Term paper on Gender And Sexuality

Gender And Sexuality Essays

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (gender and sexuality)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

SBS 201

Gender and Sexuality in Arab and Western Society

Ramzi M. Bibi

2000-07173

8 December 2000

Gender & sexuality is an important issue that differs from one country to another, two regions that are very distinct and general are the Arab world and the Western World. Both these regions are heavily populated and both these areas have totally different views concerning gender & sexuality. The Western view towards sexuality is normally considered a more liberal approach, where as the Arab world’s view in most of its related states is a conservative approach that is often implemented by force. The Arab & Western cultures are extremely diverse in their methods and their religious beliefs. Therefore sexuality is viewed differently in both regions and that’s why these two regions should be discussed and compared in a sociological study. Sex that refers to the biological differences between men & women is different than gender, which is the psychological difference between males & females therefore referring to the extremes of Arab & Western society.

Sexual relations in Middle Eastern societies have historically articulated dominant and subordinate social positions, adult men on the higher social status, women, boys, and slaves on lower social positions. The distinction made by modern western sexuality between sexual and gender identity, between kinds of sexual degrees of masculinity and family, have until now had little affect on the Middle East. The Middle East as a whole doesn’t recognize the complex realities of multiple and changing positions of sexuality and identity.

A recent study of family politics in Cairo says that sound taboos and the silent neglection to sexual behavior show some space for discussion. People keep incidents of homosexuality and premarital sex or adultery hidden away from society in order to protect their social backgrounds and to sustain their so-called family values in addition they indulge in episodes of sexual violence such as honor crimes and “gay bashing”. These crimes and perspectives don’t exist in westernized society where a person almost has their free will to practice their sexuality according to his own personal preference without being abused, but generally all sexual outcasts in the world are criticized negatively to some extent.

Islamic societies have tolerated prostitution and consider it regulated, as do their Christian counterparts, and have recently been more tolerant to same sex sexual practices. The Western view towards sexual behavior has been Christian, which has been prevalent for nearly 2000 years. The Christian church look to sex as a need for reproduction and everything else is suspect. In the 19th Century, religious assumptions about sex became medieval ones as the people presumed that sex unconnected to reproduction could be harmful. As time moved on so did the western world and its communications to medical studies which evolved into the most liberal and open-minded view towards sex and homosexuality alike. The western expressions of their sexuality through entertainment (pornographic movies, plays and sexual expression) show their tolerant attitude within the past 30 years.

Islam is the general Arab religion which recognizes both men and women as both having sexual drives and rights to sexual fulfillment and heterosexual relations within marriage. All other sexual behavior is considered unacceptable. Like the Greeks and Romans before them the Arabs have ‘a general importance of male dominance the centrality of penetration to conception of sex and the radical disjunction of active and passive roles in male homosexuality’. Everett Rowson has found this sexual viewpoint ‘broadly representative of Middle Eastern societies from the 9th Century to the present’. This is not necessarily saying that the Arab Muslim world have not witnessed an unchanging historical experience but more to show the continuity of these ideas.

Whether the 7th Century message of the Qur’an undermined or improved the position of women is debatable. It is more logical to agree that in past centuries Muslim males adopted the cultural practices of Byzantines and Sasanians, it gives out a message that the seclusion of women to reserve public and political life for men. This distinguishes the two sexes as opposites: Men as rational and capable, women as emotional and lacking, specifically of their sexual drives. Female sexuality when uncontrolled could result in a social problem (Fitna) and therefore reward males control of women’s bodies.

Rowson explains relation between gender roles and sexual roles in medieval societies by locating them in public and private areas. Adult men dominated their women and slaves in private contrast to the larger public. Men who publicly act as women gave up their right to male dominance. ‘They lost their respectability as men but could be tolerated and even valued as entertainers (poets, musicians dancers and singers)’. A modern and Lebanese example is ‘Mosbah’, who is a frequent dancer at ‘Amori Libertad, he is very well valued as an entertainer and has been for the past couple of years. In the Western world we can see a huge number of homosexual creativity within a certain city spectrum. New types of explicit sexuality seem to always blossom from Western countries. Sydney, Australia, which was the gay capital of the world, experienced serious competition from a vast group of homosexuals in San Francisco, therefore here we find the new gay capital of the world, with the emergence of gimps, which are often homosexual sex slaves with no purpose. San Francisco is now the proud innovator of the most recent creative homosexual expressions.

Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. With all the gender stereotypes and biases, it is no wonder how sex segregation exists. During childhood, children are exposed to many factors, which influence their attitudes and behaviors regarding gender roles. These attitudes are learned in the home, in the school, and even in the playground where children play among their peers. From the time they are born, children have already been assigned a gender. Blue blankets...

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 12 Feb, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/68801/gender-and-sexuality>

More College Papers

Gender Differences
A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents and says three simple words: “Its a boy,” or “Its a girl!” Before a newborn child even takes his or her first breath of life outside the mother’s womb, he or she is distinguishable and characterized by gender. The baby is brought home and

Social Movements
The definition of social movements cannot easily be summarized into one concise sentence. A social movement is an attempt to intentionally intervene in the process of social change. A social movement is a creation of modern society. A social movement is a collection of people engaging in practices a

Effects Of Parent Smoking Habits On Thier Childs Smoking Habits
Effects of Parent Smoking Habits on their ChildÂ’s smoking habits Abstract Parents have an influence on whether or not their children will develop smoking habits. The findings of this study show this to be true. Further research should be conducted to find out whether or not how many children the