UTS - Lesson 6 PDF

**THE SEXUAL SELF** =================== **The Biology of Self** - **Sexual Genitalia** -- is a biological feature that distinguishes males from females. **Sexual Identity and Gender Orientation** - **Biological sex** -- one's assignment upon birth and is dependent on physical feature...

**THE SEXUAL SELF** =================== **The Biology of Self** - **Sexual Genitalia** -- is a biological feature that distinguishes males from females. **Sexual Identity and Gender Orientation** - **Biological sex** -- one's assignment upon birth and is dependent on physical feature. - On the other hand, **gender** is an identity that is learned and embraced by individual. - **Gender roles** -- **[men]** are assumed to be strong and dominant while **[women]** are perceived to be submissive and demure. - **Sexual identity and gender orientation** -- underlie one's concept of self. A person expresses his or her sexuality through individuality (sexual identity) and one's belief and behavioral lifestyle are based on his or her own perceptions of sexuality (gender orientation). - **Gender dysphoria** -- a deep sense of unease and distress that may occur when your biological sex does not match your gender identity. - Called *[Gender Identity Disorder]* in the past. **Three Stages of Love (Helen Fischer)** - The feeling of being in love can not only affect our brain, but it can also lead to changes in human physiology and behavior. - According to scientists from around the world, each stage of love for another human may be driven by the release of different hormones. - **Hormones** are chemicals that coordinate different functions in your body by carrying messages through the blood to organs, skin, muscles, and other tissue - **Lust** -- the first phase of falling in love. - Lust is the craving for sexual satisfaction which is a feeling that evolved in humans to motivate union with a single partner. - During this phase, men and women both release healthy amounts of testosterone and estrogen. - In females, **estrogen** plays a role in vaginal health, longing for physical closeness with a mate, and the desire for sex. - In both males and females (but more so in men), **testosterone** drives sexual desire, openness, and seductiveness. - During this phase, the primary objective is to have sex rather than form an emotional connection. - **Attraction** -- Scientists have found evidence that adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin are involved in the attraction phase. - **Adrenaline** is a hormone that is released during the human stress response and also plays a role in enhancing the attraction and arousal of humans. - This hormone causes the heart to beat faster and stronger, results in a surge of energy, and focuses attention solely on your potential mate. - It can also heighten feelings of anxiety or nervousness and butterflies in the stomach. - **Dopamine** is a hormone that plays a role in motivation, addiction, attention, and desire. - Once released, this chemical messenger produces a feeling of happiness and bliss. - Dopamine is also released in response to cocaine and sugar which are both incredibly addictive. - **Serotonin** is a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter and plays a role in maintaining mood balance, appetite, sleep, memory, sexual desire, and sexual function. - During the attraction phase, serotonin levels decrease which can result in sleeplessness. - During this attraction phase, one may experience a feeling of euphoria or exhilaration and a craving for union with the other human that they desire. - Since hormones associated with the stress response are released during the attraction phase, individuals also may experience physiological changes such as sleeplessness, increased energy, loss of appetite, rapid heart rate and accelerated breathing. - **Attachment** -- Once the attraction phase has settled down dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline levels return to normal and another phase begins. - two major hormones involved in the attachment (or long-term bonding) phase are oxytocin and vasopressin which both play a role in social and reproductive behaviors in humans. - **Oxytocin**, also referred to as the "love hormone" is released during the attachment phase in correlation with physical touch and results in an increase in dopamine (the happy hormone). - This is perhaps why the area of the brain which is associated with the feeling of reward and pleasure is activated when oxytocin is released during contact with another human. - Gestures such as hugging, kissing, cuddling and sex can boost oxytocin levels which enhances the monogamous bond between both partners. - Oxytocin is also released in mothers while breastfeeding their infant which facilitates a deep mother-infant bond. - **Vasopressin** is another hormone released after physical touch that initiates the desire to stay with that particular individual and develops a strong emotional attachment. - The attachment phase brings a feeling of calmness, security, a desire to protect one another, emotional union, and comfort. This attachment phase does not just exist in romantic relationships, but can also be present with other types of bonds such as family and friends. **The Consequences of Sexual Choices** - **Copulation --** aka sexual intercourse; the reproductive act in which the male reproductive organ (penis) entering the female's reproductive tract (vagina). - Couples who engage in this act are usually overwhelmed by the sensations they feel. - Pregnancy is likely to occur when woman is fertile during the intercourse. - Having a child entails a big responsibility and should not merely be a consequence of an impulsive moment. - Physical risks to having an early pregnancy may impact an adolescent's development, including miscarriage, emotional stress, and health risks to both mother and infant. - Aside from pregnancy, another consequence of impulsive and careless sexual intercourse is the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Among common STDs are Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and Genital Warts. - The most alarming sexually transmitted disease is acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). - It can be transmitted by contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated body fluids. - It is important that everyone makes responsible decisions concerning sexuality and sexual behavior. **[Responsible sexual behavior]** entails the following: - **Respect for one's body**. It means taking care of one's body and avoiding activities that undermine one's worth and respect. - **Maturity in thoughts and deeds.** It refers to being objective, rational, and calm, instead of being swept by one's emotion. - **Being guided by one's personal beliefs and core values.** Everyone, especially an adolescent, should always be grounded by his/her personal principles and self-worth. - **Being future-oriented**. Instead of focusing on the present, a person should always weigh his or her present actions with possible consequences in the future. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **THE PHYSICAL SELF** | | ===================== | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ **The Self as Impacted by the Body** - **Physical Self** -- the body which is interfaced with the environment and other human beings. - **Physical development** -- the process that starts in human infancy and continues into late adolescence concentrating on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. - **Physical characteristics** -- the defining traits or features of your body. - **Physical Appearance** -- the way a person looks. **The Biological Blueprint** - **Physical self** is shaped by biological and environmental factors. - In the experiment done by **Gregor Mendel**, he first figured out how genes are passed from parents to offspring in plants, including humans. - His experiments on pea plants showed that genes are passed intact from generation to generation and that traits are not blended. - Mendel discovered that it is through the genes that traits were passed from parent to offspring through several generations. - This is called **Heredity** which is defined as the transmission of traits from parents to offspring. - The traits are made up of specific information embedded within one's genes. - Biologically speaking, the way we look depends on the genes that we inherit, being dominant or recessive. - **Genotype** refers to the specific information embedded within one's genes; not all genotypes translate to an observed physical characteristic. - **Phenotype** is the physical expression of a particular trait. - Each individual carries 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are threadlike bodies in the nucleus of the cell and the storage unit of genes. - The **23rd pair**, also known as **sex chromosomes**, determines the sex of an individual. - Within each chromosome is the **deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)**, which is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of every individual. - **Maturation** is known as the completion of the growth of a genetic character within an organism or the unfolding of an individual's inherent traits or potential. - **Environmental Conditioning**. As you grow up, you are exposed to environmental influences that shape your physical self, including those from your social networks, societal expectations, and cultural practices. - Family, being your first social group, forms a crucial foundation of your development, including that of your physical self. - As you grow older, you get exposed to a larger social group with new practices and standards. - As a result, you may begin engaging in acts that would make you attractive and acceptable to others. - One aspect of physical beauty is a person's body type. - Contemporary media has portrayed slim bodies as the ideal body type for women and muscular bodies for men. - Thus, adolescents indulge in activities that would enable them to achieve these ideal body types. - However, some adolescents may resort to unhealthy habits just to achieve the ideal body type. - **Body Image**. It is the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result from that perception. It can be positive or negative. - It is influenced by individual and environmental factors. - These factors include family, environment, ability or disability, the attitudes of peers, the media and advertising, the fashion industry, and cultural background. - Social media also has a big influence on teenage body image, particularly when teenagers post and view photos of themselves and others on social media. - A **positive body image** is feeling happy and satisfied with your body, as well as being comfortable with and accepting the way you look. - A **negative body image** is feeling unhappy with the way you look. - **Body modification**. Body modification is the physical alteration of the body through the use of surgery, tattoo, piercing, implants, and other practices. - Those who are so self-anxious that they seek cosmetic surgeries to solve their body issues may eventually suffer a disorder called **Body Dysmorphic Disorder**. - **Body Dysmorphic Disorder** -- severe form of body image disturbance characterized by an excessive concern or preoccupation with one's appearance and weight. - Those who are diagnosed with this disorder are very much preoccupied by a perceived physical flaw that is either absent or so trivial that only the one suffering from it sees it as a problem, being so distressed about it, that daily routines are affected (Wilhelm, 2006). - They are so obsessed about their appearance, that they think about their flaws, real or not, incessantly and uncontrollably (Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Quest for Perfection, 2012). - **Body image disturbance**. BID is an important aspect of several pathologies in psychology, particularly eating disorders. - Defined as a distorted perception of how someone sees their own body. - It has two components: The **perceptual component** which refers to how we accurately perceive or see our body size, also known as ***body size estimation***, which is how we see our body, and the **attitudinal component** {affective, cognitive, and behavioral} which refers we think and feel about the size and/or shape of their body, which if not correctly processed, will result to **[body dissatisfaction]** (Greene, 2011). - **Anorexia** is an eating disorder, defined as a serious mental illness where people are of low weight due to limiting their energy intake. - It can affect anyone of any age, gender, or background. - As well as restricting the amount of food eaten, they may do lots of exercise to get rid of the food eaten. - Some people with anorexia may experience cycles of bingeing (eating large amounts of food at once) and then purging. - It is important to remember that physical beauty is only skin-deep; that what matters is feeling good about oneself and embracing a healthy perception of one's physical worth. - **Anorexia Nervosa** - **Bulimia Nervosa** **[Ways into achieving Physical Well-being:]** - **Healthy eating**. Following a healthy diet results in healthy skin, ideal weight, and better stamina. - **Embracing a healthy lifestyle**. Physical activities such as walking, running, going to the gym, and engaging in sports also contribute to a healthier body. - **Maintaining proper hygiene**. Taking care of your body by consistently following a hygiene regimen can also help you feel good about yourself. - **Being confident**. Be secure in yourself, embrace a positive outlook toward various situations and problems, and love and accept who you are. - In the Philippines, the construction of local standards of beauty can be traced to our colonial influences. - **Skin color** signifies the value of the people in society. - Lighter-skinned individuals are considered higher in terms of social status, and therefore, in the social rank compared to those with brown or dark skin (Rondilla, 2012). - The colonization of our country by these white-skinned people lasted for more than three centuries. - We were forced to believe that they were superior people, more civilized, and even how they looked was deemed as standard beauty- a very Eurocentric perspective that has influenced our concept of attractiveness even today. - Free as we claim we are; our mindset is still a slave to the white culture. Their whiteness has become a goal for most Filipinos and even our television and movie personalities here mirror their looks. - **Culture** is one big chunk that helps us analyze our self-understanding. Remember that the self, as a social being, is influenced by culture. - People attempt to change their bodies to meet their cultural standards of beauty. - **Body adornment** is the practice of enhancing the body through styling and decorating hair and fingernails, painting the body, and wearing jewelry and clothing.