Probably no subject illustrates more clearly the contested nature of "normality" and "deviance," and of what constitutes a social problem, than sexuality. Ongoing controversies over homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, sexual harassment, date rape, and hate crimes reflect deep divisions in society over the nature of social problems relating to sexuality. Is homosexuality a social problem or is homophobia? Is pornography a major social problem or is the threat to civil liberties represented by its opponents a more serious social problem? Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? Etcetera.
It is not surprising that these controversies have easily migrated on to the internet. Advocacy groups of all sorts use the internet to spread their message. At the same time, many who feel oppressed on the basis of their sexual identity or preference have found on the internet a global community of like-minded people who lend support and understanding to each other.
Amnesty International [http://www.amnesty.org] is a worldwide organization that works to promote human rights. At this site you will find country reports and the latest news releases, detailing Amnesty International's concerns about human rights from around the world.
Amnesty International considers the torture or ill-treatment of individuals based on their sexual identity to be a violation of human rights. Click on the Library link on the top of the page to search through AI's archives of news and reports of discrimination and violence against individuals from around the world.
1. Go down to the Theme menu and choose Sexual Orientation. Then pick one of the recent news reports and describe briefly the issue discussed and why Amnesty International is concerned about it.
Close the Amnesty International window and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
In the United States, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force [http://www.ngltf.org] works to protect the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. It was in fact one of the organizations that successfully lobbied the American Psychiatric Association to eliminate its classification of homosexuality as a mental illness in the early 1970s.
Click on The Issues and scroll down to Nondiscrimination. Click on Issue Maps, then PDF.
2. How many states do not have legislation banning discrimination on the basis of sexual preference and/or gender identity?
Close the map window and click on Hate Crimes. Hate crimes are crimes whose victims are targeted because of their personal characteristics--their race, religion, gender, sexual preference, etc. Click on Issue Maps, then PDF.
3. How many states either do not have hate crime laws or else have hate crime laws that do not include sexual orientation and/or gender identity? 4. Why do you think that so many states do not have civil rights and/or hate crime laws covering sexual orientation? Do you think that this is a problem?
3. How many states either do not have hate crime laws or else have hate crime laws that do not include sexual orientation and/or gender identity?
4. Why do you think that so many states do not have civil rights and/or hate crime laws covering sexual orientation? Do you think that this is a problem?
Close the NGLTF windows and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
The Human Rights Campaign Organization [http://www.hrc.org] is a good resource for information concerning the latest legislation on issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
5. Click on Issues and choose one of the issues on that page (except for hate crimes, which we shall examine further shortly). Explore some of the links to get a sense of the issue you chose. What is the Human Rights Campaign position on this issue? Do you agree or disagree? Discuss in the textbox below.
Now click on Issues>Hate Crimes. Read this page and answer the following questions.
6. What proportion of hate crimes were due to bias against the victim’s sexual orientation in the most recently-available year?
7. What is meant when it is said that hate crimes are particularly harmful because they target a whole group, not just an individual person? Discuss below.
Close the HRC window and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
The internet has provided not only opportunities for advocacy and activism, but also for new types of social interaction and community. For an example of a website designed with this community-building function in mind, let's take a look at PlanetOut [http://www.planetout.com/pno/].
Click on News and Politics on the left, then, under The Issues, Marriage. Read this page.
8. Are there any countries or U.S. states that have legalized same-sex marriage? If so, which are they? 9. From the information at this page, what do the prospects for the legalization of gay marriage seem to be in the U.S. and in other countries?
8. Are there any countries or U.S. states that have legalized same-sex marriage? If so, which are they?
9. From the information at this page, what do the prospects for the legalization of gay marriage seem to be in the U.S. and in other countries?
Spend a few minutes exploring this website, clicking on the various links, including Frequently Asked Questions at the bottom.
10. How does this website seek to create an online community? Do you think this effort is likely to resonate with the site's intended audience?
Close the PlanetOut window and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
Let us now move on to the Prostitution Research and Education website [http://www.prostitutionresearch.com], a project of the San Francisco Women's Centers. Under Quick Facts, click on and skim the Prostitution Fact Sheet.
11. Summarize an insight about prostitution that you gained from this fact sheet.
12. What do you think is meant by the phrase at the bottom of the page, "It takes a village to create a prostitute"?
Now click on How Prostitution Works, and then on the article with that name by Joe Parker. Scroll down and read the paragraph under "Society's Role".
13. What does the article define as "Stockholm Syndrome"?
Now click on Trafficking, then Globalized Female Slavery.
14. What does the author report as the annual value of the global sex trade in women?
15. What is the UN estimate for the number of women worldwide being trafficked as sex slaves?
Now click on Laws, then The 1999 Swedish Law on Prostitution.
16. Read through this summary of the law and indicate below if there are aspects of the Swedish law you think should be adopted here.
Close the Prostitution Research window and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
For a radically different perspective on prostitution that also claims to be feminist, visit the website of COYOTE [ http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html]. (After reading through the page that comes up, you may also want to follow the link to the Los Angeles branch of the organization.)
17. What does COYOTE stand for? What does it advocate?
18. Do you think that that the groups behind the previous website, Prostitution Research and Education, would agree with COYOTE's position? Discuss briefly in the textbox below.
Close the About Coyote window and return to the Sexuality Virtual Exploration.
This virtual exploration so far has focused on forms of sexuality that attract public debate and often stigma. But it is important to recognize that all sexuality is socially constructed, and that even within the heterosexual norm, the growth of young people into sexual adulthood is often fraught with confusion and difficulty. The Media Education Foundation [http://www.mediaed.org/] has produced a number of videos exploring the social construction and learning of gender and sexuality. Click on Videos to examine them, and choose one that seems relevant to this virtual exploration. Then click on Preview and Info (if these words turn out not to be hyperlinked, choose another which does have a preview) and click on Play Video (you will need RealPlayer and preferably a high speed connection) to see a preview of the video, which should give you a pretty good idea, in conjunction with the text description, of what it is about.
19. What is the name of the video you chose? 20. In the textbox below, describe the point about sexuality that the video seems to be making. Do you agree or disagree with it?
19. What is the name of the video you chose?
20. In the textbox below, describe the point about sexuality that the video seems to be making. Do you agree or disagree with it?
Close the Media Education window and return to the Sexuality in Cyberspace Virtual Exploration.
Sexuality issues incite political passions and are highly contested both in the United States and around the globe. This Exploration started by exploring sexual preference and identity as a human rights and as a civil rights issue. It has looked both at efforts to extend rights such as marriage to gay people as well as to protect them and others from hate crimes. These are areas of change around the world, and we saw that significant new laws, rights, and protections have been introduced in some countries and states. In the process we have seen how the internet has become an important way of both disseminating information and advocating particular points of view. In addition, there is evidence, supported by current research, that online communities have become important for sustaining minority sexual identities and overcoming the social isolation that many people have felt.
We also explored the social problem of prostitution. Two contrasting websites show that even within the framework of a generally-feminist perspective, significantly-different conclusions can be drawn about the best way to deal with this issue, a reminder once again of the complexities of sexuality and society's response to it. In all of this, we have seen that sexuality is socially constructed and is likely to remain a subject of negotiation and debate in society.
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