Module: 4

The
Sexual
Self
D

Justine Guillermo Joaquin

CEIT-03-101P
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, you will be able to:

 Explain the nature, concept and meaning of
sexual self-concept;
 Identify behavior towards understanding of
one’s sexuality; and
 Demonstrate understanding and acceptance
of one’s sexual self-concept.

CONTE
 1 Defining Sexual
Concept
Page 1
Page 1

2 Sexual and Sexuality in

Adolescent
Pages 1-2
Page 1

3 Sex, Gender, and Sexual

Orientation
Pages 2-3

 Heterosexual
Page 1  Homosexual
 Asexual
 Pansexual
4  Intersexed

Gender Pages 3-4

5 Identity
Aspects of Pages 3-5

Sexuality
 Sexual Pleasure
 Sexual Satisfaction
 Sexual Desire

6 References
 Sexual Agency

Defining Sexual Concept

Sexual self-concept is characterized as a person’s evaluation of his or her own sexual
feelings or actions.
A study in 2009 by Jokin De Irala was conducted among 4,000 Filipino students from third
year high school to third-year college, aimed at looking into their views on relationships, love
and sexuality. It was found in this study that the Filipino youth obtained information about
love and sexuality mainly from friends. However, they valued parent’s opinion more than
friends. In exploratory analyses among university students, sexual self-concept is found to
be associated with frequency of contraceptive use and use at most recent intercourse (de
Irala, et al., 2009). The sexual self-concept consists of four main factors:
 Information or event (external events that affect sexual function or effect aspects of
sexuality)
 Sexual esteem (cognitive, attitudes, sexual schemata)
 Sexual affect/feelings (feelings about sexuality and function), and
 Sexual behavior and function
Sex and Sexuality in Adolescent
Sex is a primary category of human social perception. (Strangor, Lynch, Duan and Glass,
1992). Judging a person as a male or female has been described as an automatic social-
cognitive process that is effortless, unintended, and involuntary.
At birth, each individual is classified by biological sex. Biological sex means whether
an individual is a girl or a boy. Generally speaking, a biologically prescribed characteristic
that differentiate males and females has been defined as sex. Sex can be defined using:
1. Chromosomes (XX or YX)
2. Gonads (ovaries/testes)
3. Gonadal hormones (estrogens or androgens/testosterone)
4. Internal accessory organs (fallopian tubes, uterus or vas deferens/ seminal vesicles)
5. External genitalia (clitoris, labia minora, vaginal orifice or penis, scrotum)
Individuals with mixed sexual configurations using these different biological criteria
are known as intersexed or intersexual (Macapagal, 2013).
Growth and development are continuous processes, which acquire a change an
individual, every moment. Development of sexuality begins as early as in intrauterine life
following conception and continues through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood till
death.
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
(HPA axis) is an interactive neuroendocrine
The hypothalamo-pituitary gonadal axis function unit comprising of the hypothalamus, the
is highly essential for the sexual development during pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The
puberty (PMC, 2015). hypothalamus is located in the brain and
the pituitary at the base of it, whereas the
adrenals are on top of the kidneys.

According to US National Library of Medicine (2015), adolescence can be broadly divided

into three stages:
 Early (10-13 years)
 Middle (14-16 years)
 Late (17-19 years)
During adolescence, cognitive development happens; adolescents develop abstract
thinking and reasoning. Emotionally, they build up a sense of identity during late
adolescence; social involvement, peer interaction, as well as sexual interest, develop in the
phase.
1
Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation
In 2015, the eminent psychologist Dr. Margie Holmes gave the a primer on Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer (LGBTQ) issues and definitions, raising that sex is
about biological dimensions of chromosomes, gonads, and hormones (Sayson & Nisperos,
2015).
 On the same primer, Dr. Holmes asserted that gender is psychosocial and cultural.
Concepts in gender studies include gender identity, gender roles, and gender stereotypes
(Sayson & Nisperos, 2015).
While an individual’s gender identity, on the other hand, refers to the intimate
knowledge and experience of the individuals own gender. The roles people play according to
their identified gender, or simply gender roles, refer to societal norms relating to perceived
sex. Gender expressions or how gender-binary or heteronormative paradigm where male
and female are the only acceptable genders, transgenders and transexual are ostracized
(Sayson & Niperos, 2015).
Holmes cited cases of transgender denied entry in both male and female public
restrooms in nightclubs. According to Holmes, studies have shown that transphobia
antagonism towards transsexuals and transgenders is often worse than homophobia. Seen
previously as a simple matter of sexual attraction the term has now come to include actions
and behavior in response to attraction. This sexual attraction is also commonly referred as
sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is a “enduring emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional attraction to
another person” (APA, 1998, p.1). Sexual orientation, as one of the aspect within the broad
umbrella of sexuality, is defined by the sex of the person to whom one is sexually attracted
to and has the potential of loving (Hyden, 1990). Following gendered expectations of
sexuality, males are expected to fall in love and be sexually attracted to females and females
are expected to fall in love and be sexually attracted to male. (Howard and Hollander, 1997
as cited by Macapagal).
The following are emerging nature of sexual orientation:

 Heterosexual is an attraction and behavior

towards the opposite sex,

 Homosexual is an attraction to the same sex,

 Bisexual is an attraction to both male and

female

 Asexual is a person who do not have

attraction towards any sex or gender.

2
 Pansexual, on the other hand, have the ability to be attracted to anyone regardless
of sex
Intersexed are people who fall outside the male and female dichotomy.
In a study conducted by Fausto- Sterling (2000), for every 1,000 children born, 17 are
intersexual in some form; that is 17 percent of the population, or roughly 2 in every 100
people. An example of intersexed individual is the male pseudo hermaphrodite who has a
defective androgen receptor. Male pseudo hermaphrodites look like normal women, with
well-developed breasts, long legs, flawless complexion, with the added height of a man.
When they fail to menstruate, their intersexuality is discovered. It is soon discovered that
their vagina ends blindly with no uterus, fallopian tubes or upper vagina. Instead, a normal-
testes is buried in the groin or labia.
Ultimately, however, Holmes stressed that sex is "a three-letter word needing four
letter words to convey its true meaning—heal, give, take, and love" (Rappler, 2015).
Gender Identity
Gender identity is perceived as subjective and based on self-identification (Shively &
De Cecco, 1993 as cited in Social Psychology in the Philippine Context, 2013). It is defined
as a personal conception of oneself as male or female a blend of both or neither—how
individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be
the same or different from their sex assigned at birth. Gender identity is often assumed to
match one's biological sex. However, human experience shows proof that one's biological
sex may not always match one's psychological gender (Golden, 2009).

Kevin Balot - a transgender. The first Filipina transgender

who won and crowned as the Miss International Queen
2012 held in Pattaya, Thailand.

BB Gandang Hari – Rustom Padilla’s legal identity has

been changed to Binibini GandangHari, and her gender
formally recognized as female. A Los Angeles court
approved the name and gender change documents.

Jake Zyrus (born Charmaine Clarice Relucio

Pempengo; May 10, 1992), who performed under the
mononym Charice until his gender transition to male
as Filipino singer who rose to popularity through
YouTube.
 Aiza Seguerra – Spoke at length about his sexual
orientation in an interview on “Aquino and Abunda
Tonight” back in August 2014. Seguerra said he realized
that he is transgender after along time of having
unanswered questions.

Geraldin Roman – is the first transgender

politician in the Philippines. Roman won a
seat in the first district of Bataan in the
2016 elections. A graduate student in
Applied Mathematics, she was the first
transgender head of the student council at
the University of the Philippines.

Aspects of Sexuality
There are several researches today that focus on the aspects of sexuality. These include
the sexual pleasure, sexual satisfaction, sexual desire, sexual agencies and sexual self-
concept. Below are the definitions of these terms.
Sexual Pleasure. The emotional satisfaction that arises from the movement of those organs
and secretions that aid the act of procreation. This pleasure reaches its peak in a healthy
man in the pleasure that accompanies the emission of seed or in women and youth below
the age of puberty in the diffusion of some secretion from the sexual glands. (Trinity
Communications, 2017)
Sexual Satisfaction. Feeling fulfilled and satisfied with one's sexual life, may include both
physical and psychological/ emotional satisfaction (Higgins, Trussell, Moore, & Davidson,
2010)

Sexual Desire. A motivational state that generates increased attention to sexual stimuli, and
variable subjective and physiologic arousal (Basson & Schultz, 2007).

Sexual Agency. Agency is the ability to act in a way that accomplishes your goals.
4
(Madsen, 2014) To have agency in an area of your life is to have the capacity to act in a way
that can produce the results you want. In sexuality, when we say "sexual agency," it is
composed of complex group of skills, rights and abilities. According to Madsen (2014),
sexual agency includes:

 The ability to define yourself sexually - whether that means along the
heterosexuality/homosexuality spectrum, along the spectrum that runs from asexual
to highly interested in sex, or both.
  The ability to choose Whether or not you want to experience sexual activity – both in
general and with a specific person at a specific time in a specific way.

 The ability to choose how you want to engage in sexual activity.

 The ability to stop engaging in a sexual act that is no longer wanted or to refuse an
act that was never desired.
In other words, if you have this sexual agency, you are in control of what is the
"must" and "limitations" when it comes to your sex life. Your sexuality is defined by your
choices and not by the perceptions of others.

References:
De Irala, J., Osorio, A., del Burgo, C.L., Belen, A.V., de Guzman, F. O., Calatrava, M. C., &5
Torralba, A.N. (2009). Relationships, love and sexuality: what the filipino teens think and
feel.PubMed.Gov.Retrieved from DOI:10.1186/1471-2458-9-282
Golden, C. (2000). The intersexed and transgender: Rethinking sex/gender. In Chrisler,J.c,
Golden, C., & Rozee, P.D (Eds), Lectures on the psychology of women (2nd ed), 81-95.
Boston: Mc Graw-Hill Higher Education.
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