Gender, Society, Sexuality 

This book, Gender and Society: A Human Ecological Approach, is an initial attempt to consolidate the body knowledge on sex, gender, and human sexuality as a social reality. While sex and anything related to it are usually deemed as a controversial topic to discuss, our experience as helping professionals in various fields has convinced us that there is a need to engage in discussions and conversations about human sexuality and how societies view and make sense of it.

In the field of education, a robust understanding of gender issues and concerns provides an anchor in making the classroom an inclusive one, with due appreciation of the diversity and the individual uniqueness of learners and everyone involved in the educative process. In the field of health, having a clear gender lens allows us to design gender-responsive interventions that gear towards people’s well-being. There can never be a genuine well-being if we set aside the gender and sexuality dimensions of the human person. In the field of law, understanding gender and sexuality as an essential component of human behavior and motivation helps us advocate for policies and programs that promote and protect human rights and equity. Surely, a thorough appreciation of principles, frameworks, and concepts in gender and sexuality is not limited to the aforementioned fields only, but to any other fields of inquiry too, as you will see in this book.

This book is divided into five units: (1) gender and Sexuality as a Social Reality; (2) Biomedical Perspective; (3) Psychosocial Perspective; (4) Political-Legal Perspective; and (5) Cross-cutting Issues. This organization was thought of to be faithful to the theoretical leaning of this book: the human ecological approach. While this approach deserves a whole new tone on its own, in a nutshell, it focuses on the interrelationship between the human person and the environment (biophysical and sociocultural). In the context of gender and sexuality, we believe that to have a human ecological view is integral to appreciate that human sexuality is an interaction among various components: (1) the biomedical aspect such as the anatomy and physiology of the human male and the human female, the process of reproduction, and all other related topics; (2) the psychosocial aspect, such as the affective/emotional, cognitive, and behavioral experiences and manifestations of our human sexuality, both as individuals and as part of a group (e.g., family, community), and (3) the political-legal aspect such as how human societies and laws position women, men, and the LGBTQ+ in their policies and programs for governance and nation building.

Gender and sexuality as social reality is a huge topic which cannot be completely contained in a reading material as this one. Notwithstanding this, we hope that this book will engage you to Contemplate (reflect and make insights), Communicate (discuss with others), and Collaborate (work with others and co-create knowledge with them) as we tackle very important issues on human sexuality and gender.

 

Contents:

I: Gender and sexuality as a social reality
II: Biomedical perspective in gender and sexuality
III: Psychosocial perspective in gender and sexuality
IV: Political-legal perspective in gender and sexuality
V: some cross-cutting issues in gender and sexuality
 

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.