Sex & Sexuality
As a school student at 16, I have memory of being by friends for being ‘too innocent’ because I found it hard to laugh at ‘those jokes’. When in actuality it wasn’t so much innocence as it was confusion, not knowing whether I understood ‘the joke’ right!
So believe us when we say that confusions are okay, not knowing is okay. And so is asking! It’s okay to ask questions about sex, sexuality (yes they are two different things!), gender, misogyny, privilege, intimacy, relationships, intercourse, masturbation, menstruation, consent, homosexuality because they are all interrelated ! And that’s what we plan to do.
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Sex is a person’s anatomy, physical attributes such as external sex organs and internal reproductive structures.
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Gender traditionally refers to the societally understood characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships. However, gender identity is an individual’s deeply held sense of being male, female or another gender. This is separate from biological sex.
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Sexual Orientation is the emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction that a person feels toward another person. There are several types of sexual orientation: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual (all terms that we will be discussing further) all of which are normal.
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Sexuality is the total expression of who one is as a human being, one’s femaleness or your maleness. All human beings are sexual beings since we are all born (and die) with sexual organs. A person's sexuality includes his or her attitudes, values, knowledge and behaviours about their body, whom they feel attracted to, who they like to be intimate. How people express their sexuality is influenced by their families, culture, society, faith and beliefs.
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Contributed by: Mallika Batra, Clinical psychologist & Co - founder at Therapeute
Video Resources
How to be an LGBTQ+ Ally?
Being an LGBTQ+ Ally