PART I
Hello, my name is Elizabeth, and I am 28 years old. I was born in the Dominican Republic, and I emigrated to the Unites States when I was 14 years old, ending up in Miami. When I was in ROTC, I met the man who would become my husband; August will be our one year anniversary. Right now, my husband is in Seoul, North Korea, temporarily stationed there. As for my interests, I am an avid jogger, and I like to cook and eat delicious food. Right now, I am pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, due to my affinity for healthy food and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In addition to healthy eating, I try to maintain a regular gym habit as part of my routine.
I am interested in this course because I would like to be more aware of sex education and more comfortable with the subject of sex, particularly when I have a child. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rank myself as a 6 – I can be comfortable talking with sex once I get to a certain point in a relationship (as happened with my husband), but am not very open about sex outside of the bedroom. What’s more, I do not feel very adventurous or knowledgeable about sexuality, and would like to learn to open up about my body and how to communicate about sex more readily with my husband.
PART II
Arranged marriage is the practice of setting up marriages between people for various political or financial advantages. I chose to explore arranged marriage because the concept of marriage as something other than the union of two people in love fascinates me. This aspect originated in traditional uses for daughters in families – to get money or status by marrying them off to influential or rich people. This still happens in many underdeveloped or traditional countries; in Korea, arranged marriages are preferred especially among virginal girls, due to the perception that they are still pure (Greenberg, Chapter 1, 2011).
Homosexuality involves sexual attraction of an individual towards those of the same sex. Despite its presence and prevalence throughout ancient cultures (including the Greeks and Romans), traditional Christian attitudes toward homosexuality are still fairly restrictive and unforgiving, chalking it up to a sinful choice rather than a natural sexual orientation. However, attitudes are beginning to relax regarding homosexuals, turning it from an official medical disorder to an accepted subculture (Greenberg, Chapter 1, 2011).
Sexual education is the instruction of students in the ways of human reproduction and sexual activity. It was often frowned upon in polite society, but it is now a part of school systems today as a means of informing young sexually active teenagers about the dangers of STDs and show them how sex works, and what they should look out for. This education can run the gamut from abstinence-only education to comprehensive sexuality education (Greenberg, 2011). In my own school experiences, I received abstinence-only education, which may have led to the high number of teen pregnancies in my high school class. What do you think the justification is for abstinence-only education? Do you think more detailed, comprehensive sex education is a good idea?
PART III
Loretta – I think there is potential for people to be more open with the subject of sex, but there seems to be a growing conservative movement regarding women’s reproductive rights, especially considering the pulling of federal funding for Planned Parenthood. As a result, it is possible that political policy is leaning toward a more puritanical view of sex, in my opinion.
Regina – I share your confusion at how women could allow themselves to only get pleasure from extreme pain. While there are degrees of experience, I feel that pure pleasure is also a wonderful thing, and I have a hard time relating to those who take the opposite view. As for polygamy, I think part of the attitude has to do with old-school patriarchal views of men possessing women, and some women falling prey to that, mostly due to the control of the man. I am personally not for it, but I do not feel comfortable adversely judging people for their choices, no matter how distasteful.
References:
Greenberg, J.S., Bruess, C.E. & Conklin, S.C., (2011). Exploring the dimensions of human
sexuality (4th ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones And Bartlett Publishers.
