Sexuality Essay Example For Students

Sexuality Essay As ProcessThe aim of this essay, is to try and establish if sexuality, is an innatebiological process that takes place as a result of our genetic make-up or wethersexuality is a result of our cultural back ground and the environment in whichwe are raised. These two differing theories are known as the nature/nurturedebate, nature representing the biological theory for our sexuality and nurturerepresenting environmental influences for our behaviour. The first part of theessay, will focus on the biological side of our sexuality and will put forwardtheories by Barnard, Hamer and Young, who will argue the point, that oursexuality is established at the foetal stage of our development. It is at thisearly stage of life, that genes carry specific information about who we are. Agene is a unit of hereditary that our sexuality is established through and thegenes determine the biological characteristics of an individual, both physicallyand mentally. The essay will then give further evidence that our sexuality isbiologically driven, by describing the changes our bodies undergo when we reachpuberty, changes that are triggered by hormonal transitions. Hormones arechemical messengers, they send massages from glands around the body, whichtriggers a response in other parts of our anatomy. The essay will give evidencethat, hormones are a biological indicator that we are biologically driventowards our sexuality. The second part of the essay will argue that, sexualityis greatly influenced by environmental factors, environmental factors such asrearing styles and differing cultural practises. It will look at differentsocieties and the way in which they perceive sexuality and argue that sexualityis learned through a combination of expected social norms and observationallearning, giving evidence from Bandura, Mead and Money along the way. Finallythe essay will look at the evidence that has been put forward and sum up whathas 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. Afterinsemination, paternal and maternal chromosomes fuse, this fusion determines thesex 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 maleoffspring. Each chromosome contains thousands genes and each gene containsspecific information about how part of the body will be formed. Genes areresponsible for almost every aspect of the human body, from hair colour to thedevelopment of our organs, organs like the brain and it is within the brain werethe biggest changes take place when our bodies under go their sexualmetamorphous, during sexual maturation. When we reach sexual maturity, we haveour first insight into our sexuality, an insight which is genetically programmedinto our consciousness through our DNA, this theory is supported by the work ofhamer et al ( 1993) who conducted a study of male sexual orientation. Hamerexamined 40 pairs of gay brothers. He examined 22 genetic markers distributedacross the X chromosome in order to see if brothers concordant forhomosexuality, were also concordant for the markers. He found that thechromosomal region of xq28, at the tip of the long arm of the X chromosome, 33of the 40 pairs of brothers shared all the markers. This was statisticallydifferent from the expected rate (20 out of 40) suggesting that the geneinfluencing male sexual orientation, lies within that chromosomal regionIn this study, Hamer along with many other fellow geneticists, is claiming thathe has found the gene which dictates our sexual orientation, therefore genes area precursor to our sexuality and our sexuality is decided at an anatomical levelin the womb. Whilst in the womb, it seems that our sexuality is being preprogrammed by our genes but there are other biological developments takingplace, namely the formation of our hormones, hormones which will lie dormantuntil the onset of puberty. The hypothalamus an important co-ordinatingcentre in the brain, signals the onset of puberty. .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .postImageUrl , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:hover , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:visited , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:active { border:0!important; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:active , .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247 .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uca84592be2d1de96cc6db75ed577e247:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Urban Design Through the Work of Donovan Hill's Architect Essay The hypothalamus stimulates agland just below it, the pituitary, to secrete hormones (chemical messengerscarried in the blood). These are carried to other hormonal secreting glands. Intheir turn these release other hormones which regulate physical growth anddevelopment (DR Christian Barnard. 1981) The two main hormones released atsexual maturity are testosterone for males and oestrogen for females. WhenTestosterone is distributed throughout the sexually maturing male, his testeswill enlarge and begin producing sperm. His body will begin to