The author of this paper examines the journal article by Yvette Flores that encompasses significant cultural and gender aspects of Latina sexuality as related to and experienced during midlife. Specific topics discussed in the assigned reading about biological aspects of young and middle adulthood include physical changes in middle adulthood and physical functioning, and sexual functioning in middle age. Additionally, the journal article by Yvette Flores adds a cultural aspect to the discussion by specifically addressing the Latina community. Just as important to social work professionals in understanding their clients, is the adage of cultural competency. This author seeks to critique the journal article based on strengths and weaknesses, relate the article to the assigned chapter of the text, reveal unanswered questions, and identify implications for social work practice.…
In America, it is common practice for parents to attempt to educate their teenage children on the practice of sex. This is a generally awkward experience that most kids end up repressing to the far recesses of their mind. However, this is not an idea that most immigrant children are exposed to. Instead, because it is seen as more socially acceptable, they are made to embrace celibacy and abstinence. In her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents”, Julie Alvarez narrates the difficulties faced by the Garcia girls growing up bicultural in the United States.…
Cultural construction of sexuality can be defined as the view that perceptions and attitudes towards sexuality varies due to the diversification in values and practices amongst various cultures. In this essay, I will argue that sexuality is culturally constructed and explore the different ways in which it is perceived and understood, as well as analysing the reasons for these differences. Firstly, I will look at sexually restrictive cultures and discuss how religion and ethos cause some cultures to have strict morals and beliefs regarding sexuality. Secondly, I will go on to look at sexually permissive cultures and explore how some cultures have greater freedom and openness towards sexuality, exploring the alternative connotations of sexual…
Gender rules are a set of societal norms dictating which behaviors are ideal based on one’s perceived or actual sex. Latin American countries have patriarchal roots, which refers to the control of female and younger male family members by select adult men. Ergo, traditional gender roles dictate that women are relegated to the private sphere where they are expected to be nurturing and morally superior to men, and they are assigned duties associated with the family, particularly the rearing and education of children (Zimmerman 2013:4). In contrast, the men have control over the public sphere, and are responsible for delegating matters outside of the household and providing financial stability for the family. Despite these traditional roles, society…
In Allison and Risman’s article A double standard for ‘hooking up’: How far have we come toward gender equality? presented a central issue concerning some aspect of human sexuality and inequality. The central issue is whether there is a double standard for hooking up between men and women. The authors started by looking into whether the sexual double standard in attitudes toward casual sex behaviors exist. If it did exist, then they would find out if it's gender-specific and then they would research the factors of sexual attitudes for both male and female students.…
Holden affiliates with two other men who display homosexual tendencies or are described as displaying them, Carl Luce and Mr. Antolini. Salinger purposefully connects the three males through their attraction to older women, which is possibly a means for the men and boy to conceal their true sexual desires. Carl Luce is dating a Chinese woman who is "in her late thirties" (Salinger, 145) while Antolini is married to a woman who was "about sixty years older" (Salinger, 181) than him. Holden himself is attracted to Mrs. Morrow, as seen through his personal observations of the woman. He said, "she was very good looking" (Salinger, 54) and "had quite a lot of sex appeal" (Salinger, 56).…
Over the course of weeks in Gender and Sexuality in Hispanic Studies, I have come to understand what gender and sexuality define. To people in Hispanic world, it may define differently because of their beliefs and attitudes. Based on my understanding of gender’s meaning, the term means characteristics and behaviors associated with a woman or man. The term denotes the behaviors and characteristics came from how society believe how a woman or man should behave in the society. The psychologist, Rhoda Unger suggested this explanation when she wanted to categorize both gender and sex (Brannon, 2011).…
Gender roles and masculinity are social themes that are frequently discussed in our society and apply uniquely to Latin@ culture. ‘Macho’ is simply the Spanish translation of ‘male,’ but it has taken on connotations that relate to having masculine qualities. In the context of Latin America, ‘machismo’ is a term that relates to male sexuality; it is “a concept that dictates many aspects of Latin American male behavior,” (Kobashigawa). Such qualities are performative in that men and women are expected to act according to social norms. Masculinity itself is not a negative quality to have; however, certain Latino men exhibit ‘hypermasculinity,’ which is “an exaggerated sense of masculinity stressing such attributes as courage, virility, and domination,”…
Newcomb et al. (1998) found that older Latinas were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior compared to those of younger age. It has also been found that Latinas that are married are more likely to exhibit sexual risky behavior (Newcomb et al., 1998). Relatedly, Latinas living with their partner and and/or children had higher levels of unprotected vaginal sex (Dixon, Antoni, Peters & Saul, 2001).…
Therefore, the introduction of new sexualities and types of relationships can create strains on the social norms in place. In…
I found the author’s argument about a man who penetrates another one is not considered to be gay in Latin America overly general because the article takes focus only on one country of that region. Even though this might happen in Brazil, we have to consider that many other nations should be considered when addressing this topic because the author only presents its arguments based on evidence drawn from his fieldwork in Brazil. I believe that this does not happen in every country of this region due to the Latin American culture is still very “macho”, and in some places, homosexuality is still something that people do not like to discuss. Being from a Latin American country, I consider that the culture where I come from sees those men who have sex with…
The women responded to the recruitment materials and were randomly selected based on certain criteria. All women had to have been raised in a Spanish-speaking homes and lived in the United States for a minimum of 8 years. Twenty-two women fell into that category and were included in the analysis. The interview consisted of open-ended and structured questions. All of the questions were either related to sexual socialization in the origin of the families, romantic and sexual experiences, or sexuality-related beliefs.…
I just fins it really interesting that variety is all the rage now in our culture when it comes to things like body size, clothing, freedom of religion or sexuality, but when it comes to gender it is an issue. Everyting else we as humans experince is on a spectrum, but when it comes to gender you can only fit into onebox or another. Some people may argue that it is because God only made a man and a woman an dno inbetween, but if that is your arguement, when an intersex person is born, are you saying that its God's mistake then- that is, if God is responsible for all of creation. The fact that there are poeple out there who believe that an intersex person cannot live functionally in our world puzzles me; so do these same people also believe that there can be no medium height people eotehr? Does everyone…
From a very young age we are taught the “sexual scripts” (pg. 313) that we are expected to follow and this largely dictates how we feel we should conduct our intimate relationships. Sexual scripts in many societies are largely “heteropatriarcical” meaning they are based on a system of heterosexual male dominance (pg. 354). Tight control over what is sexually acceptable can be harmful for the development of healthy intimate relationships especially for those who do not fall within the traditional heterosexual gender binary. A young American female receives mixed messages about her sexuality every day. In her article The Cult of Virginity author Jessica Valenti says that, “present-day American society- whether through pop culture, religion, or institutions –conflates sexuality and morality constantly” (pg. 336).…
The development of sexuality is attributed to many causes and will be thusly discussed in this paper. Sociocultural Expectations…