Evolution Of Female Sexual Identitity Essay Example for Free

Evolution Of womanly Sexual Identitity EssayFemale cozyity and their provokeual identity is categorically becoming less straighta representation. Emerging expressions of gay sex in distaffs once considered ab normal like bi sexuality and bi-curious sort- specifically in Americans under the age of 40, bugger off gone from a shaming closeted behavior, to significantly more normal and everywheret.This paper go forth discuss the evolution of young-bearing(prenominal) sexuality from the 1950s to the present as perception and expression of female sexuality underwent significant undermining and rethinking in the past half decade. The paper relied on various sources that documented this offset to support the above-mentioned thesis. Human Sexuality Britannica Online defines sexuality as kind tendencies and behavior associated with sexual arousal. It is how mankind express sexual sensation and intimacy and is largely influenced by biological/physiological circumstances, soc ietal attitudes towards sexual behavior, and ones leniencies and/or psychological make-up. A persons anatomy can solo set so many another(prenominal) boundaries on ones sexual behavior. Many variations in human sexuality occur through with(predicate) a persons upbringing and habituation. pagan differences often instigates grand variations as a certain sexual behavior may be considered taboo or deviant in one bon ton while others may consider the resembling behavior to be absolutely acceptable and healthy. Sexuality includes under its wide umbrella discussions aside from unfeigned physiology other topics such as those on gender, sexual orientation, personal acceptance of sexuality (how we raft our sexuality which may differ from our actual physiology), sexual dysfunctions, sexual activity, social sexual structures (marriage, morality, and legal cases), sexual misconduct, sex in the media and sex fostering as soundly as research on sex and sexuality among others.Throughout history, every aspect of human life has allocated a generous portion to sexuality. There argon eer laws, in every society and in every era as to how sexual behavior is to be enacted. Sexuality and societies views towards it prevail changed continually throughout the ages.Human sexuality has many aspects to it defining who, what when, where, why, and how we argon to express sexuality. Human physiology has an immense effect on our sexuality. Genetics decides how the rest of human life leave be played out. A persons sex will grow innumerable consequences during the course of life. Many factors determine the sex of a person. Hormonal changes during pregnancy, the time of conception, even out temperatures dictate the sex of an unborn baby. Human physiology, culture, and preference, as fountainhead a variety of other factors makes certain forms of sexual expression possible.Society plays an equally immense fictitious character on human sexuality. Social norms affect how sexuality can be expressed. Sexuality is image of human social environment, guided by rules of behavior. Society is, in parts large or small, responsible for the way a persons self schema, self-esteem, self-efficacy, among others. Gender is a function of a persons social milieu and it must be noted that cross-cultural differences in behavioral attributes towards sex thus, differing cause on gender.The cultures to which we belong dictate our sexual behavior throughout life. Human sexuality is in a great part a function of the cultural norms of our societies such as customs regarding marriage, homosexuality, and self-eroticism, among others. Often these norms be dictated by politics and religion, etc. Subcultures ar formed when an individuals sexuality dissents from the conventions of the local anaesthetic culture. Because culture dictates what is proper in bed many sex issues are taboos conceived by society. Feedbacks from the society about us at large exert a great influence on sexual behavior and to some extent even sexual performance.The possibility of an unfulfilled sexual desire because of cultural influences as to what is right and wrong happens as a result of the lack of communication. Also education on sexuality and health plays a part in the proper and healthy expression of sexuality.Changes in how women expressed themselves view as gone through a significant change over the years following WWII. Sexuality in females and how they identify themselves sexually is at present more open to the fluidity of sexual expressions.Female SexualityThe existence shifted from valuing women equally with men to a patriarchal society that gave less and less premium on the female population and their significance in human civilizations. According to Francoeur et. al. in Female Sexuality Challenging Cultural Repression, human cultures experienced this change in an axial period as early as the for the first time millennium.This occurred in three separate geographic loca tions in China India and Persia, in the Eastern Mediterranean (Israel and Greece). The renewal consisted of a shift from being a female dominated intellect to a male-dominated, individualistic consciousness Society changed from a mythical, collective, ritualistic culture to a more rigid, analytical, and rational one (Pastoetter, 2004).Women and their roles as well as their power and place in civilization gradually changed and eventually, the shift to a male-centered world out-of-pocket mainly to factors such as the rise of a patriarchal, monotheistic Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Women began to take secondary positions to men until they urinate pay back to be considered secondary to males and even lesser individuals a source of evil and corruption.The Second Axial period is the one we are going through right now. This is according to theologian Ewert Cousins(1981). Centuries old forces are building up and soon according to cousins, we will reach a point where society will ha ve to set up a new equilibrium point. Friendship-pleasure based values are now gradually gaining momentum over straightaway-coital-procreative values. However, to achieve more gender-equal societies, we must be able to first actualise and solve issues of the repression of female sexuality ecumenic.It is no secret that various forms of repression exist in societies worldwide in varying degrees as potential and actual damage. In their ascertain, Francoeur et. al. (Female Sexuality Challenging Cultural Repression), they discuss in Part 1, 12 years worth of sexological research showing that women in a toilet of places worldwide are being sexually repressed and they hardly derive pleasure from their relationships. Examples of repression are prohibitions on talk of the town or acknowledging sex, sexual needs and preferences even when talking to a spouse. The second part dealt with restrictions to loveplay such as female genital mutilation.Repression and lack of sexual gratification is a probable reason why many women are now found to be masturbating, cheating on their husbands, or seeking gratification from same sex relationships. Masturbation is a topic that is disputed with men but exponentially more so for women. According to, it was found out in research that over 95% of all men have masturbated and surprisingly an enormous percentage of women at 89% also practiced self-eroticism. The practice of masturbation is a constant source of shame and ridicule even for men despite of the mounting number of studies that confute the myths surrounding self-stimulation even the researches that prove that masturbation is indeed a physically as well as psychologically healthy practice isnt gaining much acceptance (Vause, 2004).In more liberal societies, female masturbation raises the question of why they do it and the reverberant answer is that, they are not getting bounteous sexual gratification from their sexual partners. Unfortunately, in spite of sexual fulfillmen t being healthy for partners, sexual double standards, sexual repression, and centuries of bad rep stifle womens efforts to achieve fulfillment either through their partners or by doing it themselves (Vause, 2004).Another possible repercussion of the repression that women are getting even in this sidereal day and age is, especially for married women, to seek an outside source of sexual pleasure outside content extra-marital. Adultery among married, Christian women, was recorded by Michelle Langley, in Womens Infidelity Living in Limbo What Women in truth Mean When They Say, Im Not Happy, as cited in In Search of Intimacy Wandering Wives by Sybil C. Mitchell.The ten-year ask shows women are as much prone to cheat on their spouses as their husbands are. In fact she goes get on by adding that it may even take a lot more effort for women, who are by their nature just moving into their sexual prime, than men who by the time they 30 are slowly moving off of their sexual peak. It is r emarkable to note though, the different treatments that society has given in view of men and womens infidelities. Even in indiscretions/sin men are less likely to be persecuted (sometimes they are even glorified for it), than women (Mitchell, 2005).What women have to realize is that the affair or string of affairs is suggestive of something more deeply seated in her, said Taylor. A woman feels a deficiency at bottom herself. And certainly, there may be issues that both the husband and wife need to deal with together. Said an Christian minister, Elder Anthony Taylor (Mitchell, 2005).Another emerging trend in female sexuality from the 50s to the present is the rise of homosexuals ( sapphics), Bisexual, and bi-curious women. Considered part of the wide rubric of human sexual variation, the three above-mentioned categories have recently enjoyed a lot of limelight with all the gorgerin on national TV and in bars all over the metro.Homosexuality is an increasingly familiar phenomena no wadays and not just with gay men, the population of women who are solely attracted to another woman in all aspects of human personality.Another emerging trend is the Bisexuals. According to the pioneering study by Alfred Kinsey, human sexuality is not black and white, straight or gay rather, he believes it is a continuum. His findings show that although there is a pronounced polarization of sexuality as either exclusively heterosexual or homo sexual, there is also a significant part that is in-between.Kinsey model was drastically amend upon by Fritz Klines Sexual Orientation Grid that had the sissy option. Although, disputes notwithstanding rage as to the acceptability of bisexuals in established social groups that include even homosexuals. The debate about what qualifies as bisexual still rages on and though some say that it is only the stepping stone to homosexuality, others argue that it is indeed a manifest possibility that a person may be able to relate to both sexes (Fairy ington, 2005).In the paper, The Vagina Dialogues Bi-curious women are here but not preferably queer. pleasant to the new homosexual Chic, the authors discussed a new fund of women who are straight but are kissing and groping even having sex with other women. They are not bisexuals, nor are they exclusively homosexual.They are called Bi-curious women. According to studies a large number of women involved in these kinds of relationships tend to do it for the viewing pleasure of a man while others contest simply care the act as the primary reason for their involvement. At any rate, these women occupy an even more controversial status than bisexuals as even the lesbian community is getting tired of girls who want to try kissing another girl (The Vagina Dialogues Bi-curious women are here but not quite queer. Welcome to the new lesbian chic, 2005).In many clubs like the Axis Club in Phoenix, many lesbian couplings are sighted. In fact, it is so common in bars like this that you al most expect them. Homosexual or girl-to-girl activity is often seen in pornography targeting men (The Vagina Dialogues Bi-curious women are here but not quite queer. Welcome to the new lesbian chic, 2005).In conclusion, it safe to note that indeed, times are ever-changing and with it so are the views and practices behind closed doors especially as it relates to women. New trends in a sexually dichotomous society such as America are emerging and the rest of the world is taking the hint.EndnotesCall them bi-curious.These women dont come out so much as try it out think Anne Heche, not Ellen DeGeneres. Men are in their past men may be in their future. But for the moment, theyre hooking up with a woman, and its cool.Dabbling isnt particularly new. Straight women slept with other women long before June Miller taught Anas Nin a thing or two. And female college students have long expressed their heightened consciousness by shagging their roommates. (Theres even a term for that Lesbian Unt il Graduation, a.k.a. LUG.)But this is different.Ask an Arizona State University student today which of her friends has kissed another girl, and she may well send word back, Which one hasnt? When Pepper Schwartz, a sociologist at the University of Washington, wrote Sex and the Yale Student in 1971, the topic of bi-curious couplings never even came up. That would be impossible today, she notes.A pair of cute blond lesbians, Lauren Levin and Lauren Blitzer, has inked a deal to write a book called Same Sex in the City So Your Prince Charming Is Really a Cinderella. It hits stores nigh spring.Its not underground anymore. It would have been unthinkable for the girls of Beverly Hills, 90210 to jump into bed together, but when Marissa and Alex did it last year on The OC, no one even feigned surprise. It was scandalous when Ellen came out it was just another piece of distinction gossip when she started hanging with the once-married Portia DiRossi.And so just like that, Jen Sincero found herself landing smack in the centre of attention of the zeitgeist.The Straight Girls Guide made it to number 7 on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list. Sinceros Website started getting 8,500 hits a day. And Sincero began training workshops to girls who want to learn more, including one next week at Phoenixs MADE Art Boutique. The workshops almost always sell out.Even Sincero is shocked by that. These are flock who not only want to have this taboo sex, but theyre willing to show up in public and admit it she exalts.The reason for that is primary enough Sex between two women isnt taboo anymore. Instead, its become so damn trendy that its changing the way we understand feminism, gay rights, and even human sexuality itself. (The Vagina Dialogues Bi-curious women are here but not quite queer. Welcome to the new lesbian chic, 2005) Why is it so hard for us to wrap our minds about hermaphrodism? Our cultural struggle to conceptualize bisexuality stems in part from the freighted h istory of the term. When it first appeared in a dictionary in 1824, bisexual referred to people possessing the characteristics of both sexes, now referred to as intersexuals (or, popularly, as hermaphrodites). In the mid-1860s, Karl Heinrich Ulrich postulated that men who have same-sex desires have female souls trapped inside male bodies. Subsequent sex researchers argued that people who desire their own sex have an inverted gender identity. From this sort of logic it was deduced that bisexuals are psychosexual hermaphrodites.Freud upended the conversation on bisexuality beginning in the early 20th century when he used the term in the modern sense and hypothesized that all people are initially bisexual before a fixed, usually hetero-, sexual identity takes hold. Basing his theories upon contemporary ideas, later discredited, as to the biological bisexuality of the fetus, Freud hypothesized that everyone had a primary and innate bisexual disposition with respect to sex-object choice. But instead of arguing that bisexuality might be a normal manifestation of this inherent predisposition, Freud went on to spin an account of normal human development whereby same-sex desires are repressed or sublimated and heterosexual ones allowed to arise, relegating homosexuality and bisexuality to exceptional states that develop as the result of a series of psychological malfunctions. (Fairyington, 2005)ReferenceFairyington, S. (2005). Bisexuality and the strip against Dualism. The Gay Lesbian Review Worldwide.Mitchell, S. C. (2005, Dec 17-Dec 21, 2005). In Search of Intimacy Wandering Wives. Tri State Defender.Pastoetter, R. T. F. R. J. N. B. O.-O. J. (2004). female SEXUALITY TODAY Challenging Cultural Repression. Cross Currents, 54(3), 55.The Vagina Dialogues Bi-curious women are here but not quite queer. Welcome to the new lesbian chic. (2005, Sep 15, 2005). The Phoenix New Times.Vause, M. (2004). Doing IT Ourselves FEMALE MASTURBATION PAST AND PRESENT. Charlottesville confine/Summer 2004.