Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Updated Definition of Sexuality

Sexuality is both an ongoing discussion (societal discourse) about sex and a tool used to produce a result. We have defined a sex act as any action by one or more individuals, acting alone or together, leading toward a specific type of arousal. Sexuality encompasses both personal desire and personal perception of others’ desire. That is, sexuality is more than the sexual act; it includes perceptions of the sexual act. We disagree on whether the human sex drive is biological, but agree that the sex drive is influenced by society’s presentation of sex and sexuality. Whom or what one is attracted to may or may not be a choice, but the expression or repression of sexuality is a choice within certain confines; in the same vein, the outward manifestation of sexuality (Madonna’s music videos, wearing particular clothing, etc) are personal choices that are influenced by society’s presentation of sex and sexuality. While sexuality is everywhere in modern society, and permeates many aspects of our lives, it is also a taboo subject; sexuality is both expressed and repressed. Society places expressions of sexuality and sexual acts into a spectrum ranging from good sex to bad sex; however, since this spectrum is a social construction, it is open to being altered. As a tool used to describe perceptions of sexuality, language becomes a vehicle of empowerment or disempowerment, depending on where the expression of sexuality falls on the good/bad spectrum. How we understand a particular manifestation of sexuality affects the person at whom our opinions are aimed.

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