Let's Talk About Sex!

It's very interesting to explore the topic of sex and sexuality as a subject matter in the classroom. The #MeToo campaign opens up a conversation about sexual assault and sex in general that is open left out of conversations something due to ignorance, and other times due to willful ignorance. NBC did a segment called "Meet the Press" and asked all 21 female senators of the US Senate if they had #MeToo stories and if they were willing to share them; four senators shared their stories, one of them being Senator Elizabeth Warren. She describes a time where she was almost sexually assaulted by a senior faculty member and remembers asking herself ,"What did I do to bring this upon myself" immediately after managing to escaping the situation. This culture of victim shaming is internalized by many people and it's important to recognize. Oftentimes after we are made aware that someone has been sexually assaulted, the public is encouraged to "be more careful" rather than given information on what consent really is. Though these messages are ultimately trying to promote safety, this rhetoric implies that victims are more in control of avoiding a situation than criminals are not sexually assaulting and harassing people. To many people this phrasing may seem trivial, but it raises many questions that allow us to gain a deeper understanding of sexuality and the concept of victim shaming.

We can also examine terminology when we talk about just he biology of sex, which being a pre-medical student is very interesting to me. When speaking of male and female genitalia the words penis and vagina come to mind. The penis is a sexual structure that not only is used for procreation, but also for pleasure. So then why do we use the word “vagina” to describe a woman’s entire genital area so often? Why don’t we use the anatomically correct term “vulva” instead? The vagina is simply the muscular canal that connects the uterus to the vulva. The vulva includes the vagina, mons-pubis, inner and outer labia, urethra, and the clitoris. When using thie terminology we are esentially neglecting that women can have a pleasureful sexual experience without a male organ involved. Additionally we often say that girls "lose" their virginity versus guys "taking" a girls virginity. Losing something implies that a girl is now missing something that she wants to get back, whereas a guy is just obtaining another item. This is the reason that taking a closer look at terminology and the way we phrase things can really open up discussions on how we may be oppressing a group without even realizing it. 

Comments

  1. Abbey CurranOctober 24, 2017 at 4:45 PM

    Sexual assault/harassment has been a problem forever. In a society where patriarchy makes many men feel as though they can take what they want whenever they want, these horrible actions have deep roots in our history. While sexual assault and harassment isn’t limited to males toward females, it is more common for women to be taken advantage of by men rather than the other way around. However, it hasn’t been until fairly recently that there has been more of a move toward raising awareness and reducing the stigma against those who have been sexually assaulted, and while it has been, what, ten years since the #MeToo campaign officially began, many people claim we’re still trying to figure out exactly how to talk about sexual assault in an “appropriate” way. In reality, I think you’re right. If people were just educated on sexual assault, sexual harassment, and consent, that’s how we can begin to make changes. None of this “be more careful” business, because in reality, it can happen to even the most careful of people. It’s important to start breaking down the years and years of history that create these stereotypes of the macho man who takes what he wants when he wants, and the passive female who either lets it happen or brings it upon herself (because of provocative clothing or whatever else).

    Honestly, sex ed is something that is such a hot button issue for me, same with the way we talk about sex. I could go on and on about it, but yeah….virginity…. it’s a social construct. The lack of decent sex ed is unreal to me. Going to religiously affiliated schools my entire life, I honestly learned about sex from the internet, because the only thing we were taught about sex was not to do it, not what it was or why humans are naturally inclined to do it. I think as human beings, it’s really good to know what goes on in our bodies and know about all our organs (sexual and otherwise) and their functions just so we can better understand ourselves as people.

    Anyway, I agree with all that you said, and there’s my little tangent to add to it. :)

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