Sexuality As Process Essay, Research PaperThe purpose of this essay, is to seek and set up if gender, is an innatebiological procedure that takes topographic point as a consequence of our familial makeup or wethergender is a consequence of our cultural back land and the environment in whichwe are raised. These two differing theories are known as the nature/nurtureargument, nature stand foring the biological theory for our gender and raisingstand foring environmental influences for our behavior. The first portion of theessay, will concentrate on the biological side of our gender and will set frontwardtheories by Barnard, Hamer and Young, who will reason the point, that ourgender is established at the fetal phase of our development. It is at thisearly phase of life, that cistrons carry specific information about who we are. Acistron is a unit of familial that our gender is established through and thecistrons determine the biological features of an person, both physicallyand mentally.

The essay will so give further grounds that our gender isbiologically driven, by depicting the alterations our organic structures undergo when we reachpubescence, alterations that are triggered by hormonal passages. Hormones arechemical couriers, they send massages from secretory organs around the organic structure, whichtriggers a response in other parts of our anatomy. The essay will give groundsthat, endocrines are a biological index that we are biologically driventowards our gender. The 2nd portion of the essay will reason that, genderis greatly influenced by environmental factors, environmental factors such asrise uping manners and differing cultural practises. It will look at differentsocieties and the manner in which they perceive gender and argue that genderis learned through a combination of expected societal norms and experimentalacquisition, giving grounds from Bandura, Mead and Money along the manner. Finallythe essay will look at the grounds that has been put frontward and sum up whathas been debated, it will so pull a decision. From the point of construct,human existences are made up of 46 chromosomes, 23 male and 23 female. Afterinsemination, paternal and maternal chromosomes fuse, this merger determines thesex of the kid.

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The merger of two X chromosomes creates a female kid,while the combination of X and Y chromosomes, leads to the development of a maleoffspring. Each chromosome contains 1000s cistrons and each cistron containsspecific information about how portion of the organic structure will be formed. Genes areresponsible for about every facet of the human organic structure, from hair coloring material to thedevelopment of our variety meats, variety meats like the encephalon and it is within the encephalon werethe biggest alterations take topographic point when our organic structures under go their sexualmetamorphic, during sexual ripening. When we reach sexual adulthood, we haveour first penetration into our gender, an penetration which is genetically programmedinto our consciousness through our Deoxyribonucleic acid, this theory is supported by the work ofhamer et Al ( 1993 ) who conducted a survey of male sexual orientation. “ Hamerexamined 40 braces of homosexual brothers.

He examined 22 familial markers distributedacross the X chromosome in order to see if brothers concordant forhomosexualism, were besides accordant for the markers. He found that thechromosomal part of xq28, at the tip of the long arm of the X chromosome, 33of the 40 braces of brothers shared all the markers. This was statisticallydifferent from the expected rate ( 20 out of 40 ) suggesting that the cistronact uponing male sexual orientation, lies within that chromosomal part ”In this survey, Hamer along with many other fellow geneticists, is claiming thathe has found the cistron which dictates our sexual orientation, hence cistrons area precursor to our gender and our gender is decided at an anatomical degreein the uterus. Whilst in the uterus, it seems that our gender is being preprogrammed by our cistrons but there are other biological developments takingtopographic point, viz. the formation of our endocrines, endocrines which will lie hibernatinguntil the oncoming of pubescence. “ The hypothalamus an of import co-ordinatingCentre in the encephalon, signals the oncoming of pubescence. The hypothalamus stimulates asecretory organ merely below it, the hypophysis, to release endocrines ( chemical courierscarried in the blood ) . These are carried to other hormonal releasing secretory organs.

Intheir bend these let go of other endocrines which regulate physical growing anddevelopment ” ( DR Christian Barnard. 1981 ) The two chief endocrines released atsexual adulthood are testosterone for males and oestrogen for females. WhenTestosterone is distributed throughout the sexually maturating male, his testicleswill enlarge and get down bring forthing sperm. His organic structure will get down to turn pubic hair,his voice will intensify, his musculuss will go larger and he will demo moreaggression when seeking to asseverate his maleness. By comparing, the industryof oestrogen within the adolescent female will advance rather differentdevelopments throughout her organic structure. She will develop chests, her hips will turnand widen, she will turn pubic hair and most significantly she will get down hercatamenial rhythm, significance, like the sexually maturating male, she will holdattained full generative capacity. So hence, it seems that it istestosterone what gives adult male his maleness and it is oestrogen that helpsset up adult females muliebrity.

This theory is given support by an experimentcarried out by W.C.Young.

Young carried out an experiment on a pregnant monkey,that was transporting a female fetus, she gave the primate big day-to-day doses of themale endocrine testosterone to seek and determine if the endocrine would hold anyconsequence on the monkey & # 8217 ; s gender. When it was born, the female monkey behaved ina much more self-asserting and aggressive mode, than other females of her sort, herbehavior was noted to be more like that of a male monkey. She participated inall the rambunctious activity with the male members of her species and challengedthem in battles, which helped set up her societal position amongst the malemonkeys. Other experiments have shown that monkeys injected with testosteronebetween birth and pubescence, developed similar assertive, typically male behavior.These instance surveies put frontward, argue exactly the point, that it is biologicalfactors that decide our gender and we are hence biologically driventowards our gender.

*************** The raising theory, put merely, agenciesthat our gender is non the consequence of our biological science ( nature ) but instead that ourgender and features are socially learned through experience. A surveyby Albert Bandura et Al ( 197- ) has shown how “ kids learn their functionsfrom those influential theoretical accounts they observe around them, peculiarly theirparents. If the two sexes are treated otherwise and have differentoutlooks of their behavior so they will larn to act otherwise.These differences include their gender and this might be papering them for thesort of societal functions that they find them selves in later ” In thisstatement, Bandura is seeking to state us that the kernel of who we are and whowe perceive our egos to be, is acquired at an early age, through experimentalacquisition and it is through experimental acquisition that we develop our construct ofsocietal norms.

Social norms are expected forms of behavior that develop inany societal group over clip, they become a major portion of our civilization and one portionof that civilization is the perceptual experience of our gender. In the 1930s, a societalanthropologist named Margaret Mead ( 193- ) carried out a survey of the sexualfunctions of a native Indian society known as the Tchambuli people, who lived on theisland of New Guinea. Mead found “ dramatic differences in the ways male childs andmisss are treated and in the personalities and behavior of the grownups whichappeared as a consequence ” Mead discovered that the adult females of the Tchambulipeople socialised their male kids to be artistic, originative and sentimental.The grownup males would sit around the small town gossipmongering, doing themselves lookreasonably and they by and large took over the function as the female gender. The adult females onthe other manus had assumed the lead in all affairs, they were competitory,aggressive, they were the huntsmans and conducted all the trade necessary fortheir small town. Mead concuded, that it was a “ classical gender functionreversal ” This survey helps to turn out, that how we are raised and otherenvironmental factors, aid determine our sexuality/gender. A survey by John Money,determined that it was environmental factors that helped a immature Judaic male child ( oneof indistinguishable twins ) set up his gender after holding his phallus damagedduring a Circumcision operation.

His phallus was so severely damaged, that hisphysicians came to the decision, he would non be able to work as a male andhence, at the age of 17 months, it was decided to do him into afemale. The male child had surgery and a class of endocrine intervention began. With femalesocialization, the kid shortly began acting like other misss. By the clip thekid had reached the age of five, the differences between the twins wasconsiderable. She enjoyed feminine things such as playing with dolls, holding herhair brushed and seting on make-up, by the clip she had reached maturity, shewas identical from any other female of her ain age. If sexual functions weredetermined by innate forces so such a alteration in behavior would non hold beenpossible, as this female was genetically male. The first portion of this essayargued that, gender is a biologically goaded procedure that is established inthe uterus. It reviled our gender is decided from the minute of construct,through the fertilisation of the female egg cell.

It so took a more in-depth expressionat the biological side of our gender by looking at our familial make-up. Itshowed that a survey by Hammer had indicated that it was possible to turn up thecistron that is responsible for our gender by analyzing same sex household members.The essay so farther substantiated that our gender is a biological procedure,by giving a descriptive history of how hormonal alterations affect the human organic structure,when we reach ripening.

It showed how an experiment by W.C.Young, helped toturn out that endocrines play a major function in our gender, by shooting the femalefetus of a monkey with the male endocrine testosterone. She found, after themonkey was born, it was more predisposed to being male than it was female.

Sheconcluded, that in all chance, it was because of the testosteroneinjections. The 2nd portion of the essay concentrated on the nurture side of ourgender and tried to set up if our gender could be shaped byenvironmental factors. It gave an history of a survey by Bandura, which showedthat kids use experimental acquisition, to assist them understand theirindividuality. Bandura argued that “ kids imitate influential theoretical accounts aroundthem. They try to populate up to people & # 8217 ; s outlooks of them, outlooksincluding gender and this can take to a ego carry throughing prophesy inmaturity ” In the 1930s, Mead studied the native Indian people of NewGuinea and found dramatic differences in the manner they reared their kidscompared to other civilizations. She observed that the gender functions were reversed,male childs were raised as females and misss reared as males. She determined this hadenduring branchings on their gender and gender in big life.

Moneyconducted a survey of a immature male child whose phallus was damaged in a bungledCircumcision operation. The organ was so severely damaged that it was decided totransform him into a female. After socializing and raising him as a miss, moneynoted that he had become mentally and physically identical from anyother female of his ain age. This essay has examined both sides of the statementof how we get our gender and after giving much idea, has come to thedecision, that although our environment plays an of import portion in our sexualdevelopment, it is an unconditioned biological procedure that determines our gender.It is our cistrons that dictate gender and hence our gender isgenetically programmed within us at the earliest phases of fetal development.