Gender, sexuality and families on Mars - Essay Example

Gender, Sexuality, and Families on Mars De-centralized Intelligence Agency OutSpace Missions Officer, Maogo Superio 31 October Subject: Gender, Sexuality, and Families on Mars After a visit to Earth, I was fascinated by the things I saw human beings do. Throughout the visit, I was able to watch how humans behave and interact with each other. There is a particular TV program called “Switched at Birth” that amazed me. The program depicted how families rear their children and the value systems they impart on them. It touched on various aspects of gender, sexuality, and family life in the contemporary American society (Common Sense Media 1). A discussion will be made on the aforementioned aspects and if they should be adopted in Martian society. In relation to gender, there are many differences in the way men and women communicate and interact with each other. Women and men verbalize in different ways. Men are more aggressive and direct and seek dominance when it comes to conversation. On the other hand, women have a tendency of using expressions and words that are less direct and more polite and they take more responsibility for sustaining a conversation. In the American society, men are socialized to be political, military, and economic achievers, and to be competitive and goal oriented. The main American value of competition is very evident. The America institutional structures reflect masculine communication methods (Rosssides 241-242). When it comes to work, women in the United States are participating fully in the labor force. This has been instigated by the changes in the economy, cultural shifts, and job and education opportunities (Kang 66). However, this is not always the case since there is existence of occupational segregation in which one group of the gender tends to perform particular types of jobs than other groups. For instance, work done by women is referred to as “pink-collar jobs” while those done by men as “blue collar or white collar jobs.” For men, the jobs are well paying (Kang 69). Sexuality in America is diverse and in the past few generations, it has become very open. In the past years, the media and popular culture have changed what is known about sexuality. Sexuality is not hidden in the American society; it seems to surround the American people. In the United States, much of the sexuality has been shaped and influenced by popular culture, in particular, the mass media (Yarber, Sayad, and Strong 3). Sexual orientation is described as the pattern of emotional and sexual attraction that is based on gender of an individual’s partner. There are forms of sexual orientation in the United States and they include heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. In the modern American culture, heterosexuality has received considerable legal and social legitimacy. There is existence of same sex relationships, but they have not received general social acceptance. Other cultures in the United States view same-sex relationships as acceptable, preferable, and normal (Yarber, Sayad, and Strong 20). Similar to the historical eras, marriage remains to be a famous lifestyle for considerable portion of the population in America. However, in the present day, the couples tend to wait longer before they get married. Despite the fact that marriage is popular in this nation, other lifestyle choices still, exist. The most common ones include cohabitation and singlehood and they have been generally accepted in the American society. The increasing figure of unmarried couples cohabiting or living together reflects the tolerant sexual attitudes brought in by sexual insurgency (Turner 7). There is a significant decrease in the size of a household in America. This is attributed to increasing numbers of individuals living alone, single parents, and couples deciding not to have children. A decline in fertility rates has also instigated the contemporary small household size. The reason why couples today are choosing not to have children is based on various things. The economic value or worth of children to a family has transformed. In the present day, children are becoming an economic liability, that is, the cost of raising a child has increased in terms of clothing, feeding, housing, and offering other necessities (Turner 8). Recommendation It is recommended that the Martians reprogram their society to include gender, sexuality, and families. This is because such settings make a society look more organized and each individual is given a role that is geared towards the success of that society. As seen in American, healthy competition has been brought about by the different roles played by both men and women. Apart from healthy competition, an individual is given the freedom to choose the kind of life he or she wants. The choice has an impact on the well-being of the society. Therefore, reprogramming is the way forward for the Martians. Works Cited Common Sense Media. Switched at Birth. Common Sense Media, 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. Kang, Miliann. “Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.” Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Educational Material 1.1 (2012): 1-102. Print. Rossides, D. W. Communication, Media, and American Society: A Critical Introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print. Turner, J. S. Families in America: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Print. Yarber, W., Sayad, B., & Strong, B. Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2009. Print. Read More