Youth: Sexual and Gender Awareness and Self-Awareness

News Boys Art and Entertainment LGBT+ RSOL Politics Science, Technology, Health Current events Deaths Youth: Sexual and Gender Awareness and Self-Awareness by Staff Writer - July, 2022 Can the cat be put back into the bag or is it already to late?. Heteronormativity describes the ways in which heterosexuality is normalized through myriad practices, so that it becomes naturalized as the only legitimate form of sexuality. Sexual and gender awareness is seeking to understanding that there are a variety of sexual and gender differences in other people. Sexual and gender self-awareness is seeking to understand your own gender or sexuality and what it means to you. Over the past 10 years, we have seen a a veritable explosion of new sexual and gender identity labels that people, especially young people, are using to describe themselves. Many young people for a verity of reasons including better sex education and access to the internet are finding that they don't neatly fit into the old categories of straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or even what it means to be boy or girl. This is the great chasm that separates the beliefs and behaviors belonging to members of many of today's youth from the political, religious, and educational institutions and belief systems of the older generations. Politicians, religious leaders and parents have begun to accuse educators of trying to "sexualize or groom children" or that teachers are trying to turn children and adolescents into gays, or even worse trying to convince them that they are transgender. There is very little truth to be found in any these accusations and it is more an attempt to "shift blame" i.e. "my kid doesn't really feel that way and it is the teachers that have brainwashed him to say that or thinking that way etc..." The truth is closer to the fact that young people are learning a plethora of information from many sources not only their school, but also from their peers, and from the internet and then applying what fits to themselves and in some places receiving acceptance from their peer group for their non majoritive identities. The question that still remains is whether this sexual and gender awareness revolution is going to be able to flourish or will it wilt and die in the toxic soil of a reinvigorated heteronormative resurgence? Over the past year in the United States, there has been significant push-back against allowing the sexual awareness of young people. A number of new state laws have have been purposed and have been passed that target sexual and gender minority youth, and in some cases their parents. As of the beginning of July 2022, ten new laws aimed at sexual minority youth went into effect, all of them related to education. Most of these laws are similar to Florida’s "Parental Rights in Education act" which has been dubbed "The don't say gay law" banning classroom discussions of gender and sexuality, supposedly for grades K-3, but has already been used to prevent seniors from discussing their sexual orientation during their commencement ceremony speech. A number of states have enacted laws preventing transgender girls from playing sports, and in some states outlawing gender affirming care as well as criminalizing both their parents and their doctors. None of these laws are intended to help the kids. They are intended to score votes for the politician, appease parents and the various religious institutions and promote heteronormativity. The truth is that sexual awareness and self-awareness frightens adults, especially parents. Many parents are under-educated themselves regarding sexuality and politicians and others happily feed into this by spreading disinformation, such as that young people are being taught that they can "choose" their sexuality or gender. They are being deceived into believing that their heterosexual children are being turned gay or transgender, which is neither true or possible even in very young children. Because of the increased amount of information young people are receiving what it does do is put them in touch with all the different aspects of their own sexuality. They didn't get "turned this way", it was already there. They simply have learned the language and gained the social freedom/acceptance necessary in order to express it. III.Awareness: Sexual and gender cohorts https://www.dictionary.com/e/gender-sexuality/enby/ https://gender.fandom.com/wiki/Enby https://www.healthline.com/health/different-types-of-sexuality Gender Identities Agender – having no gender or being genderless Androgyne – identifying somewhere in between man and woman Bigender – having two gender identities, either at the same time or interchangeably Demiboy – partially, but not completely, identifying as a man, boy, or masculine person Demigender – having partial connection with one gender (male, female, or other) Demigirl – partially, but not completely, identifying as a woman, girl, or feminine person Enby – a slang term to refer to a non-binary person, not all non-binary people identify with this term Genderfluid – moving between two or more gender identities at different times, in different circumstances, etc. Genderqueer – a non-normative or queer gender, having no exclusive connection to any gender Multigender – having more than one gender Neutrois – neutral or null gender, similar to agender Non-binary – an umbrella term to describe people whose gender is neither man or woman; can also be used as an individual gender identity for someone who is neither a woman nor a man, but does not identify further Pangender- having many or all genders within one’s culture Transfeminine or Transfem – a person assigned male at birth (AMAB) who identifies with a feminine gender, but does not necessarily identify as a woman Transmasculine or Transmasc – a person assigned female at birth (AFAB) who identifies with a masculine gender, but does not necessarily identify as a man IV. sex ed V. Sexual dichotomy, confusion and violence. Conclusion