Gender, Sexuality, and Sex Reflection

This unit we explored the idea of gender, sexuality, sex. The first thing we did was learn what each of these words meant which surprising for me because I learned that I’ve had misconceptions about what each of those terms means. I had always thought that they were quite similar in definition but now I know that each word means something different. Sex is biological, gender is who you think you are, and Sexuality is who you’re attracted to.

Another idea that stood out to me was the impact that certain words have on people and how unaware the people wh use those words are. Words such as “Gay” have been taken and turned into derogatory terms when they should be terms that the people they describe are proud of. It’s become so synonymous with other derogatory terms that when people who are gay hear it, they automatically think of it as an insult or negative expression. This has also happened with the term “like a girl”. We watched a video where they asked women to “run like a girl”. They immediately ran in a way that mocked themselves. Their own ideas of what “like a girl” mean have been shaped by the people around them. One part that stood out to me was that when they asked younger girls the same thing, they ran like themselves. This made me realize that while it may be hard to change the mindset of the current generation it would be a lot easier to create an atmosphere of acceptance for the next generation. But even this would be difficult as we can’t ensure that every child grows up in an ideal environment.

In conclusion, while it would be tough to change minds about Gender, sexuality, and sex, it is also necessary. It’s the currents generation’s job to advocate for the rights of everyone because only once the current generations have become aware of the discrimination that takes place every day, can we begin to educate future educations.