Sociology of Sexuality

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/progressive-muslims-launch-gay-friendly-women-led-mosques_n_1368460.html

I thought this article was interesting to find because it the title in itself was eye-opening.

“Progressive Muslims Launch Gay-Friendly, Women-Led Mosques In Attempt To Reform American Islam” The article went on about how there’s a growing need for progressiveness in Islam here in America. The author is right, these Muslims are a new phenemona and minority because Islam has strict views on homosexuality and also cultural norms that dictate gender relations. The article also goes on about how the mainstream views these Muslims are reconstructing in the religion can be seen as negative to other Muslims who aren’t as ready to have differing interpretations. The author mentions how this a new direction for Islam in America because some of the adherents are starting to interpret and have differing views.

In America we are blessed to have the freedom to have differing views and not be persecuted for it, I feel like if these same views were broadcasted in someplace like Saudi Arabia, there’d be a backlash because Saudi Arabia doesn’t have a democracy and instead has an absolute monarchy.

I know in class today we talked about where we go from here and how we create change in society. It can be a daunting task, but many countries and even small groups and institutions are making changes. I was really intrigued by this article I found about children being raised gender-neutral in Sweden.

http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/kids-raised-gender-neutral-society-sweden-thinks-033400030.html

The article mentioned that not only had the pronoun “hen” been added to the national encyclopedia, but that efforts were being made in preschools to avoid gendering the children. While people are often opposed to the idea of raising their child gender-neutral I believe it can be done in a particular way. First off, we shouldn’t try and raise a child gender-opposite and call it gender neutral. Some accounts I’ve read just involve buying mostly boy toys and boy clothing for girls and the parents are mortified when their daughter actually wants a baby doll. Instead parents should allow their child to explore their interests without specifying the gender of their interests. If a girl likes throwing a football and playing princess then that is great.

The article also discussed the dissolution of boys and girls teams in sports so that there would only be co-ed sports. While many say that differences in physical ability could put girls at a disadvantage, women are constantly closing the gap. Plus there are already teams which are matched by ability so only men and women of similar ability would likely be placed against each other. These are changes in society that are starting to pop up and it is worthwhile to examine these issues.

As discussed in class, society tends to view sex and gender as one in the same. The result of which is the isolation of individuals who do not conform to either sex or gender norms. “In Beyond Binaries”, Lorber points out that this understanding has expanded to include both heterosexual and gay and lesbian identities. But, these categories are established because they are simple and conventional. Arguably, there are many people who don’t fall directly into the dichotomies of straight or gay, or male and female. There are a number of infants born with ambiguous genitalia. But, “because of the need for official categorization in bureaucratically organized societies, these infants must be labeled…”(Lorber 147). These infants are then tested, labeled and categorized based on physical characteristics. But,  categorizing individuals on physical and biological traits alone is not enough to determine gender.

With the Olympics taking center stage for the past two weeks, it was only a matter of time before some athletic controversy erupted. Olympic committees have recently passed a policy governing sex verification, which is expected to ban women with naturally high testosterone levels. The article, “You Say Your a Woman? That Should Be Enough” by Rebecca Jordan-Young and Katrina Karkazis details the consequences of this new policy, and the need for a consensus in understanding the limits to using science to fully understand gender and sex.

Understandably, the authors agree that sports need rules. But, testosterone is a “slippery” marker when it comes to determining sex and gender. For instance, there is a condition called hyperandrogenism, which the Olympic committee believes will cause certain women to have an automatic advantage because they will produce more testosterone. However, there is no sure way of knowing how an individuals body reacts to different levels of testosterone. In fact, testosterone may not wholly factor into athleticism because it is only one component of a person’s physiology. Yes, rules for sports need to be clear and fair. But, this ruling is openly discriminatory. It is not the female athletes fault that she is born with a particular level of a hormone. And consequently, the policy automatically stigmatizes and embarrasses the women whom it targets; it makes them out to be something other than themselves. Ironically enough, these women would not even be cheating. They are naturally producing more testosterone, and this factor is wholly separate from their chosen profession.

Link to article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/sports/olympics/olympic-sex-verification-you-say-youre-a-woman-that-should-be-enough.html?smid=pl-share

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2594155/pdf/jnma00326-0071.pdf

This article statistically illustrates the influence sex through the media, along with alcohol and drugs, has on the younger generations. It also brings up something that we didn’t bring up in class and that is education through the healthcare provider. “The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the Western world, despite the fact that teenagers are not having sex in greater numbers than their Western peers” 799. The question to ask is why? I believe it is both a lack in education by the healthcare providers and a media portrayal of sexual practices. This article talks specifically about a study of 75 girls, half of which are pregnant. This study showed that not only did the girls that watched soap operas have a higher chance of being pregnant, but also these teen pregnant soap opera watchers were more likely to think that their favorite character did not use protection 799. The recommendations that The American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) made was to use the information seen on television as a tool to talk about sexual conversations rather than one to promote them.We should think of both the consequences of the media on sexuality and how to fix these problems in the system. I don’t think sex will ever not be on television or the internet but we can use education to battle these interesting statistics.

The video below is terrible. It is labeled as a mockumentary and it is poorly made by what I am going to assume are high school students. Even though this video is tremendously atrocious, it makes and addresses some key components of how Facebook shapes identity. Most of these we discussed in class. One aspect that we didn’t fully cover was the desired attention that people want from the opposite sex. This attention seeking behavior is often times in the form of new pictures. Many people desire and flourish off of the comments that they assume will follow. This type of behavior also leads to narcissism, so the video claims. Without further  adieu, here is the link to this amazing, high class video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xv3c6a5Sg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

During class discussion today there were many important points brought up in regards to the internet and the negative and positive effects that come from it. One of the things that touched upon is cyber bullying. I feel that this is an extremely important topic that has gotten much attention as the internet becomes more and more popular for teens and younger children.

As was mentioned in class, the internet is a place where anyone can be who they want to be. It’s a place where people can say things without their identity being revealed or without any consequences. As I was looking for more information on cyber bullying I came across the story of Megan Meir. I remember hearing about this young girl when I was in middle school which was roughly 6 years ago. The video I linked is the story of a thirteen year old girl who was a victim to cyber bullying. The story of Megan is one of many examples of children and young teens that are bullied and decide to take matters in their own hands. In Megan`s case she was bullied by a boy named Josh Evans whom she had not met in real life. Everything started with him complementing her on her looks and escalated one day as Josh began to write mean messages calling Megan countless names. As a result of the bullying Megan hung herself inside of her closet and was pronounced dead a couple days later. The surprising part of this case is that the cyber bully Josh Evans, was really the mom of a teenage girl who lived in the same block as Megan Meier. She claimed that the account was made simply to protect her own daughter. It is unfortunate that parents lend themselves to cyber bullying without measuring the consequences.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teachers-worried-as-girls-go-top-of-the-class-for-cyberbullying-2269229.html

The second link I listed is an article that talks about the results of a survey which show that girls are more likely to cyber bully. Boys typically tend to be more physical and they settle problems in person while girls use media sites and cell phones to humiliate each other. The concern is that this kind of behavior is escalating. It is very surprising that many parents don’t even know that their child is being bullied. This article reminded me of the movie Mean Girls. This movie is a good example of how conniving girls can be. The same behavior talked about in this article and seen in this movie seems to be intensifying as the internet becomes more and more widely used.

Building on a topic which was touched upon in class today, the following article (or rather, sampling of YouTube comments) provides a pretty clear example of the ways in which online discourse assumes participants to be white, heterosexual males and employs insults and offensive language to police those of other identities:

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/06/harassment-misogyny-and-silencing-on-youtube/

The link shows a number of the YouTube comments received by Anita Sarkeesian, a video blogger who posts at feministfrequency.com. Sarkeesian’s videos provide a feminist analysis of the ways women, gender, and sexuality are portrayed in a variety of media, from movies to video games. When Sarkeesian posted a video requesting funding for a new series about the portrayal of women in video games, she received thousands of comments on the video that used misogynistic, heterosexist, and even racist language to attack her personally and to reject the idea that there was a need for research that explores gender issues in video games. Many of the comments use the words “we” and “us” when referring to men (as in, “Do you think we bitch and moan when the majority of our male [video game] protagonists are super buff…?”) in such a way that implies that those having the discussion online are all men. Language that refers to women, as well as feminists, uses a rhetoric of the other, as in “You and the rest of those feminist extremists.” This only further perpetuates the assumption that everyone on the internet is male, and that someone who posts something contrary to a misogynistic, heterosexist discourse is in a minority and that she or he deserves retribution in the form of insulting comments and even threats of rape and physical violence.

This example of the type of language used online emphasizes the assumptions that are made about who is using the internet, who has the right to express opinions online, and what consequences there should be for those who speak up contrary to the dominant discourse. Unfortunately, some areas of the internet (like some YouTube comment sections) adhere to a narrow set of assumptions about gender and sexuality that promote misogynistic, heterosexist, and even threatening language.