Essay on Sexuality As Process

Sexuality As Process Term Papers

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The aim of this essay, is to try and establish if sexuality, is an innate

biological process that takes place as a result of our genetic make-up or wether

sexuality is a result of our cultural back ground and the environment in which

we are raised. These two differing theories are known as the nature/nurture

debate, nature representing the biological theory for our sexuality and nurture

representing environmental influences for our behaviour. The first part of the

essay, will focus on the biological side of our sexuality and will put forward

theories by Barnard, Hamer and Young, who will argue the point, that our

sexuality is established at the foetal stage of our development. It is at this

early stage of life, that genes carry specific information about who we are. A

gene is a unit of hereditary that our sexuality is established through and the

genes determine the biological characteristics of an individual, both physically

and mentally. The essay will then give further evidence that our sexuality is

biologically driven, by describing the changes our bodies undergo when we reach

puberty, changes that are triggered by hormonal transitions. Hormones are

chemical messengers, they send massages from glands around the body, which

triggers a response in other parts of our anatomy. The essay will give evidence

that, hormones are a biological indicator that we are biologically driven

towards our sexuality. The second part of the essay will argue that, sexuality

is greatly influenced by environmental factors, environmental factors such as

rearing styles and differing cultural practises. It will look at different

societies and the way in which they perceive sexuality and argue that sexuality

is learned through a combination of expected social norms and observational

learning, giving evidence from Bandura, Mead and Money along the way. Finally

the essay will look at the evidence that has been put forward and sum up what

has been debated, it will then draw a conclusion. From the point of conception,

human beings are made up of 46 chromosomes, 23 male and 23 female. After

insemination, paternal and maternal chromosomes fuse, this fusion determines the

sex of the child. The amalgamation of two X chromosomes creates a female child,

while the combination of X and Y chromosomes, leads to the development of a male

offspring. Each chromosome contains thousands genes and each gene contains

specific information about how part of the body will be formed. Genes are

responsible for almost every aspect of the human body, from hair colour to the

development of our organs, organs like the brain and it is within the brain were

the biggest changes take place when our bodies under go their sexual

metamorphous, during sexual maturation. When we reach sexual maturity, we have

our first insight into our sexuality, an insight which is genetically programmed

into our consciousness through our DNA, this theory is supported by the work of

hamer et al ( 1993) who conducted a study of male sexual orientation. "Hamer

examined 40 pairs of gay brothers. He examined 22 genetic markers distributed

across the X chromosome in order to see if brothers concordant for

homosexuality, were also concordant for the markers. He found that the

chromosomal region of xq28, at the tip of the long arm of the X chromosome, 33

of the 40 pairs of brothers shared all the markers. This was statistically

different from the expected rate (20 out of 40) suggesting that the gene

influencing male sexual orientation, lies within that chromosomal region"

In this study, Hamer along with many other fellow geneticists, is claiming that

he has found the gene which dictates our sexual orientation, therefore genes are

a precursor to our sexuality and our sexuality is decided at an anatomical level

in the womb. Whilst in the womb, it seems that our sexuality is being pre

programmed by our genes but there are other biological developments taking

place, namely the formation of our hormones, hormones which will lie dormant

until the onset of puberty. "The hypothalamus an important co-ordinating

centre in the brain, signals the onset of puberty. The hypothalamus stimulates a

gland just below it, the pituitary, to secrete hormones (chemical messengers

carried in the blood). These are carried to other hormonal secreting glands. In

their turn these release other hormones which regulate physical growth and

development" (DR Christian Barnard. 1981) The two main hormones released at

sexual maturity are testosterone for males and oestrogen for females. When

Testosterone is distributed throughout the sexually maturing male, his testes

will enlarge and begin producing sperm. His body will begin to grow pubic hair,

his voice will deepen, his muscles will become larger and he will show more

aggression when trying to assert his masculinity. By comparison, the manufacture

of oestrogen within the adolescent female will promote quite different

developments throughout her body. She will develop breasts, her hips will grow

and widen, she will grow pubic hair and most importantly she will start her

menstrual cycle, meaning, like the sexually maturing male, she will have

attained full reproductive capacity. So therefore, it seems that it is

testosterone what gives man his masculinity and it is oestrogen that helps

establish womens femininity. This theory is given support by an experiment

carried out by W.C.Young. Young carried out an experiment on a pregnant monkey,

that was carrying a female foetus, she gave the primate large daily doses of the

male hormone testosterone to try and ascertain if the hormone would have any

effect on the monkey's sexuality. When it was born, the female monkey behaved in

a much more assertive and aggressive manner, than other females of her kind, her

behaviour was noted to be more like that of a male monkey. She participated in

all the boisterous activity with the male members of her species and challenged

them in fights, which helped establish her social status amongst the male

monkeys. Other experiments have shown that monkeys injected with testosterone

between birth and puberty, developed similar assertive, typically male...

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