This Way': Is Sexuality Innate, and Should It Matter?" Harvard Kennedy School. N.p., 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. .
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...
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.
An issue that has, in recent years, begun to increase in arguments, is the acceptability of homosexuality in society. Until recently, homosexuality was considered strictly taboo. If an individual was homosexual, it was considered a secret to be kept from all family, friends, and society. However, it seems that society has begun to accept this lifestyle by allowing same sex couples. The idea of coming out of the closet has moved to the head of homosexual individuals when it used to be the exception.
Golgburg, A. E., & Kuvalanka, K. A. (2012). Marriage (In)equality: The Perspectives of Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Parents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 34-52.
We are born, we are named. We die, we are named. Be it the name of a new child or the title given to a hero who gives their life for the sake of many, a name is a sacred thing within our world. A name is a mark that follows us, identifies us, and lets us state our place in the world. Humans name everything we come in contact with – corporal or incorporeal. Every substance, action, or emotion has a name. Every state of being is labeled and defined. For centuries this powerful ability to give a name has been used in a variety of ways, some almost sacrilegious to the nearly spiritual act of defining yourself. We have branded, ostracized, and dehumanized using labels as a tool to discriminate against those who do not fall within our own neat little boxes of normality. Yet, for groups invisible to the world at large, naming and labeling retains its power.
Research has already shown parent sexual orientation has no significant effect on children’s psychological adjustment in Wainright, Russell, and Patterson (2004) as well as Rivers, Poteat, and Noret (2008). There has been a stereotype that a man and a women should raise a child and if not the child would be “confused” about gender behavior, identity and sexual orientation. Wainright, Russell, and Patterson (2004) study has shown that parental sexual orientation has no effect of adolescent romantic attractions and behaviors. The results of their study show that children of same sex parents have a significant relationship quality. There was no significant difference in children’s’ general role behavior, children’s sexual orientation, gender identity, children’s’ cognitive development and psychological adjustment. Having same sex parents has no impact on a child’s gender role behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, cognitive development and psychological adjustment. Having a same-sex parent has no impact on a child but rather the relationship that the child has with the parent no matter the parent’s sexual orientation. The relationship between the parent and the child s what can
The purpose of this was to remove the bias of cultural normality in an attempt to reveal an accurate account of human sexuality through its constituents. Reducing this complex concept into its basic elements de-familiarizes established normality, allowing a temporally and culturally relevant theory to be constructed descriptively from the bottom up. This method prevents the acceptance of fallacies and misunderstandings of a top-down method of analysis, i.e., defining normality without cognizing abnormality. In doing so, Freud challenged the widely accepted biological innateness views of human sexuality at the
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 an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...
In today’s society things are being expressed and experienced at younger ages, than ever before in our time. Children and teenagers are discovering their sexuality at very early ages. Sexuality is the discovering of who you are and what makes you different from everybody else.
Marriage naturally creates families; it provides the conditions for a healthy environment that is beneficial to the upbringing of children. Opponents of same-sex marriage often ground their arguments on parental and religious concerns. Many argue that sa...