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 Bodies - Sexuality

Few topics capture widespread interest like those dealing with bodies and sexuality. Diversity and flexibility in body appearance, gender, and sexuality should be valued and appreciated! Bodies come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and details; and people prefer different personal looks and practices. There are countless intelligent, well-adjusted “normal” adults who regularly engage in practices pertaining to bodies and sexuality that may seem “strange” or “weird” to many in the mainstream.   

Common knowledge of the human body (and people!) and its appearance, various practices, and functions is rooted to some degree in medical science. Medicine and its related sciences have produced an impressive collection of knowledge that can improve the quality of life for many people. Medical and other scientific accounts about the body, sexuality and deviance provide important information that should, of course, be considered carefully.

However, accounts from other sources are legitimate and should be respected and valued. Scientific accounts concerning people, bodies, and sexuality remain rooted in historical, cultural, social and political contexts—these accounts are not neutral or objective. Scientific knowledge is important, but it is heavily influenced by other privileged accounts and is neither complete nor definitive on any matter.

There are increasing numbers of people who are challenging traditional knowledge and its assumptions about bodies and sexualities. These challenges bring new understandings concerning deviance. For example, because sexuality seems to be both shaped by and connected to a variety of forces, many people now acknowledge that there are as many forms of sexuality as there are people! An individual’s sexuality is inextricably linked to her/his complex biology, culture, psychology, spirituality, religious affiliation, ethics and so on (and these dimensions are also interconnected!). Bodies, sexualities, and people quickly become very complicated indeed!  

It is troublesome in contemporary society that many businesses won’t hire well-qualified potential employees with tattoos, piercings or other simple modifications, yet plastic surgeons keep busy providing countless face lifts, tummy tucks and boob jobs to many mainstream business people! This is discriminatory and unjust. Color your hair black to hide some gray, and chances are that you’ll soak in compliments from your coworkers. However, next time try coloring your hair blue or purple and see how people treat you while you perform the exact same job! Hair color, skin color (including tattoo ink), piercings, scars, height, weight, sexuality, gender, and so on shouldn’t matter on the job site, but unfortunately they still do.   

There are all sorts of unfair judgments and stereotypes in contemporary society concerning bodies, gender and sexualities. Many times we don’t need to change others who appear to be different—we need to change ourselves and our own narrow perspectives. The LEADERS project is committed to providing education and training on important social issues concerning bodies, gender and sexualities.

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Copyright © 2010 Dr. D J Williams