Week Four

What I wish the World Knew about Gender and Same Gender Attraction

ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

For a preparation assignment, we watched a documentary called Men, Women and the Sex Difference. In this documentary, the opinion that “we badly need to raise our boys more like our girls” was expressed. This is a view that is beginning to permeate our society. We consider gender a matter of choice, something that can be decided by the individual, something that is merely created by societal expectations. That view runs completely contradictory to the understanding that gender is essential to our roles, both before we came to this earth, now, and throughout the eternities. In class, we talked about how “If you and I are the same, one of us is unnecessary.” Men and Women are created differently- for a divine purpose- and each is critical. Together, we balance each other out. Here is an example of some gender-oriented characteristics. Look to see how they are complementary to the other gender, and can work together in tandem.

Girls/Women

Sensitive

Observant, Detail Oriented

Landmarks

Cooperative

Relationship Oriented

Boys/Men

Aggressive

Spatial Orientation

Competitive

Self-Reliant

Task Oriented

In Marriage, especially, these qualities and characteristics can work together to form a team ideal for raising children, and managing successfully in this world. They have the capability to complete and perfect each other.

So how does Gender tie into Same Gender Attraction? In class we discussed a model called the Exotic to Erotic Model, that Bro. Williams said explained the situation that fit most of those that he counseled.

Ideas to Ponder:

·         What harm might the Labels “gay” “homosexual” and “lesbian” be doing?

·         What role does the representation of this lifestyle in the media play in the promotions of it?

·         What role might legalizing same sex marriage play in the promotion of the lifestyle?

·         Understanding the influence of society, how might you respond to someone who has just “come out”? How important is it that they feel loved and supported?

·         Extra Sources of Interest:

·         http://www.joshweed.com/2012/06/club-unicorn-in-which-i-come-out-of.html

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0jXg-hKCI