The Value of Integrating Sexual Orientation Issues with Family - Term Paper Example

Running Head: Sexual Orientation Enrolling Sexual Orientation: The Value of Integrating Sexual Orientation Issues with Family Introduction The recent decades have witnessed remarkable social change concerning outlooks toward homosexuality. Equivalent to this change, social, religious, political, and legal matters linked to sexual orientation have become common spotlight of public attention and mass media in the past four decades (Depaul, Walsh & Dam, 2009). Given the heightening public attention to and awareness of these concerns, family studies academics have a chance and duty to tackle issues linked to the family lives and development of sexually marginalized individuals (p. 300). However, several faculty members will have had inadequate actual experience with transgendered, bisexual, gay, or lesbian individuals (McKay, 2000); moreover, most school personnel will have had limited scholastic qualification for tackling these issues in school. Whether sexual minorities and their families are mentioned in a lecture or merged throughout the content of the course in a whole semester, the decisive choice to focus the attention of students on the actual experiences of individuals whose sexual orientation deviate from those of the mainstream population is crucial for a number of bases (Bauman & Sachs-Kapp, 1998). First, emphasis on these concerns is in agreement with a teaching principle that stresses the general richness of human experience (p. 42). Differences in sexual orientation should be regarded no less vital to individual knowledge of human development than is diversity in family structure, social class, ethnicity, or race (Espelage, Aragon, Birkett & Koenig, 2008). Moreover, almost all people, irrespective of their own sexual orientations, will intermingle with transgendered, bisexual, gay, lesbian individuals sometime throughout the course of their lives. Lastly, courses in family studies provide a particular prospect to educate students about sexual orientation since it is vital to family life (Getch, Branca, Fitz-Gerald & Fitz-Gerald, 2001). The objective of this essay is to determine and analyze particular problems that have been discovered concerning the integration of aspects of sexual orientation into the family studies course. These involve: (1) avoiding generalizations; (2) students’ lack of exposure to and experience with truthful information about sexual orientation; and (3) prejudiced attitudes among students. This essay will also attempt to recommend methods that have been claimed in some literatures to be effective for coping with these problems and for enlarging the range of exposure to issues of sexual orientation in the classroom. Issues of Sexual Orientation in the Classroom Individual differences serve to demonstrate the value of motivating all faculty members of family studies to integrate sexual orientation issues into their course content (Rienzo, Button, Sheu & Li, 2006). That consideration of diversity issues is not the exclusive task of those faculty members who by chance belong to the minority group under consideration has been tackled in other scholarly literature. Avoiding Generalizations When lecturing findings in social science research, instructors usually take the risk of representing the experiences of individuals or groups with excessive depiction (Allen, 1995). Likewise, when educated with information on sexually marginalized individuals and families, students may have an idea that these individuals and their life experiences are knowable and identical. Instructors may evade such misunderstandings by putting emphasis on disparities between ‘ordinary’ group experiences and the diverse experiences of sexually marginalized people (Depaul et al., 2009). Just as is factual for the mainstream population, homosexuals differ in terms of place of residence, the existence of emotional and physical impairments, occupation, social class, ethnicity, and gender (Depaul et al., 2009). Furthermore, they may differ along with the status of attributes particular to homosexual people (McKay, 2000), such as whether they have revealed themselves to their significant others. Even though instructors, scholars, and researchers alike are quick to merge people from different sexual minority groups, there are considerable disparities in the life experiences of people within these various groups (Rienzo et al., 2006). For instance, a research investigating married heterosexual partners, lesbian, and gay discovered that even though both lesbian couples and gay couples admitted greater independence than did heterosexual couples, lesbian partners admitted more equality in their relationship (p. 94) than did either gay or heterosexual partners. Students’ Lack of Exposure to and Experience with Truthful Information about Sexual Orientation Matters connected to the experiences of sexually marginalized people have, in general, not been sufficiently or properly represented within the wider school program (Bauman & Sachs-Kapp, 1998). Before joining a course in family studies, a good deal of students’ knowledge of the status of sexual minority may be confined to information gained during discussions with family and friends and (usually erroneous) portrayals of homosexuals by the mass media (Bauman & Sachs-Kapp, 1998). A course in family studies can be the preliminary context wherein students will have deliberated sexual orientation issues in a thorough way or within a scholarly context. All students have to be introduced to a central vocabulary with which to talk about the life experiences of homosexuals (Getch et al., 2001). Apparently, no teacher can lecture the diversity of life experiences of sexual minority people within the duration of a single discussion. Hence, it is useful to outline such discussions around some more comprehensively studied issues related to the life experiences of sexual minority individuals (Depaul et al., 2009). These might consist of: theories about the history and development of sexual orientation; risk behavior among members of sexual minority groups; and the impact on the family system of the presence of a homosexual family member (Depaul et al., 2009). By putting emphasis on a more visibly defined lecture issue, teachers are able to present a less shallow image of the life experiences of sexual minority groups and help students in appreciating the diversity and profundity of such experiences. Prejudiced Attitudes among Students Given prevalent prejudiced attitudes toward sexual diversity, it is possibly unavoidable that one of the utmost challenges for teachers when integrating issues of diversity with regard to sexual orientation into their syllabus will be the behaviors and outlooks of students (Allen, 1995). The challenge for teachers is difficult. Balancing the beliefs of students and intense emotions happens within a setting wherein the objective is to afford all students with a realistic knowledge of the means that sexual orientation fulfils a function in family and individual life (Espelage et al., 2008). It is essential to harmonize the need for tolerance to the religious convictions of students while at the same time building a learning environment that is secure and involves recognition for individual sexual minority students. It is essential to inform students that tertiary education mandates exposure to a diversity of information or facts and empirical findings that may test the existing understanding or knowledge of students (Rienzo et al., 2006). It is also vital to communicate to students a feeling of compassion for the situations of all people whose life experiences are at issue. Conclusions Sexual orientation is a subject matter that has not been given sufficient consideration within the course of family studies. This subject matter is of immense value for a lot of contemporary families. Consideration for sexual orientation was disregarded in courses of family studies before because there were very little empirical findings available. As public attention on the life experiences of sexual minority groups has mounted over the recent decades, thus, also, has research on this issue. This essay argues that sexual orientation within courses of family studies should be given more consideration and that, preferably, focus on sexual orientation should be wholly incorporated across all disciplines. Providing information and facts about this issue can be quite difficult. However, I think that incorporating topics linked to sexual orientation into courses of family studies has both social and scientific implication. It is apparent that cultures of the Western world are evolving; the recognition and visible presence of sexual minorities are drastic changes that have influenced life experiences of family groups in the recent decades. Education and facts about sexual orientation within the setting of the modern family unit afford students with vital understanding that they will need to inhabit a more and more diverse societies. Finally, it may afford them with life abilities that will affect their current and future family life experiences. References Allen, K.R. (1995). Opening the Classroom Closet: Sexual Orientation and Self-Disclosure. Family Relations, 44(2), 136+ Bauman, S. & Sachs-Kapp, P. (1998). A School Takes a Stand: Promotion of Sexual Orientation Workshops by Counselors. Professional School Counseling, 1(3), 42+ Depaul, J., Walsh, M.E. & Dam, U.C. (2009). The Role of School Counselors in Addressing Sexual Orientation in Schools. Professional School Counseling, 19(2), 300+ Espelage, D.L., Aragon, S., Birkett, M. & Koenig, B.W. (2008). Homophobic Teasing, Psychological Outcomes, and Sexual Orientation among High School Students: What Influence do Parents and Schools Have? School Psychology Review, 37(2), 202+ Getch, Y.Q., Branca, D.L., Fitz-Gerald & Fitz-Gerald, M. (2001). A Rationale and Recommendations for Sexuality Education in Schools for Students Who are Deaf. American Annals of the Deaf, 146(5), 401+. Mckay, A. (2000). Preventing Sexual Risk Behaviors among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adolescents: The Benefits of Gay-Sensitive HIV Instruction in Schools. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 9(3), 214. Rienzo, B.A., Button, J.W., Sheu, J. & Li, Y. (2006). The Politics of Sexual Orientation Issues in American Schools. Journal of School Health, 76(3), 93+ Read More