Human
Sexuality? Many people when they hear you're taking a Human Sexuality or Psychology
of Sexuality course their response is "Why are you taking a class about
sex?" The reason I know this is because I am actually taking a course
called "Psychology of Sexuality," my professor likes to call it
Psychology of Sex. Some other course's that talk about "Human
Sexuality" according to Clint E. Bruess and Heather J. Meggers in the
article called "Teaching The College Human Sexuality Course" is
sociology, psychology, religion and health education. They talk about how this
topic is actually becoming more and more popular in colleges and universities
(269).
What do you
think you would learn/gain if you took a human sexuality class? Do you think
you would learn about sex, intercourse, sexual pleasure, or sexuality? You would
actually learn about all of that, but there is actually more to that. In the book
called "Sexuality Education: Pass, Present, and Future" by Elizabeth
Schroeder and Judy Kuriansky they talk about how no matter what education
background/experiences you come from, all students come to college with
information and misinformation about sexuality that they learn from their parents,
peers, religious authorities, and social and cultural sources (272).
When you
take sexuality courses you would also learn according to the
article "Teaching The College Human
Sexuality course":
Student outcomes associated with
college human sexuality
courses include greater sexual knowledge, reduced sexual
anxiety, improved body image, and a better understanding
of the ways in which personal sexual values affect other people" (269).
courses include greater sexual knowledge, reduced sexual
anxiety, improved body image, and a better understanding
of the ways in which personal sexual values affect other people" (269).
From the
book "Sexuality Education: Pass, Present, and Future" they stated
that while you are learning about human sexuality you take into the fact that
you are also being challenged to consider facts with in personal, political,
social, cultural, and ethical contexts (273).
After discussing
about human sexuality, what exactly is sexuality? From the same book they describe the definition of
human sexuality proposed by the Sexuality Information
and Education Council of the United
States (SIECUS, 200):
-Sexuality is not only about taking
part in sexual behaviors.
-Sexuality is about self-concept,
feelings about being male or
female or transgender, feelings about other people, the way we move
and speak, and the way we relate to others.
and speak, and the way we relate to others.
-Sexuality is a natural and healthy
part of who we are through our
lives - from birth until we die.
-Sexuality is not what we do, it's about
who we are and how we live
(274).
(274).
Why should
we learn about human sexuality? The
reasons Elizabeth Schroeder and Judy Kuriansky say we should learn about human
sexuality is because obtaining accurate sexual knowledge, improving sexual decision
making, clarifying personal values, to learn the relationship between human
sexuality and the personal well-being, and also to explore how human sexuality
can influences one's sexuality (274).
Works Cited
Bruess, Clint E., and Heather J. Meggers. "Teaching the
College
Human Sexuality Course."
Westport , CT , US : Praeger Publishers/Greenwood
Publishing
Group, Westport , CT
Schroeder,
Elizabeth, and Judith Kuriansky. Sexuality
Education: Past, Present, and
Future.
Vol. 3 Westport , CT
-Marissa Stawkey-
Hi my name is Justine and I'm from our WGST 202 class. I read this blog post and I think you brought up some good questions. I find myself thinking about what I could possibly learn from classes like this one and the one you mentioned as well. But taking this class and doing some furthur research on topics that relate to what classes like WGST may discuss have helped me personally improve on my knowledge of sexuality. I find it interesting that in the Teaching The College Human Sexuality article you read, it mentioned that taking courses such as these will reduce anxiety when it comes to sexuality. I myself have foudn this true. I am a very shy girl when it comes to the topic of sex in any serious conversations. I can joke about it sure, but when I'm confronted with it on a serious level I get uncomfortable. However, doing research on the topics wwe talk about, reading the stories, and becoming more aware of what sexuality consists of has helped me feel better about talking. I don't know if they mean sexuality in terms of myself or sexuality in terms of knowledge that researching and reading about it will help reduce the anxiety of it. I'll have to read this article to see. I was a little confused in your last paragraph though. Are yout trying to say that because of all these things listed we gain something from it, or that we gain these things by the research and attempts to understand sexuality? I liked this post a lot overall otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe last paragraph means that learning about human sexuality helps you get a better understand of what the exact meaning is intend of believing the "assumptions" that your friends or family think it means. Also helps you learning how Human Sexuality can affect you (e.g. your belief, your own sexuality and etc.) and how it affects society.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you very much. I'm glad you like my post. When I saw this article it really grabbed my attention because I really enjoy these topics. All my classes deal with this topic in some way, and learning about this is a very important aspect and is always great experience to learn more about the topic and how it affects me.
-Marissa Stawkey-
This is a great interaction. Wonderful comment, Justine, and great response, Marissa.
ReplyDelete