GENDER AND

HUMAN
As you become teenagers,
what are the changes that
you have noticed in your
body?
How did you manage
those changes?
Any person who passes
your age has the same
experience as yours.
 Adolescence is a period when a person
undergoes a lot of changes. Primarily, teenagers
experience physical changes that are very
observable.
Some physiological changes may also be
observed such as the onset of menstruation for
the females and the development of hoarse or
bold voice for the males.
• This period might bring about many issues
that teenagers might be curious about.
• Their reactions or attitudes toward these
issues might have a great influence on their
lives. One of these issues is sexuality.
• Decisions that teenagers make regarding
sexuality or their sexual activity may bring
about high impact on their future.
• Proper information about sexuality may affect
one’s self esteem and may result to having
healthy and wholesome family and social
relationships.
What is Human Sexuality?
 Human sexuality may be defined as the
measure of maleness and femaleness in one’s
individuality and physical makeup.
The way you behave, how you express
yourself, and how you react and interact with all
the things around you including your own body
are determined and affected by your sexuality.
 ‘Sex’, ‘sexuality’ and ‘gender’ are words
that we use to think about our identity.
However, the terms are not as simple as you
might think. There are billions of us on the
planet, each with our own unique identity, so
these three terms need to have pretty flexible
meanings to account for all of us!
Sexuality
• It is something that is biological and natural.
Right from the moment an individual is
formed during fertilization (the union of an
egg cell and a sperm cell), to the time of birth,
and as he or she grows up, sexuality is a major
part of his or her personality.
• It is the total expression of oneself as a human
being – who you are, what you say, feel or do,
how you think, react and interact with others –
are all part of sexuality.
• Your likes and dislikes also make up your
sexuality.
Sex
• It refers to the biological characteristics of
being a boy or a girl as evidenced by the
external and internal reproductive parts.
• It is determined right away at the time of
fertilization as the chromosomes inherited
from the mother and father combine.
• Genetically, a male or a boy has X and Y
chromosomes while a female or a girl has two
X chromosomes. Thus, a male may be
symbolized as XY, and a female, XX.
• Sex also refers to the body functions or
physiological characteristics of a person
associated with his/her reproductive system.
• Your sexuality is about who you’re attracted to
sexually and romantically.
• People who are attracted to others of a different
sex are known as ‘heterosexual’ or ‘straight’.
• People who are attracted to others of the same sex
are known as ‘homosexual’, ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’.
Gender
• It refers to the behavior and attitudes that are
expected to be shown based on a person’s
sex.
• It also refers to the roles and activities that
are exhibited by a person as a male or female
as deemed appropriate or proper by the
society.
• It is about your sense of who you are as a guy, girl or
something else, as opposed to what your physical
characteristics, genes and hormones indicate.
• We usually expect males to feel like guys, and
females to feel like girls. But sometimes a male will
feel like a girl, and vice versa.
• Some people identify as both male and female, and
others don’t identify as either – and that’s okay, too.
 A person’s gender maybe classified as
masculine or feminine.
Femininity may be shown in attitudes and
gestures while masculinity may be shown in
attire or get-up.
• Society often expects people to look and behave
a certain way, depending on their biological sex.
• Men are usually expected to act and look
‘masculine’, and women, ‘feminine’. However,
we all express masculinity and femininity in
different ways, and we all relate to elements of
masculinity or femininity differently.
Why is sexuality an important
component of your personality?
It determines or defines
who you are.
It allows you to easily list
down your choices.
It affects what you want to
be in the future.
 It is a big factor that
influences you in making
your decisions in life.
Prepared by:

Danilo L. Pagaduan Jr., LPT

MAPEH Teacher
Notre Dame of Midsayap College-IBED