Alfred Kinsey

By Kelsey Wilkins

            Alfred Kinsey was a professor of sexology and the founder of the Sex Research Institute at Indiana University. He was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 23^rd, 1894. Kinsey wrote a few books in his lifetime, these books included the Kinsey Reports, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Gentlemen’s Disagreement [1]. Kinsey believed that there was a spectrum of sexuality, which said people would fit under his scale, the Kinsey Scale of Sexuality. The Kinsey Scale said that there wasn’t such thing as a Gender Binary, you were either homosexual or heterosexual, there was no in between. Instead, a spectrum of sexuality meant that you fit into 1 of 7 different descriptions of sexuality. A 0 meant that you expressed Exclusively heterosexual behavior; a 3 meant that you expressed and equal amount of heterosexual and homosexual behavior and a 6 meant that you expressed exclusively homosexual behavior [2].

            Throughout his years of research, Kinsey was the main subject in controversy because he was the first researcher that said sex was common, even before marriage and also masturbation and homosexuality were common things [3]. In this day an age, all of those things seem pretty normal and it sound crazy that people were upset that Kinsey was saying these things, but I think I can also understand where these people were coming from. If you grew up in a conservative household that said you needed to wait for marriage to have sex or that you were always taught that God hated homosexuals, these things Kinsey said would sound crazy to you and your family and they would go against what you were taught since you were a young kid and it’s the only thing you know.

I think going through this class and learning what we have this past semester has really opened my eyes to a bunch of different things and I have realized that a lot of things are more “normal” than I though they were. I have also learned a lot about the history of America, Kinsey has been, other than Christopher Columbus, my favorite topic that we have talked about because of his controversy. What surprised me the most about Kinsey is that he interviewed pedophiles and convicted sexual criminals and didn’t turn them in. I’m not really sure how I feel about what he did. I can understand why people didn’t like it, but I also think that if he told them that whatever they say can’t be used against them in court then it makes his research more authentic because the people actually told the truth and that really helped with the research. I feel bad saying that what Kinsey did was right, by not turning these people in, but if he promised that he wouldn’t, so these people would tell him the whole truth, then I agree with what Kinsey did.

Citations

1.     A&E Networks Television. "Alfred Kinsey Biography." Bio.com. http://www.biography.com/people/alfred-kinsey-9365493 (accessed March 29, 2014).

2.     Moore, Crystal . "Theories on Orgins of Homosexuality." Class lecture, History of Sexuality in America from UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, March 25, 2014.

3.     Spector, Dina. "Why Kinsey's Research Remains Even More Controversial Than The 'Masters Of Sex'   ." Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-alfred-kinsey-was-controversial-2013-10 (accessed April 25, 2014).

The Impact of Media on Gender Roles

                                                                                   Media's Impact on Gender Roles

                                                                                          By: Jackie Turner

The media plays a very influential role in the sexual aspect of American society today. Strict guidelines for what is socially acceptable for certain sexes is something that has been drilled into the ideas of Americans since before television was around. Male’s gender roles include characteristics that are socially defined as masculine. While female’s gender roles may be expected to be feminine. Parts of society in large numbers still defines mixed gender qualities are strange and incorrect. Beginning at a very early age children are expected to act out certain gender roles based upon their physical sex that is determined at birth. The media has reinforced this concept heavily through out the years. Commercials often show examples of men playing ‘typical’ masculine roles. Such as a man accidentally washing with a feminine soap product and in order to protect his manliness has to get dirty again and sweat like a masculine person would. While there are television shows that show representation of women being extremely feminine in unrealistic ways. Women are shown in laundry commercials washing the clothing. Women are shown in most family shows always being responsible for the children and other household duties and preparing food.

 These roles are even clearly shown in children of the media. Little do they know the influence that they are setting. By creating a social guideline for a whole culture to follow they are identifying what American’s find to be acceptable and right. Due to the mass influence of the media on gender roles, there are socially defined roles for males and females to follow in order to be considered normal. Music even heavily exhibits strict gender roles for men especially. Songs throughout the decades have been written about men being manly men, men being in charge and the bread winners.

 A modern form of music called hip hop and rap have become extremely influential and popular. It also exhibits very strict social guidelines of how all men and women should behave. Many times women are exploited in sexual manners and called trashy names. While men are predominantly represented as in charge and living luxuriously. We live in a culture where the people in media are idolized and their actions and ideas are shown on television and the internet. Their behaviors are even worships and followed in trends by today’s generation. They are given far to much attention for people who are mere entertainers rather than righteous role models and leaders. Not that some people in media are not good role models or promoting equality and fairness among people no matter what they have been labeled socially. Anything you can possibly want to find on the internet is there. With just the click of a button you can go to any website and find any information or picture no matter the rating. no matter how inappropriate and with little revolve around We are surrounded by examples of what is correct we grow up. All forms of media in America has socially defined and influenced the gender roles American people take on every day. But so many American’s support and publicize the popularity of media and it’s influence then is grown even more. 

¹ Blumenfeld, Warren. "Examining Media's Socialization of Gender Roles." The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/warren-j-blumenfeld/examining-medias-socializ_b_3721982.html (accessed April 22, 2014).

² "The 10 Best Rock Songs About Masculinity." Flavorwire. http://flavorwire.com/198904/the-10-best-rock-songs-about-masculinity/2/ (accessed April 22, 2014).

Civil Rights: What about Black Women?

 

Civil Rights: What about Black Women?

 

By: Brandi Tillison

 

     Whenever a movie from the Civil Rights Movement is made, it is often from the African American male perspective, similar like slavery times. There is nothing wrong with that, except it creates the image that only men were responsible for social change. The biggest female name you hear is Rosa Parks. It seems everyone knows of her infamous moment of refusing to give up her front seat on the bus, but she was not the only woman fighting for her rights. [1]Women such as Septima Poinsette Clark, was an educator and activist for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She had been a driving force long before the majority of Americans turned their attention to civil rights. However she was overlooked.[2] Diane Nash, though skeptical, was a woman of conviction and led a sit-in movement in downtown Nashville that resulted in African Americans being able to eat in those same restaurants. She had her doubts about non-violent protest, but it she gained some courage for her friends and joined a movement that would never be forgotten.

 

     Why were women so easily overlooked? The famous sit-ins were started by female college students, but as they gained traction men took it over. The same situation happened with the Birmingham bus boycotts. It was becoming increasingly known that women were being pushed to the back burner and didn’t have their proper time to shine in the spotlight. Given, that most of the women during the Civil Rights Movement weren’t exactly famous, but that didn’t mean they weren’t imperative to the movement. Just like the men were dragged, beaten, and jailed, so were the women. One could only imagine how it must have felt as a woman seeing all of these huge male leaders emerge like Malcom X, Dr. King, and Medgar Evers, but close to no women. They suffered just as much during that time. The sexism was suffocating. African American women worked extremely hard but not only were they marginalized by White men, but also by Black men. Regardless of both of those factors the women pressed forward, fought alongside their men, and fought to have their rights.

---

[1] NA, . NBC News, "Women had key roles in the civil rights movement." Last modified October 29, 2005. Accessed April 21, 2014. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9862643/ns/us_news-life/t/women-had-key-roles-civil-rights-movement/.

[2] Dukes, Howard. The South Bend Tribune, "The Daring of Nonviolence." Last modified January 16, 2005. Accessed April 21, 2014. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0116-05.htm.

What Bathroom Should Transgender Students Use?

By: Kylie Wallace

Andraya Williams, a female, transgender, freshman at Central Piedmont, was escorted off campus and told not to come back after using the women’s restroom on her way to class.[2] Students at Central Piedmont organized a rally in her, and all LGBT students defense to raise awareness about the treatment of LGBT students on campuses around the United States.[1]

A campus officer requested her identification as she was leaving the restroom and called for backup after questioning her gender.[2] After six officers arrived, they concluded she was a male and escorted her off school grounds.[2] Andraya feels as though she should get a formal apology because she feels like she is no longer protected by the staff and people can creel discriminate now.[2] As far as the schools standpoint, they told her that until she had medical documentation proving that she is in fact female, she has to use gender neutral bathroom.[2] Andraya, not feeling comfortable on campus now, is trying to get more laws protecting transgender students and equality training for faculty and staff.[2]

  I believe that it’s every persons right to choose their gender and be who that want to be and that’s no ones business. However, I agree with some aspects of the schools arguments. I do think that some medical proof might be a helpful tool in preventing this from happening and putting some sort of indication on their student ID to differentiate would make this less of a problem.

This issue is one of the many problems were having in todays society. People are having a hard time opening their minds to the LGBT community. I don’t think people understand that it’s really no ones business what a person chooses to be or how they choose to be if it doesn’t effect them in any way. Even if it does effect them, it doesn’t cause any harm. If they feel like they don’t want their children exposed, then don’t expose them. Although these topics are controversial, everyone has basic rights and telling people that it’s ok to discriminate is just not ok. 

You could even take this issue to the next level and make all bathrooms neutral gender just so that their are no discrepancies that involve gender as far as which bathroom to use. I’d like to stay on the bathroom topic however, I am aware that there are other controversies as far as transgender people including changing rooms, locker rooms, and getting service. 

1. Shakir, Sulton. "HRC Blog." Human Rights Campaign. N.p., 04 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.

2. Hensley, Nicole. "Female Transgender Student Suspended for Using Women's Bathroom ." NY Daily News. N.p., 04 Apr. 2014.    Web. 08 Apr. 2014.

Pro- Life or Pro-Choice?

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

By: Bre-Ann Werner

The concept of Abortion is one of the most controversial topics to ever bring up in the American society. When I think of the word abortion I think of its technical definition; ending a pregnancy before the baby is in the initial phase of its existence. [1] While others may think of abortion as preventing what could possibly be a horrible life for the child, or for themselves due to a variety of potential reasons. As the topic of abortion is on the rise all over America, it may be a good time to consider all possible factors for or against abortion and ask yourself; are you pro- life or pro-choice? The fight for abortion, whether it should be banned or legal has been going on for decades because many believe that pro-life people are killing one of gods creations, while pro-choice people can’t seem to understand the “harm” that they are doing when looking at their circumstances. Has anyone ever looked at abortion being neither right nor wrong? I believe abortion is not right, but it is not wrong. I believe that it is all a matter of your personal opinion and the conditions that brought the individual to consider abortion as an option.  Taking all into consideration, I do believe that abortion should be legal. However the legality of abortion should be based upon a number of things, such as the reason why they are considering abortion, the status of that individual; how old are they? What are their health conditions? Do they have a family crisis? As well as, their home environment- were they planning on aborting the child because their home environment was not suitable for a child? Or were they a rape victim?

            Taking it back thousands of years to the beginning of history, the abortion procedure has been commonly performed on women in almost every American society. Up until the mid to late 1800’s a big portion of the United States were trying to pass laws to make abortion illegal for various different reasons. [2] One of the many reasons for trying to ban abortion in the United States back in the 1800’s was because of the risks and dangers that came along with the procedure. For instance, during the 1800’s hospitals in general were not common, and the ones that were around were not known for performing the safest surgical procedures due to their scarcity of antiseptics, and the doctors had little to no medical education. [3]Despite the fact that people wanted the abortion procedure outlawed due to its dangerous risks, people at the same time were fighting for the abortion law to be passed simple because the infant mortality rate during child birth were so particularly high without the help of today’s technology. [4]

            As technology began to advance, medical technologies and treatment also began to grow. Which then lead to much more reliable and safer medical care as well as infection prevention. The problem with the abortion procedure at this time was not the medical care and treatment, it was that the law was not yet passed to make this legal, which then forced women who needed this procedure done to go to an illegal practitioner. [5]Around the mid 1880’s to 1973 the want for legalizing abortion became real as the Comstock law was released, which outlawed the distribution and broadcasting of any type of birth control product.[6] The problem that came about during this time of history was that banning the abortion procedure did not reduce the amount of women that were going through with it, whether it was illegally or personally done. The real problem was that the number of women going through with the procedure was actually increasing due to the restrictions that were put on all birth control products and procedure. In the time frame of 1880’s- 1973 the number of legal abortions done to women sky rocketed to about 1.2 million per year. [7]

            With all of this being said, I think that the real problem with abortion even to this day is all of the restraints being put on the procedure. I understand that back in the day the procedure was very unsafe and it was being banned to protect the lives and overall health of the women who had the desire to go through with the abortion. However, with all of this new and advanced technology I do not see why we have to point fingers against those who agree or disagree with abortion. I think that abortion should not be labeled as right or wrong, it is 100% someone’s personal opinion. Legalizing abortion all over the United States would get rid of and prevent a lot of the controversy that has gone on in the past. However, if the procedure is going to be done there are a lot of restrictions and regulations that must be met prior to getting the procedure done. I am not an advocate of people getting abortions ‘just because’ they can, I am an advocate of someone getting an abortion because they desperately need one. For example, if you were a rape victim and got pregnant because of it, I do not think it is fair to hold an innocent women accountable or responsible for giving birth to that child and raising it when it was not planned in the first place, especially if they are at a young age. Therefore, I do believe that abortion should be legal. I also believe that we should once in for all stop pointing fingers at one another for what we believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

[1] Palo Alto Medical Foundation , "Abortion ." Last modified 2014. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/pregnancy/abortion.html.

[2] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[3] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[4] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[5] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[6] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[7] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

Sex in the Civil War

By Stefanie Testa

As we learned by the documentary “Sex in the Civil War”, by Thomas Lowry, many of the stories about the soldiers were left untold. We know these soldiers to be honorable, dependable, and high with integrity, but we didn’t know until much later, that the sexuality and moral discrepencies among these troops was much more widely spread than society today would care to believe. Historians who specialize on this particular time in American history found many secret and titilating journals, letters, and old sexual novels belonging to these same soldiers. When the explicit novels didn’t do its justice, there were always pornography floating a round by the dozen.  Not to mention that prositution rose during this time as well. Prostitutes were sometimes grouped with the other camp followers, which are those who followed the troops as they moved from base to base. [1] Some believe these “camp followers” was the result of women suffering from depression after their husbands went off to war, and the necessity to support the family alone. [2]

Prostitution was infamous in Nashville, Tennessee where over 1500 women were claimed to be in the industry on Smokey Row. And, of course with prostitution, and seldom use of birth control and other contraceptative devices, sexually transmitted diseases also swept the nation. In the same titled book as the film by Lowry, he explains that “among the white Union soldiers there was a total of 73,382 syphilis cases and 109,397 gonorrhea cases.” [3] Prostitution even became legal for a short time where the known prostitutes would have a license and be examined by a physician each week to try to reduce the number of spreading cases of these venereal diseases. 

It is clear to see that the Repressive Hypothesis of Sexuality, which is the belief sexuality was more conservative in the earlier eras of our country, is just that, a false belief. [4] Human sexuality has been as radical and comprehensive as anything else in our modern society. We learned from somewhere, didn’t we?  

Nashoba, Shakers, Mormons, or Onieda – Which Do You Choose?

By: Allyson Wiggs

Throughout the late 18^th and 19^th century there was a huge push for perfection in a person’s spiritual life. This push was caused by the Second Great Awakening. As a result of this utopian communities were formed. These communities set a standard of living for the people who decided to join them. There were four main communities: Nashoba, Shakers, Mormons, and Oneida. Each of these communities had a leader, a set of ideals, and a reason as to why the community failed. Many of the ideals were based around spiritual preferences. Some of the communities were very conservative on the rules while others were more liberal.[1] Although all of these communities were very different from our society today, there is only one community that I personally would ever want to live in.

            The Nashoba Community is the community that I share the most ideals with and the one that I believe I would survive the best in. It was founded by Frances Wright. Frances Wright was very different than many women during this time period and definitely stood out. Wright was born and grew up in Scotland, but when she visited America she enjoyed everything about it and had her own opinions on some of the things going on. For example, she visited when religion was very important and slavery was going on. These were two things she felt strongly against. Wright was a free thinker who felt like she should control her own beliefs and that a religion should not.[2] She also believed that slavery should not be in place. Wright attempted to fix some of these issues in the Nashoba Community. [3]

            This utopian community was known as “free lovers” because of their ideals on the way that the world should work. Two of the main issues the Nashoba Community dealt with was slavery and sexual relations. Since the members did not believe in slavery, they allowed the slaves to buy freedom so that they could live in emancipation settlements. They also determined that people should have sexual relations with another person only if they loved them which meant they did not have to be married. This concept went against many religious beliefs, but was allowed in this community. Although this community seems to have a very modern approach on different views, it no longer exists in today’s society. This community ended because of a controversy over slaves. While some slaves were free, some slaves were not because they could not afford to purchase freedom. This controversy ended the community. [4]

            Overall, I believe that I would want to live in the Nashoba Community most because it seems like the community with the closest ideals as we have today. In today’s society, we have a very liberal view on most things. We are very opposed to slavery just as they were and many people do not follow strictly to their religion. In my opinion, I agree with Wright’s free spirit and believe that people should make their own decisions for the most part. If the Nashoba Community was never started, it makes me wonder what today’s society may be like. I wonder if anyone would have realized that slavery is cruel and if there is a possibility we may have it today. I also wonder if people would still follow strictly to their religion. In some ways this may be better for people, but others may feel as if it is a burden to them. In general, this community really opened some people’s eyes to a different and more liberal way of life that may have never been discovered otherwise.

---

[1] Moore, Crystal. “Utopian Communities in Victorian America.” Lecture, History of Sexuality in America, UNCC. Charlotte, North Carolina.  March 3, 2014.

[2] “"The Cause of Human Improvement": Frances Wright and the Nashoba Community,” last modified 2011, http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~lxm8207/FannyWright.html.

[3] “Revisiting Nashoba: Slavery, Utopia, and Frances Wright in America, 1818–1826,” last modified 2014, http://alh.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/3/438.short.

[4] Moore, Crystal. “Utopian Communities in Victorian America.” Lecture, History of Sexuality in America, UNCC. Charlotte, North Carolina.  March 3, 2014.