Unit I.

Gender and Sexuality as a Social Reality

Lesson 1: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

Sex
 Is used to describe what you are assigned at birth, based on what's in between your legs
(a penis = male, or a vagina = female). Sex is defined by genitals, including internal sex
organs, chromosomes and hormones.
 The biological aspect of sex; maleness or femaleness

Males Females
Chromosomes xy xx
Primary Sex Characteristics Testes Ovaries
Hormones Androgen Astrogen
Deep voice; Facial hair; Breast development; Widening
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Increased muscles mass of hips

Biological Sex – refers to the objectively measurable organs, hormones, and chromosomes

There are three-sex variations:

Male - penis, XY chromosomes, high levels of testosterone

Female - vagina, XX chromosomes, high levels of astrogen
Intersex - a person born with the sexual anatomy or chromosomes that don't fit the traditional
definition of male or female. 
 Individuals with composite genitals (possessing some characteristics of both male and
female genitals

Gender - the social interpretation of sex; masculinity, femininity, etc.

  is used to describe the traditional social roles for males and females.
Gender Expression - is how you demonstrate your gender (based on traditional gender roles)
through the ways you act, dress behave, and interact
 describes how someone chooses to present their gender to the world.
Gender Identity - is how you, in your head, think about yourself. It’s the chemistry that composes
you (e.g. hormonal levels) and how you interpret what it means.
 describes how someone feels on the inside
Cisgender - a person who identifies with the sex they were assigned at birth.  
Transgender - a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Gender Fluid - a person whose gender identity is not fixed and / or shifts depending on the situation.
These people don't feel the need to act according to the sex they were assigned at birth and the
associated traditional social roles. 

Sex Gender
 Is a biological concept based on biological  Primary deals with personal, societal, and
characteristics such as difference in genitalia cultural perceptions of sexuality.
in male and female.
 Chromosomes  Blue is for boys, Pink is for girls
 Reproductive System  Masculine and Feminine
Sexual Orientation - is who you are physically, spiritually, and emotionally attracted to, based on
their sex/gender in relation to your own.
Heterosexual - A person attracted to people of the oppositie sex.
Homosexual - A person attracted to people of the same sex.
Bisexual - The word 'bi', meaning 'two', refers to a person’s attraction to both genders (male
and female). 
Asexual - Asexuality is the absence of sexual attraction.
Pansexual - 'Pan', meaning 'all-inclusive', refers to a person's attraction to multiple genders.
Questioning - Some people may be unsure about their sexuality and / or are exploring it, so
might identify as 'questioning'. 

Three of the most common aspects used to describe sexuality are:

Feelings and fantasies: who we fall in love with, who we are attracted to, who we think about when
we are aroused, and who we intimately connect with.
Behaviours: include any form of sexual contact (kissing, touching, oral sex, vaginal sex, anal sex etc.),
flirting, who we date, and have relationships with.
Identity: is the label or description of our sexuality.

Diversity of Human Sexual Behavior

Gender and Sexual Diversity (GSD)

 Term used to refer all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientation and gender
identities.

Western World
o Sexual Orientation – (Heterosexual, Homosexual, and Bisexual)
o Gender Identity – (Transgender, Cisgender)
o Related Minorities – (Intersex)
o LGBT

Sexual Diversity – is the acceptance of being different but with equal rights, liberties and
opportunities within the Human Rights framework.
Lesson 2: Gender and Sexuality Across Time
THE EVOLUTION OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY THROUGHOUT HISTORY

Gender and sexuality studies are a lively field of historical inquiry that has transformed
historical research in the past few decades.
Across rubrics such as women’s history, gay and lesbian histories, masculinity studies,
histories of sexualities, gender history (including transgender), and scholars problematize how
categories and identities are constructed within matrices of power and meaning systems.

The last fifty years saw a rise in political activism surrounding the concept of sex and gender
identity, with prominent leaders such as Harvey Milk and Audre Lorde, and as such many students
view sex and gender identity hand-in-hand with LGBT+ activism.

 The Spoilers, The Soilers was the first appearance of an openly gay character in 1923.
 The idea of heterosexuality itself was only invented in the late nineteenth century by the
Hungarian writer Karl Maria Kertbeny.
 Kertbeny’s work was expanded upon by the German philosopher Magnus Hirschfeld.

Asexuality had previously been discussed as an unknown, X variable in Dr.Alfred Kinsey’s

1948 and1953 Kinsey Reports.

The ancient Romans had a complicated view of sexuality and gender identity. Unlike in many
classical societies, daughters could take on some of the roles of a son if no male heir were present.
And the Romans view on homosexual activity varied by place and context through the empire.
Pompeiian graffiti glorified homosexuality while contemporary poet Martial derided same-sex
marriages.

SEX ROLES

■ The late 1960s through the 1970s marked an important turning point in the field of gender
research, including theory and research in gender development.
■ In 1975, Sex Roles was published, the studies focused on children and adolescents gender
development.
■ In 1978 (Frieze et al. 1978) published one of the first textbooks on the psychology of Women and
gender roles.

The authors begin by demonstrating how socially biased attitudes can enter into the
scientific study of women. They then investigate the origins and nature of sex differences, with an
emphasis on how children learn sex roles. The psychological factors influencing marriage,
motherhood, achievement and work, sexuality, aging, and role strain are thoroughly explored, as are
the psychological bases of prejudice and discrimination. A section on women and power, both
personal and political, precedes the final chapter on making life decisions.
A pivotal moment in the field of the psychology of gender occurred with the publication
of Maccoby’s (1966) edited book, The Development of Sex Differences.
■ In 1972, Money and Ehrhardt’s book, Man and Woman, Boy and Girl, advanced a provocative
theory about gender identity and gender differentiation that continues to spark debate.

▪ “Gender Role“ as a term referring to the socially defined, outward manifestation of gender,
and “gender identity” as one’s personal experienced sense of gender.

■ Chronologically, another important contribution was Maccoby and Jacklin’s (1974) book, The

Psychology of Sex Differences. This book presented an unparalleled synthesis of research findings on
gender differences in development.

▪ They promoted the idea that children play an important and proactive role in the adoption
of gender-stereotyped behaviors, and introduced the term “self-socialization"to describe these
child-directed processes.

■ Unger’s (1979) influential paper, Toward a Redefinition of Sex and Gender, asserted that the use
of the term gender “serves to reduce assumed parallels between biological and psychological sex or
at least to make explicit any assumptions of such parallels”.
▪ The widespread use of the term sex implies biological causes and promotes the idea that
differences between women and men are natural and immutable. She proposed the use of the term
gender to refer to traits that are culturally assumed to be appropriate for women and men.

Constantinople (1973) and Bem (1974) argued that males and females possess both masculine and
feminine qualities.

▪ Bem, used gender-stereotypical traits to independently measure masculinity and femininity.

▪ Constantinople, defines gender-role adoption as the actual manifestation, and gender-role
preference as the desired degree of masculinity-femininity.

The ideas about multidimensionality were further emphasized in Huston’s (1983) chapter in

the Handbook of Child Psychology. 

▪ Huston encouraged researchers to conduct empirical investigations of links between domains of

gender typing rather than to infer their existence.
▪ Huston presented a matrix of gender typing.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Behavior of Women and Men:Implications for the Origins of Sex
Differences (Wood and Eagly, 2002) article evaluates theories of the origins of sex differences in
human behavior. It reviews the cross-cultural evidence on the behavior of women and men in
nonindustrial societies, especially the activities that contribute to the sex-typed division of labor and
patriarchy.

On cultural transformations of sexuality and gender in recent decades (Volkmar Sigusch, 2004)
Sigusch refers to the broad-based recoding and reassessment of the sexual sphere during the
eighties and nineties as the "neosexual revolution”- is dismantling the old patterns of sexuality and
reassembling the a new.
▪ Sexuality is no longer the great metaphor for pleasure and happiness, nor is it so greatly
overestimated as it was during the sexual revolution. It is now widely taken for granted, much like
egotism or motility.

▪ The outcome of the nonsexual revolution may be described as "lean sexuality" and "self-sex"

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism (Buss and Schmitt, 2011)

The article evaluates the specific contributions: Sexual Strategies Theory and the desire for
sexual variety; evolved standards of beauty; hypothesized adaptations to ovulation; the appeal of
risk taking in human mating; understanding the causes of sexual victimization; and the role of
studies of lesbian mate preferences in evaluating the framework of evolutionary psychology.

SOCIAL ROLE THEORY OF SEX DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES (Wood and Eagly, 2012)

▪ These stereotypes, or gender role beliefs, form as people observe male and female behavior and
infer that the sexes possess corresponding dispositions.
▪ The origins of men’s and women’s social roles lie primarily in humans’ evolved physical sex differ-
ences, specifically men’s size and strength and women’s reproductive activities of gestating and
nursing children, which interact with a society’s circumstances and culture to make certain activi-ties
more efficiently performed by one sex or the other.

Beyond ‘He’ or ‘She’: The Changing Meaning of Gender and Sexuality (Steinmetz, 2017)
A growing number of young people are moving beyond the idea that we live in a world
where sexuality and gender come in only two forms. The piece explores how you-do-you young
people are questioning the conventions that when it comes to gender and sexuality, there are only
two options for each: male or female, gay or straight.

Using Corpora to Analyze Gender

(Paul Baker,2014).

▪ This book critically explores how corpus linguistics techniques can help analysis of language and
gender by conducting a number of case studies on topics, which include: directives in spoken
conversations, changes in sexist and non-sexist language use over time, personal adverts, press
representation of gay men, and the ways that boys and girls are constructed through language.
▪ The book thus covers both gendered usage and gendered representations

Sexual orientation and neurocognitive ability: A meta-analysis in men and women (Norton et al.
2017).

▪ The cross-sex-shift hypothesis predicts that homosexual men and women will be similar in certain
neurobehavioral traits to their opposite-sex counterparts.
▪ Researcher conducted a meta-analysis on the relationship between sexual orientation and
cognitive performance, and tested the effects of potential moderating variables separately by sex. A
total of 106 samples and 254,231 participants were included.
Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins ( Luto and
Varella, 2021).

▪ Among other factors, these policies vary with politicians’ sex: early findings indicate that, on
average, female leaders seem more focused on minimizing direct human suffering caused by the
SARS-CoV-2 virus, while male leaders implement riskier short-term decisions, possibly aiming to
minimize economic disruptions.
▪ This review article contextualizes sex differences in pandemic leadership in an evolutionary
framework. 

Gender and sexuality are centrally important forces that shape every aspect of our lives:

♧ we know our bodies, minds and selves through our gender and our sex
♧ as a society, legal definitions and social expectations about women and men sex and reproduction
organize our medical, legal, educational and political systems
♧ in the creative arts and culture, artists and writers move us through powerful images of
masculinity and femininity, sex and desire
Lesson 3: Gender and Sexuality as a Subject of Inquiry

Gender Studies

- Emerged in the mid 1970s after the second wave of feminism

- It is a field or study concerned about how reproductive roles are interpreted and negotiated in the
society through gender
- An area of knowledge, is about looking into, analyzing, and examining society so that we notice
power relations in the seemingly “simple things.”
- Is for everyone

Gender Roles

- Also called as sex role

- Are “sets of culturally defined behaviors such as masculinity and femininity (Encyclopedia of Sex
and Gender, 2019)”
- “Women must be prim, proper and soft”, “Men should be strong, rowdy”

Diversity and Conclusion

- Society, through a lifelong process of normalization, encourages or riprimands behavior to make a

child adapt to these social expectations. Therefore, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender often
riprimanded, bullied and discriminated because they do not fit in what society calls “normal.”
- Hence, gender studies let us analyze the creation and maintenance of these gender norms so that it
does not create inequalities in our social, political and economic spheres.

Gender Studies and Research

APPROACHES IN RESEARCH
Qualitative Approach – focuses more on meanings created and interpretation made by
people about their own personal or observed experiences.
 Methods used:
• Phenomenology – conducting intensive interviews with individuals who have experienced
a particular event and understanding (about their lived experiences)
• Hermenuetics – understanding the meaning of texts (literary works, artworks) and what
they convey about human realities.
• Ethnography and Ethnomethodology – immersing in a community and taking note of their
experiences, beliefs, attitudes and practices.

Quantitative Approach – focuses more on characterizing a population (total number of

individual) or a sample (a sub-group within the population). In some cases, making generalization
about the population based on behavior of sample.
Methods used:
• Survey – collecting information from a sample
• Experiment – creating actual set ups to observe the behavior of people in an experimental
group (a group receiving treatment such as training or new experience) and comparing it to the
behavior of people in a control group (a group without any treatment)

Mixed Methods – combining of qualitative and quantitative methods to derive data from
multiple sources

Ethics in Gender and Sexuality Research

Ethical Principles:
1. Informed Concept - Researchers should make sure that the participants in the study are
aware of the purpose and processes of the study they are participating in. They should ensure that
only those participants who agree (in writing) will be included and that they shall not force any
participant to join.
2. Confidentiality and Anonymity - Researchers should not reveal any information’s
provided by the participants much so, their identity to anyone who are not concerned with the
study. All data gathered from the surveys or interviews should also be placed in a secure location or
filing system.
3. Non-maleficence and Beneficence - a study should do no harm (non-maleficence) to
anyone. Especially in researchers involving humans, a study should be beneficial (beneficence) for it
to be worth implementing.
4. Distributive Justice – any study should not disadvantage a particular group, especially the
marginalized and the oppressed (e.g., poor people, women, LGBTQ+, the elderly). The benefits of the
study should be for all.

Gender, Sexuality and Human Ecology

Human Ecology
- as a field recognizes the interplay among internal and external environments — physical,
socio-economic and cultural (Bronfenbrenner, 1994; Bubolz and Sontag, 1993).
- looks at human sexual lives and experiences at various levels and spheres of analysis
Unit II. Biomedical Perspective in Gender and Sexuality

Lesson 4: Anatomy and Physiology of Reproduction

"THE STRENGTH OF THE TEAM IS EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER

THE STRENGTH OF EACH MEMBER IS THE TEAM"
— PHIL JACKSON

Anatomy - a field in the Biological sciences concerned with Identification and description of the body
structure.
Physiology - is the scientific study of functions and mechanism in living things.
Reproduction - Biological process by which an organism reproduces an offspring who is biologically
similar to the organism.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

- Reproductive physical maturity and the capacity for human reproduction begin during puberty, a
period of rapid growthand changed experienced by both male and female.
- Puberty is not an isolated event, but a process which takes place over several years.
- During puberty, the Hypothalamus gland produces hormones. These hormones stimulate the
gonands to produce Testosterone (Males), and Estrogen and Progesterone (Females)

ANATOMY OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYTEM

THE EXTERNAL GENITALIA OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGAN

The area containing these organs is called the vulva.

1) Mons Pubis

- a rounded mound of fatty tissue that covers the pubic bone. During puberty, it becomes
covered with hair. The mons pubis contains oil-secreting (sebaceous) glands that release substances
that are involved in sexual attraction (pheromones).
 2) Labia Majora (literally, large lips)

- are relatively large, fleshy folds of tissue that enclose and protect the other external genital
organs. They are comparable to the scrotum in males. The labia majora contain sweat and
sebaceous glands, which produce lubricating secretions. During puberty, hair appears on the labia
majora.

3) Labia Minora (literally, small lips)

- very small or up to 2 inches wide.

- The labia minora lie just inside the labia majora and surround the openings to the vagina
and urethra. A rich supply of blood vessels gives the labia minora a pink color. During sexual
stimulation, these blood vessels become engorged with blood, causing the labia minora to swell and
become more sensitive to stimulation

4) Clitoris

- located between the labia minora at their upper end, is a small protrusion that corresponds
to the penis in the male. The clitoris, like the penis, is very sensitive to sexual stimulation.

5) Urethral opening

- the external opening of the transport tube that leads from the bladder to discharge urine
outside the body in a female.

VAGINA

- The vagina is a muscular, hollow tube that extends from the vaginal opening to the uterus. Because
it has muscular walls, the vagina can expand and contract. This ability to become wider or narrower
allows the vagina to accommodate something as slim as a tampon and as wide as a baby. The
vagina's muscular walls are lined with mucous membranes, which keep it protected and moist.

HYMEN

- A very thin piece of skin-like tissue partly covers the opening of the vagina.
CERVIX

- A cylinder-shaped neck of tissue that connects the vagina and uterus.

- Made up of two regions; Ectocervix and Endocervix.
- Cervix facilitates the passageway of sperm into the uterine cavity.
- Protects the uterine cavity and the upper genital tract by preventing bacterial invasion.

DID YOU KNOW?

HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS (HPV)

- Widely known cause of majority of cervical cancers.

EXTERNAL OS OF THE UTERUS

- An opening in the center of the ectocervix, known as the external os, opens to allow passage
between the uterus and vagina.
- Serve as a door/passageway for sperm during ovulation.

VAGINAL FORNIX

- The widest part at the end of the vaginal canal, forming a dome shape around the cervix.

POSTERIOR FORNIX

- It acts like a normal reservoir for semen after intravaginal ejaculation. The semen retained on the
fornix, liquefies in the next 20-30 mins. allowing easier permeation through the cervical canal.
ANTERIOR FORNIX

- "A" spot
- Discovered by Malaysian Physician Chua Chee Ann, M.D., in 1997.

UTERUS

- Is shaped like an upside-down pear, with a thick lining and muscular walls — in fact, the uterus
contains some of the strongest muscles in the female body.

These muscles are able to expand and contract to accommodate a growing fetus and then
help push the baby out during labor. When a woman isn't pregnant, the uterus is only about 3 inches
(7.5 centimeters) long and 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide.

OVARY

- A small oval-shaped gland in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum located on
either side of the uterus.
- Also part of the endocrine system because they produces female sex hormones Estrogen and
Progesterone.
DID YOU KNOW?

- Females (human) have an estimated 450,000 inactive eggs since birth and start being released and
active during puberty

MENARCHE

- Girl first period.

FALLOPIAN TUBE/ OVIDUCT/ UTERINE TUBE

- Pair of long narrow ducts located in the human female abdominal cavity that transport male sperm
cells to the egg, provide a suitable environment for fertilization, and transport the egg from the
ovary, where it is produced to the central channel of the Uterus (Lumen).
- Each Fallopian tube is 10-13 cm (4-5 inches) long and 0.5-1.2 cm ( 0.2-0.6 inch) diameter.

ENDOMETRIUM

- Serves as the "wallpaper" of uterus.

STRATUM BASALIS

- This layer serves as an anchor for the endometrium within the uterus and stays relatively
unchanged.

STRATUM FUNCTIONALIS

- It changes in response to the monthly flux of hormones that guide the menstrual cycle. For this
reason, it's called the stratum functionalis, or functional layer. It's the part of the endometrium
where a blast cyst will implant if conception takes place.

ANATOMY OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGAN

EXTERNAL PARTS OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

PENIS

- The penis is the male sex organ, reaching its full size during puberty. In addition to its sexual
function, the penis acts as a conduit for urine to leave the body.
The penis is made of several parts:

• Glans (head) of the penis: In uncircumcised men, the glans is covered with pink, moist
tissue called mucosa. Covering the glans is the foreskin (prepuce).
• Corpus Cavernosum: Two columns of tissue running along the sides of the penis. Blood fills
this tissue to cause an erection.
• Corpus Spongiosum: A column of sponge-like tissue running along the front of the penis
and ending at the glans penis; it fills with blood during an erection, keeping the urethra -- which runs
through it -- open.
• The urethra runs through the corpus spongiosum, conducting urine out of the body.
TESTICLE

- Two oval-shaped organs in the male reproductive system.

- Responsible for making testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, and for producing sperm.
- Within the testes are coiled masses of tubes called seminiferous tubules. These tubules are
responsible for producing the sperm cells through a process called spermatogenesis.

SCROTUM

- The bag of skin that holds and helps to protect the testicles.
- In addition, the scrotum protects the testicles and major blood vessels, as well as tubes that release
sperm from the testicles into the penis for ejaculation

INTERNAL PARTS OF MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

EPIDIDYMIS

- The epididymis is a long, coiled tube that rests on the backside of each testicle.
- It carries and stores sperm cells that are created in the testes.
- It's also the job of the epididymis to bring the sperm to maturity — the sperm that emerge from
the testes are immature and incapable of fertilization.
VAS DEFERENS
- The vas deferens is a long, muscular tube that travels from the epididymis into the pelvic cavity, to
just behind the bladder. The vas deferens transports mature sperm to the urethra in preparation for
ejaculation.

EJACULATORY DUCTS

- About two centimeters in length

- These ducts are formed by the fusion of the vas deferens and the seminal vesicles. The ejaculatory
ducts empty into the urethra.
- Semen flows through each ejaculatory duct during ejaculation, traveling through the penis to exit
the body.
URETHRA

- The urethra is the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside of your body.
- In males, it has the additional function of expelling (ejaculating) semen when you reach orgasm.
When the penis is erect during sexual intercourse, the flow of urine is blocked from the urethra,
allowing only semen to be ejaculated at orgasm.

SEMINAL VESICLES

- The seminal vesicles are sac-like pouches that attach to the vas deferens near the base of the
bladder.
- The seminal vesicles make a sugar-rich fluid (fructose) that provides sperm with a source of energy
and helps with the sperms’ ability to move (motility), citric acid, prostaglandins, and fibrinogen.
- About 70-85% of the seminal fluid in humans originates from the seminal vesicles.

PROSTRATE GLAND

- The prostate gland is a walnut-sized structure that’s located below the urinary bladder in front of
the rectum.
- The prostate gland contributes additional fluid to the ejaculate.
- Prostate fluids also help to nourish the sperm. The urethra, which carries the ejaculate to be
expelled during orgasm, runs through the center of the prostate gland.
- During ejaculation, the prostate contracts and squirts prostatic fluid into the urethra. Here, it mixes
with sperm cells and fluid from the seminal vesicles to create semen, which the body then expels.
- When the prostate contracts during ejaculation, it closes off the opening between the bladder and
urethra, pushing semen through at speed.
BULBOURETHRAL GLANDS

- The bulbourethral glands, or Cowper’s glands, are pea-sized structures located on the sides of the
urethra, just below the prostate gland.
- These glands produce a clear, slippery fluid that empties directly into the urethra. This fluid serves
to lubricate the urethra and to neutralize any acidity that may be present due to residual drops of
urine in the urethra.
- Bulbourethral Gland secrete an alkaline mucus-like fluid. This fluid neutralizes the acidity of the
urine residue in the urethra, helps to neutralize the acidity of the vagina, and provides some
lubrication for the tip of the penis during intercourse
Lesson 5: The Process of Reproduction

REPRODUCTION

- The process of formation of life from pre-existing life , like our parents.

It is necessary;
 Help in continuation of species
 Makes up the loss due to death of the organism

PATTERNS OF REPRODUCTION
ASEXUAL

- Does not entail the union of sex cell or gametes.

ex.

 Gemmule formation  Binary fission

 Budding  Fragmentation
 Regeneration

SEXUAL

- Process where two parents participate in producing their offspring

PRIMARY SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS

- The reproductive system are the primary sexual characteristics. We already have them
when we are born and there are different for male and female

SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS

- It is a external characteristics which differentiate men from women.

ex.
Girls develop breasts and their hips get wider
Boys get deeper voice

THE FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

OVARIES - Produce the ova uterus.

UTEROS - Is where the baby develops.
FALLOPIAN - Connect the ovaries to the uterus.
VAGINA - Connect the uterus to the outside of the body.
VULVA - Is the external part of the female reproductive cells.
 FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

FERTILIZATION

- Fertilization occurs when an ovum and a sperm join inside the Fallopian tubes and they create cell
called a ZYGOTE. The zygote goes down the fallopian tubes, its is implanted in the wall of the uterus
and it becomes an embryo.

PREGNANCY

Pregnancy lasts about 9 months and ends in a birth.

During the early stages, different structures are created to protect the embryo.
- The placenta takes nutrients and oxygen from the mothers blood to the embryo.
- The umbilical cord connects the embryo to the placenta.
- The amniotic sac protects the embryo.

The baby develops step by step:

- After 3 months: the embryo has all its organs. It becomes a foetus.
- After 5 months: the baby develops and it starts moving and the mother feels it.
- After 9 months: the baby is ready to be born and it weights around 3 kilos
Lesson 6: Sexual Health and Hygiene

According to WHO, reproductive and sexual ill health accounts the global burden of ill-
health.
 For women 20%
 For men 14%

It is closely related to other aspects of health. Love, affection and sexual intimacy, all pay a
role in healthy relationship.

SEXUAL HEALTH

- Sexual health is not just limited to absence of disease or dysfunction during the reproductive years.

- It impacts on sexual practice and action and must be practice free from sexual abuse, or
discrimination and requires integration into the whole life cycle.

SEXUAL HYGIENE

- It’s important to wash the genitals, anal area and hands both before and after sex and in between
anal and vaginal contact.

- It’s not only good hygiene but may also reduce your risk of a urinary tract infection (UTI)

- But washing or douching will not prevent the transmission of STIs.

- Caution: douching has the potential to push infections higher up in the vagina, which can affect
other reproductive organs.

- And always remember to reach for a condom or dental dam after you wash.
Lesson 7: Risky Behaviors of Adolescents

Adolescents
- those people between 10 and 19 years of age.

Alternative Health Behaviors:

Smoking Sexual Intimacy

Drinking Alcohol Violence
Drug Use

Health Risks:

Substance use HIV/AIDS

Premarital Sex Violence
Early Childbearing Accidents
Abortion Malnutrition
Mental Health

Family Arrangement

Trouble Signs among Teens:

 Sexual apromiscuity
 Regular use of drugs and alcohol Repeated violation of the law or school regulations
 Running away more than once in three months
 Skipping school more than once in three months
 Aggressive outbursts/impulsiveness
 Dark drawings or writings
 Deterioration in hygiene
 Oppositional behaviour
 Refusal to work/non-compliance
 Chronic lateness
  Falling asleep in class
 Changes in physical appearance
 Excessive daydreaming

The Harmful Practices and its Effects:

Marijuana
 Is a plant grown and used worldwide
 Usually people use the leaves to smoke
 The leaves and stem can be made into tea, or even cookies.
 After the intake, you can stay under the influence for about two or three hours
 Some people become relaxed and happy
 Some feel panic or fear
 User’s eyes usually become red and their throats and mouths will become dry
 And the appetite may increase

Effects of Marijuana
- Redness of the eyes is due to :
1. Increase in heart rate that leads to dilation of certain blood vessels in the eyes.
- Chronic bronchial irritation is one of the long term effects.
- Impairment of long term memory
- Gum disease
- Increased risk of cancers of the mouth, jaw, tongue and the lung
- Impairment of the immune system

For Male users, long-term marijuana use can cause;

- Decreased in testosterone levels

- Decreased in sperm counts
- Increased in sperm abnormalities

For Female users, specially those who are pregnant long-term marijuana use can cause;

- Impaired fatal growth and development.

Mairungi

 Mostly used in East Africa a stimulated leaf that is being chewed

Effects of Mairungi

- Chewing this substance can help someone feel more awake, confident and energetic.
- Can also reduce hunger
- Sleeplessness
- Anxiety
- Aggressive behaviour
 - Hallucinations
- Some men are unable to get an erection

Alcohol

 Is any fermented liquor, such as wine, beer or distilled spirits that contains ethyl alcohol or
ethanol as an intoxicating agent.
 It’s consumed through drinking.

Effects of Alcohol

- At first alcohol will make you feel relaxed and self-conscious

- Too much consumption of it will lead you to drunkenness or intoxication.
- Slurred speech
- Aggressive behaviour
- Vomiting
- Becoming unconscious
- Lose inhibitions

Cigarettes

 is a narrow cylinder containing burnable material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin

paper for smoking.
 Includes tobacco and cigars

Reasons Why Young People Smoke:

- Influence of friends
- Seductive advertisement
- Older role models
- They think that smoking is cool.

Why Cigarettes are Addictive?

- Because of the substances it contain, specially the Nicotine.

Effects of Cigarettes

- Lung cancer
- Emphysema
- Bronchial disorder
- Inhalation of the smoke can cause cardiovascular diseases and respiratory illnesses.

Cocaine

 Is prepared from coca leaves which are greenish-yellow leaves of different sizes and
appearances
  Often called as “Champagne of drugs”
 Usually comes in a white powdered form
 Crack is a much stronger form of cocaine and unlike the appearance of cocaine, crack looks
like hard white rocks

There are three methods to use cocaine.

1. Snorted up the nose
2. Injected
3. Smoked

Effects of Cocaine
Small amount of cocaine will:
- Rise of body temperture
- Increase in heart beat and breathing rate
- Make you feel over confident
- More alert with extra energy

Excessive Amount may lead to:

- Convulsions
- Seizure
- Strokes
- Cerebral hemorrhage
- Heart failure

Long term effects:

- Strong psychological dependence
- Destroying nose tissues
- Reportorial problems
- Weight loss

Heroin

 A drug obtained from morphine, and comes from the opium poppy plant can slows down
the user’s body and mind
 A powerful analgesic
 It comes in a rock or powdered form
 Can be injected;
 Snorted;
 Inhaled;
 Smoked

Effects of Heroin

- The feeling of well-being

- Relief from pain
- Fast physical and psychological dependence
 - Nausea and vomiting
- Sleepiness
- Loss of balance, concentration and appetite
- Death
- HIV/AIDS

Amphetamines

 Man-made drugs and are relatively easy to make.

 Stimulants that affect a person’s system by speeding up the activity of the brain and giving
energy
 It can be swallowed, snorted, injected or smoked.

Effects of Amphetamines

- Increase in heart beat

- Faster breathing
- Increase blood pressure and body temperature
- Sweating
- Feel more confident and alert
- Gives extra energy
- Reduces appetite
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Might make the abuser talk more
- Feel anxious, irritable, and suffer from panic attack
- Frequent use can produce strong psychological dependence
- Large doses can be lethal

Ecstasy

 A stimulant drug and in the form of tablets

 Is synthetic or man-made just like the amphetamines.
 It speeds up physical and emotional energy
 It comes in different colours and are usually swallowed.

Effects of Ecstasy

- Nausea and vomiting

- Rise in blood pressure and heart rate
- Might result to death due to the overheating of the body
- Dehydration
- Prolonged use can lead to brain and liver damage

Inhalants and Solvents

 Are chemicals that can be inhaled

  Are widely abused by the poorer sections of society, mainly street youth.

Effects of Inhalants and Solvents

- Feeling numb for a short period of time

- Feeling dizzy, confused or drowsy
- Can also cause headaches, nausea, fainting, accelerated heartbeat, disorientation and
hallucinations.
- Long term effects includes; damaged lung, kidneys and liver
- Cause suffocation, convulsion and comas.

Tips to Avoid Drugs:

 You do not need to take drugs to be liked by other people.

 You do not need to take drugs to feel brave and courageous
 You do not need to take drugs to cope with sorrow or disappointments
 You have, inside you, the strength and inner resources to deal with any situation and any
problem
Unit III. Psychosocial Perspective in Gender and Sexuality

Lesson 8: Gender and Sexuality as a Psychosocial issue

Gender and Sexuality

- Gender is a role given to one as a part of a society.

- Sexuality is how one see itself with contrast to gender.

Feminism

Feminism is not a movement, rather an ideology that give women the idea that everyone
must be treated equally. It should never be a movement, a movement will cause a rampant of
opinions which will cause chaos.
Feminism, however, rose to prominence due to social oppression against women.
Underestimating a women’s capability to do things which a man can.

Masculinity

Masculinity is an attribute which a man has.

Non-Binary

Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals has a different goal towards society.
They believe that self expression from them is as important as how true women and men
express themselves.
Yes, we can blame society for restricting these people’s freedom. Thy desire emancipation
from society because of discrimination. However, society is necessary for them to become.

The problem with self-expression

People, however has a vast amount of misconceptions regarding both terms. Feminism is
not only exclusive for women as much as masculinity to men. True, but society is a traditionalist, it
must follow the norms and rules which will make the sane person out of it.
People invest their feelings for one belief that not everyone will acknowledge, this is where
invalidation enters. It is not one’s responsibility to make one special. An individual does not need any
confirmation or validation from anyone, existing alone is a need. Judgment can be ignored.
As a psychosocial issue, gender becomes intriguing. Why is that? Because of the rising
numbers of self-expression. Let me remind you that too much of self-expression is unhealthy.
Remember, not all will give their care, and you needn’t their judgments toward you.

The problem with society

Judgment will come out from one’s mouth to one’s ear. That is true, people should know
their places however, to avoid both sides of judgment.
Mysogyny

Women become entitled because of the rights given to them. Yes, given that now they
deserve their rights that women before haven’t, but that does not give them the privilege to oppress
men and other women for it.

Pride

The pride is an ideology that has now become a movement. It justified the inequality or the
prejudice towards the LGBT, however, much as feminism, they abused the rights that were finally
given to them. Oppressing straight people and acting like they never were liberated before which
becomes unhealthy for society.
Lesson 9: Love, Intimacy, and Relationship

LOVE – a complex phenomenon characterized by an affective and cognitive inclination to someone

and a set of social behavior geared towards cohesion.

INTIMACY– the psychosocial component of love; knowing and being known by someone in a deeply
personal level: emotional closeness and connection.

PASSION – the emotive and physical component of love: drive towards sexual and romantic
attraction.

COMMITMENT – decision to engage and maintain a loving relationship.

RELATIONSHIP – social bond between and among individuals manifested through communication
and other forms of interaction. This bond may be biological or determined by social contracts such
as social consensus or laws.

INTRODUCTION

In February 15, 2015, an article featuring a study by McCann World Group, among 30, 000
respondents from 29 countries, came out of a national news paper, bannering the title “Filipinos
most expressive about love among Asia Pacific countries – study” (Hegina 2015).

Robert Stenberg, a psychologist renowned from his theory of love asked, in his 1986 paper:
“What does it mean “to love” someone? Does it always mean the same thing, and if not, in what
ways do loves differ from each other?”

LOVE AS HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Love is a human experience differently defined and conceptualized.

LOVE AS A CULTURE UNIVERSAL

Love is constructed as a culture universal. Love is an experience that transcends time and
culture. People before us, such as our grandparents, parents, and other adolescents like us who live
in other countries, are believed to know and encounter love as we do. The way we appreciate and
experience this phenomenon may be unique, but it is a similar phenomenon altogether.

LOVE AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON

Social phenomena are events or experiences which ensue within our interaction and
relationship with other people. Loving entails communication. It also entails the use of language –
symbols that are culturally agreed upon as possessing certain meanings and that are used by people
to express certain realities and worldviews.
LOVE AS AN EMOTION

There are basic emotions such as joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger among others. There
are also complex emotions, which are a combination of basic emotions in varying magnitudes and
are made intricate by circumstances surrounding the experience. Love, as we know it, it is a complex
emotion.

LOVE AS A NEUROBIOLOGICAL EVENT

Neurobiologically, the experience of love is associated with various parts of our brain. For
instance, the loving experience is commonly associated with the activation of the ventral tegmental
area (VTA) of our brain which is just right behind our left eyes. It is also associated with the increased
amount of endorphins – hormones believed to provide humans a good mood.

THEORIZING LOVE

Since love is a rather complex idea, which can be described, defined, and experienced in
myriad of ways, several theories and frameworks offer diverse perspectives on how it can be
understood and explained.

PSYCHODYNAMIC VIEW ON LOVE

Psychodynamic theory is a collective term which pertains to the psychoanalytic tradition

forwarded by Sigmund Freud, as well as the succeeding theories that support, refute, or redefine his
propositions.

From a psychodynamic view, love can be seen as a manifestation of our eros and the
placement of our libido unto an object.

COLOR WHEEL OF LOVE

John Alan Lee(1973), a Canadian psychologist, suggested that there are different types of
love.
The primary types: eros (sexual and romantic), philia (friendly), storge (parental/filial love).
The secondary types: pragma (practical love), agape (universal love), and philautia (self love).

It is possible for us to experience not just one, but two or more of these types of love in our
lifetime.

TRIANGULAR MODEL OF LOVE

One of the most popular theories of love is by Sternberg(1986), a psychologist. According to

him, love has three interlocking dimensions – passion, intimacy, and commitment.
PASSION refers to the physical/emotional aspect.
INTIMACY pertains to the psychological/relational aspect.
COMMITMENT the choice we make in maintaining the loving relationship.
TRIANGULAR MODEL OF LOVE

ROMANTIC AND COMPANIONATE LOVE

Hatfield and Rapson(1978,1993), suggested that there are two general types of love:
romantic love and companionate love.

Romantic Love is characterized by intense passion – a state of intense longing for union with your
partner.

Companionate Love, on the other hand, is characterized by intense intimacy – emotional closeness –
which is also a characteristic of liking.

LOVE LANGUAGES

Gary Chapman suggested that people have various ways through which we give and receive
love. He referred these as love languages; namely, words of affirmation, touch, time, gifts, and acts
of service.

LOVE AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP

In the analysis of close human relationships, George Levinger(1982) postulated that there
are FIVE (ABCDE) stages that intimate relationships go through.

Acquaintance
Build-up
Continuation or Consolidation
Deterioration or Decline
Ending or Termination

ACQUAINTANCE

Intimate human relationship starts with acquaintanceship. This is when we first learn about
the basic information of one another. Crucial at this stage is attraction.
BUILD-UP
Some acquaintanceships build up into deeper relationships when frequency of interaction
increases. Activities shared become diverse and the involved parties begin to introduce one another
to each other’s friends and families, thus, making the social network larger and interconnected. This
is the stage where people test their boundaries before fully engaging and committing to a
relationship.

CONTINUATION OR SOLIDATION

The stage when people commits to a long-term relationship with one another, either to a
personal agreement or social-legal agreement.

DETERIORATION OR DECLINE

Some intimate partnerships are unable to sustain and maintain their commitment or
attraction. For one, there may be a change in priorities between the individual couple, such that the
conjoint value of the partnership is not anymore sufficient, there may be infidelity or irreconcilable
differences.

ENDING

For those who are unable to address the causes and circumstances leading to the
deterioration of their relationship, the stages culminate into ending or termination of the
agreements made.
Lesson 10: Sex and Senses

Sensorium

The totality of our sensory experiences and perception.

While we receive information from environment through the senses, our brain has the
ability to organize and interpret these numerous stimuli into meaningful ideas that are yseful for our
choices (behaviour).

Human Affect and the Senses

Human beings are hailed as rational beings who are constantly making choices and are
behaving through a set of rational choices made from higher order thinking.

It is hypothesized that our affect actually play a major role in our behaviours.

Affective Primacy Hypothesis

(Zanjonc, 1980) postulates that in cases, cognitive processing plays a lesser role compared to
our emotional responses in eliciting behaviour. By virtue of this hypothesis, by default, emotions
take precedent primarily because these are only processed and modulated by the limbic system.

Three Primary Emotional Responses

Fight
Flight
Freeze

Visual Experiences

Our societies highly rely on visual culture to co-create meaning and convey information.

Women and men differ in strategies of viewing sexual stimuli.

Olfactory Experiences

Holds more ability to reference memories than anything else.

Smells can be our strong communicator. It can be our safe place or bring us primal space.

Tactile Experiences

Human touch is observed to be an element of intimacy and is essential in social bonds.

Touch is suggested to be one of the love languages.

 A person whose love language is touch, tend to give and receive tactile simulation to and
from others through holding, hugging, and other forms of physical connections.

Lesson 11: Sexual Behaviors

Introduction

BEHAVIOR

Behavior in simpler term, it refers to the action.

Behavior is the things that we do, both overt or observable and covert or not readily visible
by naked eye.

Other Philosophers describe behavior as;

- Motivation
- As response to stimuli
- To avoid pain or achieve pleasure
- To achieve Goal

Sexual Behavior

Are action that humans agree to interpret as an expression of their sexual motivations
or intentions.

Sexual behaviors are generally erotic behaviors.

Sexual behavior refers to a broad spectrum of behaviors in which humans display their
sexuality. These behavioral expressions contains both biological elements and cultural influences
and involves sexual arousal.

TYPES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

Auto-Erotic
-Means producing sexual excitement without involving other person.

Homoerotic
-Sexual behaviors oriented to the same sex

Heteroerotic
- Sexual behaviors oriented to the other sex.

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR FOR REPRODUCTIVE RESPONSES

COPULATION
- Is the sexual behavior that involves the insertion of the penis to the vagina.
In this process humans can assume two position
Ventral-ventral Position
- Male and the female species is facing each other.
Ventral-dorsal Position
- Abdomen of the male is facing the dorsum of the female species.

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR FOR REPRODUCTIVE PURPOSES

NON-COPULATORY
-is the sexual behavior that does not involve insertion of the penis to the vagina.

Example:
- Kissing
- Hugging
- Caressing

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR INVOLVING THE ORAL SIMULATION OF THE GENITALS AND ANAL

FELLATIO
oral stimulation of the penis

CUNNILINGUS
oral stimulation of the vagina

ANAL SEX
stimulation or penetration of the anal orifice

SEXUAL RESPONSE CYCLE

Master and Johnson’s Model & Kaplan’s Model

Proponents of Master and Johnson’s Model

William Master
- William Howell Master
- Born on December 27, 1915 and died on February 16, 2001
- American Gynaecologist

Virginia Johnson
- Mary Virginia Eshelman
- Born on February 11, 1925 and died on July 24, 2013
- American Sexologist

Four Stage Model of Sexual Response

- Excitement Phase
- Plateau Phase
 - Orgasm Phase
- Resolution Phase

Proponent of Kaplan’s Model

Helen Singer Kaplan

- Born on February 6, 1929 and died on August 17, 1995
- Austrian-American Sex Therapist

Kaplan’s Model of Sexual Response Cycle

Desire
- Psychological component of sexual response. Desire includes the sexual thought and
feeling.

Arousal
- Sexual response wherein bodily changes occur.

Orgasm
- Is the completion of the sexual response.

Sexual Response Dysfunction

Sexual Desire Disorder

- When an individual has low levels of desire or has an aversion to sexual activities.

Sexual Arousal Disorder

- When an individual has problem achieving necessary state for copulation.

Orgasmic Disorder
- When an individual has problem in achieving orgasm.

Sexual Pain Disorder

- When there is an experience of pain during the sexual response.
Lesson 12: Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination

Stereotype

- Over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.

- It may be statistically accurate but not universally valid.
- Some stereotypes convey positive examples but most stereotypes are drawn from negative
generalizations.

Four basic kinds of gender stereotypes:

1. Personality traits
2. Domestic behaviours
3. Occupations
4. Physical appearance

Categories

Explicit- a person is aware that they have these thoughts towards a group of people and they can
say it loud.

Implicit- a person does not know if they have these stereotypes since it lies to their subconscious.

Prejudice

- Unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the
individual's membership of a social group.
- Can be dangerous since it can often lead to negative actions and behaviors such as bullying,
discrimination, or violence.

Discrimination

- Refers to actions or behaviors towards an individual or a group of people

- Often results from stereotypes or prejudicial attitudes.

Examples of Discrimination

Genocide - The action of recognizing someone as different so much that they are treated inhumanly
and degraded.
Apartheid - Form of racial discrimination wherein one race is viewed as less than the other.
Gender Discrimination - unequal or disadvantageous treatment of an individual or group of
individuals based on gender.
LGBT Discrimination - when LGBT people are treated lesser that straight people.

Effects on child development

- Academic success
- Career choice
- Attitude towards sharing family responsibilities
- Emotional life and romantic relationships
- Body image
- Identity expression

FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “All human beings
are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” This declaration was drafted by member countries of
the United Nations, including the Philippines, in 1948. This monumental document outlines the
fundamental rights of every human being that should be protected by everyone at all times.

“Appreciating diversity of the human race is key to making a safer and more inclusive environment
for everyone, regardless of race, sex, religion, sexuality, gender, or creed.”
Lesson 13: LGBT+ Psychology

Introduction

Labels are so powerful it can be used to discriminate and oppress people. Like how the
German Nazi's used the word ‘Aryan race’ to mean superior and ‘Jews’ and ‘homosexual’ to justify
their mass murder of what they called as ‘inferior’ race.
However, labels can also empower people to claim their space in our society, especially in
the political sphere. Language can be used to avoid offense or disadvantage to certain groups of
people like using “persons with disabilities” instead of “disabled”, “African American” instead of
“blacks”, and “LGBT” instead of “homosexuals”.

Views on LGBT in History

Sexual and emotional attraction towards the same sex has been recorded throughout history
of mankind. In China 600 BCE, they used the terms ‘pleasures of the bitten peach’ and ‘broke back’.
In Japan, they have ‘shudo’ or ‘nanshoku’. ‘Kathoey’ is used in Thailand to refer to lady boys. In the
Philippines we have the ‘babaylan’ and the 'catalonan' who were mostly women priests, but some
are males who lived their lives as women.
Society's attitude towards homosexuality and other gender variants change through history.
In ancient Greek, all males are expected to take on a younger male lover in a practice called
“pederasty”. Some societies, like the indigenous Native Americans, accepted and celebrated what
they called ‘two-spirited person’ in a dance to the ‘Berdache’.
However, later cultures see it as a “sin” following the Abrahamic Religion which branded it
as sodomy, a crime against nature. As these cultures colonized other countries, it enforced its belief
systems of viewing same sex attractions as a sin through violence such as killing homosexuals
through burning, stoning, or being fed to the dogs.
Homosexuality was classified as an illness in the 19th century as a basis for them to legally
persecute homosexuals, imprison, and commit them to a mental institution. An example of this
percussion is that of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who was prosecuted in 1952 for
homosexual acts. He was sentenced with chemical castration treatment, and he later died through
cyanide poisoning.
As science advanced through years of extensive research, the American Psychological
Association (APA) removed homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder or a sickness in 1973. This
decision was after many years of struggle from the gay and lesbian liberation movement. APA finally
declared that being attracted to people of the same sex is a natural variation of the human
experience, and it does not make anyone any less of a healthy and functioning human being. Now
that society is more accepting towards the LGBT, new terms and labels have been used to cater to
everyone.

The ABC's of the LGBTQIA+

 In an effort towards visibility and inclusion, a few letters were added to the LGBT. The term
"homosexual" sounded too clinical and it no longer adequately represents the diversity within the
LGBT community.

Lesbian - Women who are emotionally and sexually attracted to women.

Gay - Men who are emotionally and sexually attracted to men.
Bisexual - Man or woman who is emotionally and sexually attracted to men or women.
Trans - When your gender identity (how you feel) is different from your physical sex (male/ female).
Queer - Used by people, who celebrate all gender identities, can also mean someone who does not
want to be restricted as Lesbian, Gay, or Bi.
Intersex - People who were born with sex genitals or chromosome patterns that do not fit the typical
male or female body.
Asexual - Asexual are people who do not feel sexual attraction to anyone, but it does not mean that
they do no engage in romantic or sexual relationships.
Allies - are straight or heterosexual people who are fighting for LGBT rights.
Plus+ - the plus sign refers to all sexualities that do not fit in the LGBTQI spectrum.

Knowledge on the human sexuality is still evolving so there many terms that pops up. Here are a few
more to help us become more inclusive:

ANDROGYNOUS

- people whose gender expression (their physical appearance) may or may not be distinctly
male or female.

GENDER

- your internal sense of being masculine or feminine or neither.

GENDER IDENTITY

- how you feel, man, woman, or neither.

GENDER EXPRESSION

- how you express your sense of being male or female or neither, maybe through hairstyle,
clothes, etc.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

- your emotional and sexual attraction to a person.

SEX ASSIGNED AT BIRTH

- your given sex when were born based on your sex organ.

CISGENDER

- when your gender identity matches with the sex you are assigned at birth.
NON-BINARY

- people who do not feel like a boy or a girl; they may feel like they are both or neither, so
sometimes they use the pronouns they, them, and theirs.

Understanding Transgenderism

Society attaches a lot of meanings to our biological sex or physical sex. Parents unknowingly
set up a gender-based pattern of raising their children upon knowing the biological sex of their
babies. Pink for girls and blue for boys is a reflection of our “heteronormative” culture wherein we
expect females to be feminine and males to be masculine.
This limited view on sexuality makes it harder for those who do not fit in the box of
masculinity and femininity, like the lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. However, it makes it so much more
difficult for the transgender people, those who feel like they were born in the wrong body or given
the wrong biological sex.

Who is a transgender?

The APA defines transgender as "an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity,
gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which
they were assigned at birth."
This means that a transgender person does not feel comfortable in their biological sex like a
person who is born male but feels like a female, and a person who is born female may feel like he is
male. This "feeling” or gender identity is not something that changes through time, but is a feeling
that they have since childhood. This creates a problem for a heteronormative society wherein
everyone is expected and forced to fit in the boxes of male masculinity and female femininity.
The word transgender is also used as an umbrella term; this means that there are many
identities under this term. Transsexuals, for example, is often used in the medical field to refer to
people whose gender identity is different from their biological sex and they may want to change
their body, so it resembles how they feel about their gender identity. A biologically male may feel
like she is a woman since she was just a child and in adulthood, she may choose to have a "hormonal
replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery". Medical advancements have helped transgender
people live a full life; however, it can be a long difficult and expensive process.

Other sexualities under the transgender umbrella term include:

FTM - female to male, a person whose biological sex is female and has transitioned to living his life
as a male;

MTF - male to female, a person whose biological sex is male and has transitioned to living her life as
a female;

Cross-dressing - some people want to dress as the opposite gender from time to time, however,
unlike the transsexual; they are comfortable identifying with their biological sex;

Drag kings and queens - these are people who dress as the opposite gender for entertainment
which they do out of passion or for work; and
Gender queer - these are people who feel like their gender does not fit the gender binary view that
is limited to the male or female category because they feel that these are too restrictive.

The Transitioning Process

When a person realizes that he or she may be a transgender, a psychologist can guide the
person through the transition especially when a person wants to go through permanent changes like
sex reassignment surgery. In some countries, transitioning is covered by their medical insurance, and
they get support from their employers and family which is very crucial during transitioning because it
takes years to fully transition.
There are transgender people who cannot have or do not want to have hormonal
replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery because of personal, economic, or cultural
reasons and that is okay. Transitioning to another gender is a very challenging process for many
transgender people because of the social stigma, discrimination, medical cost, accessibility of
medical treatment and support, oppressive laws in each country, and the threat of violence from
prejudiced people.

Most Commonly Used Pronouns

Pronoun Sounds like Variations
He/Him You already know this one! His, Himself
She/Her You already know this one! Hers, Herself
Yes, it’s okay to use this referring to 
They/Them Theirs, themself
a singular person!
Ze (or Zie) Zee (like “see” with a “Z”). Can also be spelled as xe
Some people don’t want to use pronouns at all 
Name Whatever their name is! and will ask you to refer to them by their name 
alone.
Lesson 14: Men and Masculinities

Man

An adult male human being, as distinguished from a women. (modifier) male; masculinea
man child. Archiac a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative mankind;
a person. (sometimes capital) human beings collectivel; mankind the development of man.

Masculinity
Social expectations of being a man: The term ‘Masculinity’ refers to the roles, behaviors and
attributes that are considered appropriate for boys and men in a given society. Masculinity is
constructed and defined socially, historically, and politically, rather than being biologically driven.

MASCULINITIES

A social, cultural and historical construction of men dependent on and related to other
factors such as class, ethnicity, sexuality, and disability.

PATRIARCHY

Traditionally Men had held power in our society--- this system where men have power and
control in society is called patriarchy.
Patriarchy=society ran by men for men
The result of this is that traditionally male qualities and attributes generally been seen to be
superior to female attributes. Consider, for example, the fact that traditionally it was the eldest son
who inherited ---even if he had several older sisters!

Hypermasculinity

Mosher and Sirkin (1984) defined hypermasculinity as “macho personality” as consisting of

three variables

- Callous sexual attitudes toward women

- The belief that violence is manly
- The experience of danger is exciting

Connell: Hegemonic masculinity (1995)

Hegemonic masculinity is a concept of proposed practices that promote the dominant social
position of men, and the subordinate social position of women.

It explains how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women, and other gender
identities, which are perceived as “feminine” in a given society.
Connell: Hierarchy of Masculinities
o Hegemonic Masculinity
o Complicit masculinity
o Marginalized Masculinity
o Subordinate Masculinity

Connell: Hierarchy of masculinities

Hegemonic masculinity is the dominant form of masculinity that is expected in our society.
While it may not be the most prevalent kind of masculinity, it is culturally valued the most. Qualities
include heterosexual, whiteness, physical strength and suppression of emotions such as sadness.

Complicit masculinity: Where a man may not fit into all the characteristics of hegemonic
masculinity but do not challenge it either. Since they are not challenging the systems of gender that
are present in our societies, they do some benefits from being male.

Marginalized masculinity: Where a man does not have access to hegemonic masculinity
because of certain characteristics he has such as his race.. However, these men subscribed to norms
that are emphasized in hegemonic masculinity including aggression, suppressing emotions such as
sadness and physical strength. Men of colour and disable men are examples of men that
experienced marginalized masculinity.
Subordinate masculinity: Where men exhibit qualities that are opposite to those that are
valued in hegemonic masculinity such as physical weakness and exhibition of emotions such as
sadness. Effeminate and gay men are examples of men who exhibit a subordinate masculinity
identity.

Earp & Guise (1999)

Tough Guise systematically examines the relationship between pop-cultural imagery and the
social construction of masculine identities.

Two of the most traditional roles women were presented in under patriarchy were happy
housewife and sex object/Glamorous ideal. Can you think how this stereotype suited patriarchy?

NEW MAN

A term that was originally introduced in the 1980s to described a new era of masculinity.
These men rejected sexist attitudes; they where in touch of their feminine side and caring, and could
sometimes be seen in domestic role. The concept disappeared for a while during the 90s but has
since begun to emerge and even evolved.

The Metrosexual
 The term (coined by Mark Simpson in 1994) is a combination of ‘Metropolitan’ and ‘sexual’.
A metrosexual male especially meticulous about his grooming and appearance, typically spending a
significant amount of time and money on shopping as part of this.

Simpson believes that the metrosexual is evolving…

“Glossy magazines cultivated early metrosexuality. Celebrity culture then sent it into orbit.
But for today’s generation, social media, selfies and porn are the major vectors of the male desire to
be desired. They want to be wanted for their bodies, not their wardrobe. And certainly not their
minds.
With pumped and chiseled bodies, muscle-enhancing tattoos, piercings, adorable beards and
plunging necklines it’s eye catching clear that second generation metrosexuality is less about clothes
that it was for the first. Eagerly self-objectifying, second generation metrosexuality is totally tarty.
Their own bodies have become the ultimate accessories, fashioning them at the gym into hot
commodity—one that they share and compare in an online marketplace”.

The Spornosexual

In 2014, Simpson created a new label the spornosexual to the second generation
metrosexuals. Defined as: a social media and selfie obsessed male who takes cues from sport and
porn.

Effeminacy
Effeminacy is the manifestation of traits in a boy or man that are more often associated with
feminine behavior, mannerism, style, or gender roles rather than with traditionally masculine
behavior, mannerisms, style or roles.
Martirez, Jhemar B.