Sexual Issues and Controversies

Sexuality lies n the heart of a number of controversies in the United states today. Here are a few key issues: teen pregnancy, pornography, prostitution, and sexual violence. These are all major issues when it comes to teens and sex, but I'm only going to focus on abstinence. The reason I chose abstinence is because my 14 year old son was just in a Purity Ceremony this weekend.

A purity ball is a formal dance  event attended by fathers and their daughters which promotes virginity until marriage for teenage girls. Typically, daughters who attend a purity ball make a virginity pledge to remainsexually abstinent until marriage. Fathers who attend a purity ball make a promise to protect their young daughters' "purity of mind, body, and soul."^[1] Proponents of these events contend that they encourage close and deeply affectionate relationships between fathers and daughters, thereby avoiding the premarital sexual activity that allegedly results when young women seek love through relationships with young men.^[2]Critics assert that the balls promulgate messages encroaching upon women's freedom,^[2] promote anti-feminist ideals, and ignore homosexuality.^[3] They also assert that purity balls define a woman's worth by her virginity rather than her whole being, actions and attitudes, and emphasize her role as a possession to be passed by her father to her husband.^[4]

The children went through 12 weeks of educational classes that lasted an hour to and hour and a half long, where they were given opportunities to ask different guest questions. The classes ranged from sexually transmitted diseases, to how to build a relationship with God, budgeting, peer pressure, violence, teen pregnancy, and there were even a Psychologist once as a guest speaker.
The ceremony was frowned upon by some people because they felt that the children were too young. Truth of the matter is the children made the commitment on their own free will and the ages ranged from 14- 18 years old. The two oldest pledgees were upcoming Seniors in High School. They were told to just lead by example,everyones journey will not be understood by society,nor does it have to be. Even though the teen pregnancy rate has declined over the past few decades, the fact of the matter is that the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of the Western industrialized world. It is true that the teen pregnancy and birth rate was much higher prior to 1980 (and especially in the 1950s and 1960s), but at the time young women were getting married and having children before the age of 20. Most of the teen pregnancies occurring before 1980 were to married women; now most of today's teen mothers are unwed. Here are some more interesting teen pregnancy statistics:
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Religion

Here comes one of the most controversial topics in our society......religion, a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a super human agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs according to Dictionary.com
There are over 79 different types of religion, which is not a shocker to me. I  personally feel that each human being is original and should be allowed to practice whatever spirituality they choose to help them throughout their life. My religion is Christianity, which was instilled in me at an early age. My grandmother would take me to church every Sunday , where I would praise and worship the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  I still rely on going to church on Sunday to hear spirtual gospel music, it cams me, it brings my soul at ease. One of my favorite songs is "Come on in The Room"  by The Georgia Mass Choir. The lady singing reminds me of my grandmother and greatmother in church and at home. I think religion is whatever gets you through life situations. Christianity is said to be the worlds largest religion, and the most contradicting as well. There are a lot of questions that arise about the bible for instance about the creation of religion.




Christians share a certain set of beliefs that they hold as essential to their faith, though there are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible on which Christianity is based.^[24]
The Ten Commandments are  set of basic profound instructions that instructs you on how to lead you to a moral life. 
Religion in its past was used by people in ways that benefited them. Slave owners would read bible scriptures to the slaves to give them something to look forward to. The words of the Lord watching over them and protecting them would give them hope that there would be better days coming for them. The slaves would use the Bible scriptures that were read to them as motivation to keep going. The slave owners did not care how the hard labor and abuse they  felt. They just needed something to keep their spirits lifted.  The maintenance of religion is truly up to the individual to be the judge, I do feel that some of the transcripts have been altered.






 The Bible was once written in Hebrew and is now translated in over 500 languages and it would be impossible for some of the details to be exactly the way it was written. I feel like even though Bible Scholars were said to have translated the bible the message has been distorted. I feel like in some cases it is best use your own judgement. I do however take Faith seriously. The individual needs to build personal relationship with God or whatever higher power they believe in and society should not judge.

Sex & Gender

Gender refers to the meaning a culture attaches to being a female or male.


Evidence that gender is rooted in culture includes global comparisons  of how people  in society define what is feminine and what is masculine.Society is conditioned to give more power to men over women.  Throughout our history, women have had to fight for women's rights.




Patriarchy varies throughout history and from different societies.
gender becomes part of our personalities and our actions/. Gender roles  also known as sex roles attitudes and activates that a society links each to sex.


After the women's rights ,movement, a majority of women are now in the paid labor force, but 39% hold clerical or service jobs. This gender difference in results in earnings being less for women than men due to differences in jobs, differences in family responsibilities, and discrimination.


Gender Stratification shapes  family life, most unpaid housework is performed by women, whether or not they hold jobs outside the home.

Pregnancy and raising small children keep many women out of the labor force.
There are now laws set in place to secure women's jobs while they are on maternity leave.


Until a century ago, almost no women held any elected office in the United States.

 The number of women in politics has increased significantly. Women only make up 14% of the military though.



The Structural-functional theory suggest that distinctive roles for males and females reflect biological differences between the sexes. Inn industrial societies, marked gender inequality becomes dysfuncional and gradually decreases.
Its just enlightening to know that everyday women are moving closer to equal treatment as men, even though its  like turtle steps.

Solving Social Problems

Solving Social Problems will take A LOT OF WORK!!!!! Our Society's way of  thinking and behaving will have to be completely reconditioned.  I will start with racism which I feel is the most influential issue! Racism is so deeply rooted, it is a generational curse. Racism consists of ideologies and practices that seek to justify, or cause, the unequal distribution of privileges, rights or goods among different racial groups. Modern variants are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. It may also hold that members of different races should be treated differently.^[1][2][3]
  racism started from the time the United States was taken away fro m the Native Americans.







 Then they removed, relocated, and used African Americans as slaves,to do hard labor in their "new found" land.


The inequality in the United Sates would have to be addressed. There is unequal  earnings, and work, with the richest 20% of families earning more than twelve times as much as the poorest 20% of families. This is due the social class that our society is divided in. Wealth, power, occupational prestige in so unfairly distributed, that it would be hard to convince the high class that they need to share their wealth. I personally feel like the slaves did the hard labor, came up with genius inventions, had families destroyed and the whites made a profit.



Will Social Stratification ever disappear? I sure hope so!  There will also have to be a better understanding of Humanity in order to deal with our ongoing issue of Homelessness.

We are human beings and we all deserve to have the same opportunities, though some may not prosper,from different races we should all be treated equally.

Food/Income /Healthy Eating

There are several challenges that people in our society face when trying to remain healthy through exercise and diet.

1. According to Wikipedia: A healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, adequate essential amino acids from protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and adequate calories.
2. 
3. A healthy diet starts at home as a child. As children we tend to develop our lifestyle, identity, values and food preferences. People in the lower income bracket tend to have the most unhealthy eating habits that sometimes lead to obesity and other health conditions such as diabetes. According to the USDA, lower income homes tend have  diets that are high in sugar. This is not only because the family simply can not afford to purchase  the fresher foods but also do not have the time to prepare the healthy meals.
4. The issue of diets high in sugar are also found in the schools. First Lady, Michelle Obama, realized this issue and took it heart. She has been an advocate of exercise and fresh fruits and vegetables since she moved into the White House. She set in place the Let's Move Program, that is designed to encourage children to exercise and eat healthier foods. She even invited children to the White House to help plant a garden.

Sugar plays an important role in the issue of healthy eating. Sugar is a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are the most important fuel for our brains and provide our bodies with the energy our organs need to function. Just like other carbohydrates, such as starch, sugar provides 4 kilocalories (kcal) or 17 kilojoule (kJ) of energy per gram. This is the same as proteins, but it is lower than fat and alcohol.

 The truth about sugar, is quite enlightening and addictive!

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Race & Ethnicity/Selma/Police Shootings

Race and Ethncity will always be an issue that causes a lot of conflict, discrimination, and cuse for tension inour society because we are conditioned to be segregated. The United States has a racially and ethnically diverse population.The census officially recognizes six ethnic and racial categories: White American, Native American and Alaska Native, Asian American, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races; a race called "Some other race" is also used in the census and other surveys, but is not official. The United States Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that composes the largest minority group in the nation.




Ethnicity is a  shared cultural heritage, and race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important. Even though our traits of our different skin tones are determined by the different demographic regions that our anestors derived form, and  we are all human beings and a product of migration,  and members of a single biological species.

If we are developed in the same manner, why is the color of our skin, such an issue?  It all goes back to race being a matter of social definitions and how the true story of America becoming our land.  When the land was "conquered" by Christopher Columbus, as we were taught in school, geometrically the land was "taken" from Native Americans,  they were slayed and their homes were destroyed, and were forced out of their reserves, makes so much more sense. African Americans being sold and traded as a piece of property rather than treated the same as a human being, here is the true American History.
The way our nation was founded lead to the issues racial issues on the movie Selma, a 2014 historical drama film  based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by James Bevel,^[3][4] Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis. In the film there were several racial and ethnic tensions that still exist in our society today like discrimination and racial profiling. Our society is conditioned to still  stereotype African Americans on appearance, beliefs, values, and job opportunities. Thank God we have overcome the right to be able to vote, but it  took  several protests, several, lives, and lots of abuse both physically and emotionally.



Police brutality today close resembles the brutality in Selma to me. Its like deja vu.

This image is in San Francisco in 2013.



Eric Garner, an unarmed father of six who was not resisting arrest, begged for his life and said over and over again that he couldn't breathe as he was choked to death. This is the last time Eric Garner was seen alive. As we can see in this photo, his hands are visible,all the way to the ground. To make your own opinion about the incident  you can watch the video. The officers were not charged with murder in this case.

Homelessness

 An extreme concern of Humanity,is a nationwide issue, that has one of the least appealing success rates, yet it's a social problem that receives a lot of attention. Humanity is all humankind collectively, generating kindness and benevolence.  I feel you must know the definition in order to be concerned about the desperate need for Humanity. When I  say concern OF Humanity, its because I don't feel a lot of people even "understand" the meaning of the word.

Just last year, the national poverty rate rose to include 13.2% of the population.  1 in 7 people were at risk of suffering from hunger in the United States. In addition, 3.5 million people were forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, in shelter or cars. Now, if Homelessness is a topic that needs to have better numbers, I don't know of any reason a human being should have to sleep outside. 3.5 MILLION people had to sleep outdoors last year.

In The United States, government acknowledges four categories of people who qualify as legally homeless:

1. Those who are currently homeless
2. Those who will become homeless in the imminent future 
3. Certain youths and families with children who suffer from home instability caused by a hardship
4. Those who suffer from home instability caused by domestic violence

The reasons behind citizens becoming homeless are very detailed and explained in the census, yet the resolution to the issues are very foggy and unclear as to the plans and programs that need to put in place to help resolve the issues. Here in Columbia, South Carolina Organizations are set in place that assist people that have fallen into the homeless population for whatever reasons, and tries to provide shelter as well as a plans and opportunities to help them get out of the homeless situation, Sadly and thankfully at the same time a lot of the people in these organizations are volunteers because they are non-profit organizations and are not funded by the government.

There are however plans  set in place by the city council to "relocate" the homeless from the Downtown area  and have them shipped to the outskirts of  the city because business owners feel that the homeless residents  interfere with the profits of their companies. The plan, seems to be very unconstitutional to me because it prohibits the residents from returning to the Downtown area, and if they do they can face the possibility of being placed under arrest if they do not have a place of residence.

 Here in Columbia, S.C. it was once a regular scene in Finley Park to see different churches or caring citizens, set up to feed the homeless, using their own funds and food, now there is a law set in place where that can no longer happen It make me wonder how people can sleep at night knowing that they are fine with saying that you can not feed a person that is hungry!

 

 I feel that the solution to homelessness is going to have to start with a program to rehabilitate the homless first. If I were in control I would build a housing development of apartments that would get the residents off the streets immediately. The development would be a community that would be fully equipped with a medical facility, a Laundromat, a grocery store, an educational institute, a bank, and child development center. There will be jobs in each area and the residents will be trained and become employees were they can earn income to save and eventually pay for their own apartment and necessities. I feel like we have to help our citizens not relocate them and sweep the issue under the rug.