Sex/uality Artifacts

ARTIFACT

Childhood Sexuality and Sexual Awakenings

          Hello everyone. This is June LaRiccia. Before I presented my second artifact, I explained two definitions. The first, “awakening,” defined as: “An act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something.” I then explained “sexual awakening,” defined as: “the phenomenon by which a person reveals himself/herself, both to himself/herself & to others, as a sexual being.” I then showed my artifact, a video clip, in class. This was a video from The Graham Norton Show on BBC One. It was about Eddie Redmayne (an actor) and the host, Graham Norton, discussing how Eddie had his sexual awakening during The Lion King and had an obsession with Nala while he was growing up. The host also brings up how the other actors that are present also had animated character crushes growing up, such as Liam Neeson appreciating Betty Flintstone from the cartoon The Flintstones.

After watching the video, I discussed two other videos, titled Men Who Sparked Your Sexual Awakening and Women Who Sparked Your Sexual Awakening. Although I did not show these videos, I explained how they related to my artifact in that they dealt with people having crushes on actors from movies and characters from cartoons growing up. I described how my brother would watch the show Lizzie McGuire with me and my younger sister when we were young because he had a huge crush on Hilary Duff. Additionally, I explained how I loved Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid and I totally wanted to marry him when I was five. Members of the class gave personal examples as well, such as John Smith from Pocahontas and Princess Leia from Star Wars.

Next, I analyzed how I felt that my childhood crush on Prince Eric affected me later in life. First, as an adolescent I was very attracted to Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter in the Harry Potter film series. I explained to the class that I felt this was partially due to his similarity in looks compared to Eric. They both have almost black hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin. Now, as an adult, I still have this same physical attraction and a physical “type” (previously described). After this, I showed pictures of Ian Somerhalder and Rob Lowe (both actors) because I find them both incredibly attractive, particularly Ian. Ian and Rob have similar features to Eric as well. I then showed images of the comparisons that had been made between Ian Somerhalder and Prince Eric. I actually stumbled upon these, and I was surprised to find these pictures at first. However, it is understandable why comparisons have been drawn between the actor Ian and the animated character Eric. They both have great teeth, thick, dark hair, piercing blue eyes, lighter skin, a strong jaw, a sly smile, and a masculine yet sensitive face. It makes sense that Ian and Eric have been compared, because I definitely feel that they look a lot alike. To me, I am not surprised at all that I’m so attracted to Ian, because he is like animated Eric’s human form.

This artifact relates to class in many ways. To begin, it deals with the topic we are currently learning about: childhood sexuality. It is also connected to the article that was assigned for today (Tuesday). Sexual awakenings relate to healthy sexuality development. The authors of the course article Healthy Sexuality Development and Gender Roles in Early Childhood (2011), Donna Couchenour and Kent Chrisman, explain that their view on healthy sexuality development involves an approach that factors in all processes of child development. This includes the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional processes. The authors go on to describe how healthy sexuality development is strongly based on positive human relationships and deals with understanding, respect, and responsibility. Caring for others is a central concept as well. They explain that, “sexuality is as much about caring for others, empathy, and responsibility, as it is about physical behavior” (Couchenour & Chrisman, 2011). I was not aware of this and thought this to be incredibly fascinating.

The next part of my artifact presentation was about healthy sexuality development in early childhood and how parents, teachers, etc. can help children with this. According to Couchenour and Chisman (2011), it is important for those interacting with children to provide them with honest, suitable information. I discussed why although this method has been questioned, telling children stories, such as the one about the stork delivering babies, does not help children understand the world around them. Thus, these stories should not be shared as learning experiences. It is crucial for children to receive truthful and appropriate information regarding seuxality (Couchenour & Chrisman, 2011).

I then explained how my own mother is a volunteer sexual education teacher in different programs in our community. Growing up, she always provided me with truthful and acceptable information regarding sexuality. Although I was shy in a way and rarely asked her questions about this matter, whenever I did she answered me with utter honesty and gave me correct knowledge on the subject. I was fortunate to have her around growing up. I agree with Couchenour and Chrisman. This is because I feel that since my mom offered me the facts about sexuality while I was growing up, this helped me experience healthy sexuality development, despite how awkward our conversations could be (on my end) at times. Finally, I reviewed with the class key points from the article. I also explained once again how my artifact, a video on sexual awakenings, relates to class since it deals with healthy sexual development.

References
Couchenour & Chrisman, Healthy Sexuality Development and Gender Roles in Early Childhood (2011)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/awakening
http://sexualityandu.ca/uploads/files/SexualAwakeningParents.pdf

Artifact Link
The Lion King Sexual Awakenings Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98U2JF0ZHPI

More Videos
Men Who Sparked Your Sexual Awakening Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwZMGD8zez0

Women Who Sparked your Sexual Awakening Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kKmOkMHm1Q