What is sexuality and how do its meanings relate to sex and gender? PDF Download

Author: Sophie Koch Feoranzo
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3346344843
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 19

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Relationships and Family, grade: 1,3, LMU Munich (Institut für Soziologie und Gender Studies), course: Sociology of Gender, language: English, abstract: In my essay, I intend to examine what sexuality is and how its meanings relate to sex and gender. In doing this, I will first present a definition of sexuality and different axes of sexuality. Then, I will analyse sexuality’s link with gender as well as sex by deconstructing these terms into distinct categories. Furthermore, I will explore the interrelated impact that these terms and categories have by taking an intersectional approach. Sexuality is and has been a major theme within our culture. Thanks to social research, we have been provided with crucial evidence to help in better understanding the concept of sexuality and its complexity. Despite this, popular stereotypes and perceptions regarding sex, gender, and sexuality remain resistant and continue to persevere within society. In stating this, my intent is to raise awareness and demonstrate a better understanding of sexuality’s complexity.

Author: Sherry B. Ortner
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521239653
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
This 1996 collection of essays deals with the ways in which sex and gender are socially organized and conceptually construed in various cultures. Its scope is not limited to a series of cross-cultural issues of sex roles and sexual status but rather encompasses a wide range of sex-related practices and beliefs. Ceremonial virginity in Polynesian ritual androgynism in New Guinea, the valorization of young African bachelors, and fantasies of male self-sufficiency in South American myth are among the subjects discussed. Taken in their totality, these essays demonstrate that cultural notions sexuality and gender are seldom straightforward extrapolations of biological facts but are the outcome of social and cultural processes. The book is not only a compendium of symbolic approaches to gender but is also an important statement of the theoretical directions in anthropological research in this field.

Author: Jeffrey Weeks
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134949308
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Few topics evoke so much anxiety and pleasure, pain and hope, discussion and silence as sexuality. Throughout the Christian era it has been a major moral preoccupation. Since the eighteenth century it has also been the focus of 'scientific' exploration and political activity. But, despite this obsessive concern, we are still as baffled as our predecessors about the 'true' meaning of sex. In this book Jeffrey Weeks unravels the dense web of historical, theoretical and political forces that have culminated in the contemporary crisis of sexual meanings and values. The book begins with a powerful evocation of our present discontents and their potent signs: the rise of the New Right, the retreat of progressive forces and a wave of moral panics around sex. It argues that this crisis is rooted in a tradition which has ascribed an inflated importance to sexuality, whilst claiming a privileged access to truth. The author then examines radical debates of recent years, and asks whether they contain the potentiality for taking us beyond the existing boundaries of sexuality. From this analysis emerges a controversial 'radical pluralist' approach to sexuality built on an acceptance of diversity and choice. By linking our present discontents to a clear understanding of the past, Jeffrey Weeks presents a rational, optimistic and challenging vision of a realizable future.

Author: Sherry B. Ortner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521239653
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
This 1996 collection of essays deals with the ways in which sex and gender are socially organized and conceptually construed in various cultures. Its scope is not limited to a series of cross-cultural issues of sex roles and sexual status but rather encompasses a wide range of sex-related practices and beliefs. Ceremonial virginity in Polynesian ritual androgynism in New Guinea, the valorization of young African bachelors, and fantasies of male self-sufficiency in South American myth are among the subjects discussed. Taken in their totality, these essays demonstrate that cultural notions sexuality and gender are seldom straightforward extrapolations of biological facts but are the outcome of social and cultural processes. The book is not only a compendium of symbolic approaches to gender but is also an important statement of the theoretical directions in anthropological research in this field.

Author: Jenell Williams Paris
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459615999
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Sexual identity has become an idol in both the culture at large and in the Christian subculture. And yet concepts like gay or straight are relatively recent developments in human history. We let ourselves be defined by socially constructed notions of sexual identity and sexual orientation--even though these may not be the only or...

Author: Jeffrey Weeks
Publisher: London ; Boston : Routledge & K. Paul
ISBN: 9780710205650
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Few topics evoke so much anxiety and pleasure, pain and hope, discussion and silence as sexuality. Throughout the Christian era it has been a major moral preoccupation. Since the eighteenth century it has also been the focus of 'scientific' exploration and political activity. But, despite this obsessive concern, we are still as baffled as our predecessors about the 'true' meaning of sex. In this book Jeffrey Weeks unravels the dense web of historical, theoretical and political forces that have culminated in the contemporary crisis of sexual meanings and values. The book begins with a powerful evocation of our present discontents and their potent signs: the rise of the New Right, the retreat of progressive forces and a wave of moral panics around sex. It argues that this crisis is rooted in a tradition which has ascribed an inflated importance to sexuality, whilst claiming a privileged access to truth. The author then examines radical debates of recent years, and asks whether they contain the potentiality for taking us beyond the existing boundaries of sexuality. From this analysis emerges a controversial 'radical pluralist' approach to sexuality built on an acceptance of diversity and choice. - from Google Books.

Author: Momin Rahman
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745633765
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
'The book offers a thorough overview both of long-standing debates around gender and sexuality and of current issues. It nicely locates the debates within the sociological tradition, and this provides a distinctive and valuable feature. Not the least of the merits of this book is its international focus, and it will prove invaluable for students exploring the diverse pattern of sexuality and gender in an age of globalization. The authors are at the cutting edge of their subject, and so is the book.' Jeffrey Weeks, author of Sexuality, Third Edition and Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University 'Finally, a book that bridges feminism and critical sex studies. Rahman and Jackson have written a smart, accessible overview of the dynamic relationship between gender and sexuality that will seriously engage an undergraduate audience. This book teaches students by raising questions and providing the intellectual resources to navigate the complex terrain of contemporary sexual and gender politics. One of the few "must-use" classroom texts I've read in a long time.' Steven Seidman, author of The Social Construction of Sexuality, State University of New York This new introduction to the sociology of gender and sexuality offers a fresh take on the importance of these concepts in modern society. It provides an insight into our rapidly changing attitudes towards sex and our understanding of masculine and feminine identities, relating the study of gender and sexuality to wider social concerns throughout the world and presenting a comprehensive yet readable summary of recent research and theory. In an accessible and engaging style, the book demonstrates how thinking about gender and sexuality can illuminate and enliven other contemporary sociological debates about social structure, social change, and culture and identity politics. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of gendered and sexual lives in different parts of the world. The book offers detailed coverage of wide-ranging topics, from international sex tourism to celebrity culture, from gender in the work-place to new sexual lifestyles, drawing examples from everyday life. By demonstrating the links between gender and sexuality this book makes a clear case for thinking sociologically about these important and controversial aspects of human identity and behaviour. The book will be of great value to students in any discipline looking to understand the roles gender and sexuality play in our lives.

Author: William Simon
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415106269
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Twenty-nine collected essays represent a critical history of Shakespeare's play as text and as theater, beginning with Samuel Johnson in 1765, and ending with a review of the Royal Shakespeare Company production in 1991. The criticism centers on three aspects of the play: the love/friendship debate.

Author: Hida Viloria
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316347817
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
From one of the world's foremost intersex activists, a candid, provocative, and eye-opening memoir of gender identity, self-acceptance, and love. My name is Hida Viloria. I was raised as a girl but discovered at a young age that my body looked different. Having endured an often turbulent home life as a kid, there were many times when I felt scared and alone, especially given my attraction to girls. But unlike most people in the first world who are born intersex--meaning they have genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, and/or chromosomal patterns that do not fit standard definitions of male or female--I grew up in the body I was born with because my parents did not have my sex characteristics surgically altered at birth. It wasn't until I was twenty-six and encountered the term intersex in a San Francisco newspaper that I finally had a name for my difference. That's when I began to explore what it means to live in the space between genders--to be both and neither. I tried living as a feminine woman, an androgynous person, and even for a brief period of time as a man. Good friends would not recognize me, and gay men would hit on me. My gender fluidity was exciting, and in many ways freeing--but it could also be isolating. I had to know if there were other intersex people like me, but when I finally found an intersex community to connect with I was shocked, and then deeply upset, to learn that most of the people I met had been scarred, both physically and psychologically, by infant surgeries and hormone treatments meant to "correct" their bodies. Realizing that the invisibility of intersex people in society facilitated these practices, I made it my mission to bring an end to it--and became one of the first people to voluntarily come out as intersex at a national and then international level. Born Both is the story of my lifelong journey toward finding love and embracing my authentic identity in a world that insists on categorizing people into either/or, and of my decades-long fight for human rights and equality for intersex people everywhere.

Author: Christopher Doyle, MA LPC LCPC
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1641409746
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In the midst of a culture where sex and gender issues are rampant, two common viewpoints exist. Unfortunately, they are both extreme. While there is an effort in the church to minister to the sexually broken, many places of worship have adopted a strict ethic that leads to a fear-based attitude towards those struggling with sexuality and gender identity. This has caused strugglers to feel alienated and wounded from the church. On the other hand, secular culture has adopted the sexual liberation message: "If it feels good, do it." Sadly, this idea has permeated the hearts and minds of too many Christians. As a result, issues such as homosexuality, gender identity confusion, and sex outside of marriage have become battlegrounds of division among the Body of Christ. With all of this discord, how do we find the true meaning of sex? In The Meaning of Sex: A New Christian Ethos, Christopher Doyle offers a compassionate and bold philosophy on how to love thy neighbor within the confines set forth by our Savior, who holds us when we struggle, loves us when we fall, and celebrates with us when we experience victory. When we collectively pursue the wholeness Jesus calls us to, the sexual ethics that bind us becomes a higher ethos that unites us. Only then, as we bare our souls to each other and become vulnerable with our own unique wounds, can we meet our struggling brothers and sisters where they are and journey towards emotional wholeness and spiritual maturity. "The Meaning of Sex: A New Christian Ethos is a masterful synthesis of Christian theology and the social sciences that has the potential to radically transform our culture in positive ways." ~ Michelle A. Cretella, M.D. (President, American College of Pediatricians) "Christopher Doyle effectively challenges cultural constructs that have led Christians away from the questions that we need to be asking, connecting the dots between a biblical narrative of sexuality and what is revealed in nature and through scientific inquiry." ~ Professor Carolyn Pela, Ph.D., LMFT (Chair, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Arizona Christian University)