Sex/uality Artifacts

Corey Jordan
Sexuality Artifact

The artifact I decided to share with the class today is a picture I found on face book during the summer. the image was surfaced on the internet around the time of the same sex marriage law being passed in the united states. On the left side there was the famous image of the battle of Iwo Jima, with the American male soldiers pushing the up the American flag. On the right side there is a picture of shirt less males pushing up the gay flag. The picture of the shirtless males is in the exact same as the famous image of the American soldiers. There was a lot of discussion of this image being posted on the internet. Many people thought the gay pride image was disrespectful to the American soldiers that lost their life during that battle. The battle on Iwo Jima took nearly 6,000 American lives, while wounding nearly 17,500. This world war two battle was a big turning point in the war for the United States. People also claim that the picture only contains males, people wonder if this a gay pride movement, why isn’t their any females, transgender, etc. that the gay flag represents.
The gay community believes that the picture is not meant to be disrespectful to the men that fought in that battle or in the war. The supporters of the picture believe that the image represents the uphill battle that the community had to fight to get equal marriage rights. When discussing the image with Dr. Rainey, we brought up a very good point on the image that I did not notice when looking at the image. The military has a don’t ask, don’t tell policy where you keep quite on your sexuality. So, some of those men who served our country during this time period could of been gay, without anyone knowing. The men fighting for our country and for our freedom, could be gay and they do not have the same freedoms as the other couples in the United States.
I decided to share this image to class, because our class discussion was on sex, gender, and sexuality. I believe it was a good image to bring to the class’s attention because many students were not aware that the image existed. During class we talked about the different sexualities that many people associate themselves with. I also did some research on different countries and the military policies on the LGBT community. I found that Canada and Australia allow all LGBT members to join the military and to serve their country. While in the United States, gay and bisexual individuals were allowed to join the military.

The Genderbread Person

Hello! This is June LaRiccia. For my artifact I used the Genderbread Person. Here is a link to view the picture:

http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Genderbread-Person-3.3.jpg

In class, I first discussed how gender is often a topic most people think they understand completely, when in fact a lot of people do not. Before I took a class on diversity, I did not fully understand gender either. In fact, I am still learning more about it. Gender is not binary, it is not either/or. In most cases, it is both/and. There are infinite combinations in regards to sexual orientation, gender, etc.

After talking about gender, I then explained several definitions. First off, gender identity can be thought of as being in the brain. It is defined as how you, in your head, define your gender, based on how much you align (or do not align) with what you understand to be the options for gender.

Gender expression is the ways in which you present gender through your actions, dress, and demeanor. It is also how those presentations are interpreted based on gender norms. This is thought of as body expression.

Biological sex is the physical sex characteristics you are born with/develop. This includes genitalia, body shape, voice pitch, body hair, hormones, and chromosomes. I discussed the male, female, and non-binary transgender signs as well, since these relate to biological sex. 

Sexual attraction is what it sounds like: who you are attracted to sexually. This can be no one, woman/female/femininity, men/males/masculinity.

Romantic attraction can include these same aspects. However, this deals with who you are romantically attracted to. This aspect of sexual orientation can be thought of as the heart.

There are infinite combinations to these definitions. One example is a person may have been born female, think of themselves as being feminine/female as far as gender, express themselves in a masculine way, be sexually attracted to females and males equally, but be more romantically attracted to males than females. This is just one example, there are thousands.

This artifact really relates to class, especially because we have been discussing sexual orientation. Many of the definitions brought up in my artifact have been described and examined during class. In addition, we have been talking about a range of sexual orientation and identities, as well as the concept of self-identity (which relates to my artifact).

Also, the articles we have recently read dealt with whether or not being gay is a choice or something you are born with, as well as the advantages and disadvantages that transgender people may experience. Thus, my artifact of the Genderbread Person relates to class on many levels.