1 Reflective Journal Part 2 Nguyen Chu MacEwan University HLST-210-OP51 – 2021 Win – Human Sexuality Brian Parker and Corrie Maker April 4, 2021 2 Reflective Journal Entry #6 Her options are either parenting or putting the child up for adoption after he or she is born. What she should do depends on her and her husband (I assume husband because she is Catholic). It is understandable if they want to put the baby up for adoption since it is not the husband’s kid. She had an affair and did not use protection. The baby is likely going to be a walking, talking, breathing, living reminder of her infidelity. And I think demanding someone to get past that is asking too much. On the other hand, I can also understand why they would choose to parent the child. It is not the future kid’s fault. They did not choose to be conceived from an affair. They did not make the wife cheat on the husband. And given that abortion is off the table since doing so would go against the Church, the wife is obligated to this child, because she made the decisions that have directly led to it. But if because of the husband that she gives it up despite wanting to keep it, she will resent him, and it will eventually doom the marriage. If she keeps it despite her partner wanting it gone, he will resent her, and it will likely doom their marriage as well. Not to mention, from the child’s standpoint, they are better off being raised by one parent who loves them than by two parents who resent each other, and of whom one resents the kid. I think they are at an impasse where one of them has to lose in order for other one to win. There is no “half baby”; it is all in or all out. Therefore, I suppose the two most helpful sources of help for her now would be the Church to get an annulment and/or an attorney to get divorce. 3 Reflective Journal Entry #7 Sex work will always be stigmatized in a society like ours that still holds a lot of puritanical ideals around sex. That being said, I believe that prostitution should be legalized, specifically in Canada. With new movement and progressive ideals sweeping through the world, many individuals have adopted a mental attitude towards sexual expression following the lines of, "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, and all parties are consenting, then I have no problem with it." Legalized prostitution would ensure that both parties would always be consensual and thus would fulfill the criteria above. Furthermore, legalizing prostitution would allow for more regulation. I am envisioning this regulation to consist of licensing to prostitutes which can be revoke if drug use, STDs, etc... are detected. This would drastically reduce the spread of STDs from prostitution. This is vital as "[the] rates of STIs are from 5 to 60 times higher among sex workers than in general populations" (https://iqsolutions.com/section/ideas/sex-workers-and-stis-ignored-epidemic). Legalizing prostitution would also drastically lower sex trafficking as people would much prefer to hire a regulated prostitute who is vetted to be safe than the opposite. Lastly, regulation also means tax, which would mean more money for the government and the industry. I don't have specific numbers, but if implemented properly, legalizing prostitution could net the government money. It will also become taxable income that can go towards safety of the workers and everybody involved. Reflective Journal Entry #8 I think consent can be dubious or non-existent when there is a power imbalance. For that reason, there are laws about employers sleeping with employees, psychologists sleeping with 4 patients, and adults sleeping with minors, even if the employee, patient or teen allowed the sex act. BDSM scenes obviously have a power imbalance: Doms and subs, slaves and masters, one person tied up and the other free to move, etc. Participants will probably respond by calling it a pretend imbalance, but the imbalance between holding a whip and feeling one, or being tied up and being free to move, is literal and real. Even the emotional difference between someone who wants to yield and someone who wants to control is real. While sex acts between different personality types is obviously not automatically wrong, consent should be considered so that dominant individuals do not overpower submissive partners or make them give in to acts which they find traumatic, degrading, and personally harmful. Reflective Journal Entry #9 I do not find my beliefs and values about sex and sexualities necessarily changed, but rather broadened and deepened. There might be things I was into but afraid to share due to be fear and lack of support. Now, I surround myself with a group of sex-positive friends I knew from this course, as well as some people from outside. I'm more open to discussing sex and earning feedbacks/perspectives as the frequent and casual conversations we have has made it less of a taboo and more of a norm. Although I was accepting, I now find myself more pragmatic when it comes to STIs and AIDs; learning about and acknowledging the nature of them has made me see them more as a health issues and much less a social stigma issue. I have also become far more exploratory; I have dabbled on BDSM now, whereas before that I only realized my submissive nature and afraid to explore further. I have also learned a lot about boundaries and how to set them up, which is very important since I often prioritized the pleasure of my partners more than that of myself and regularly tried to please them at the expense of my comfort. Lastly, 5 I do not know if it is because of this course, but my comfort with my body seems to develop, ironically opposite to the state of my body. Before this course, I was so self-conscious of my body, and felt it wasn't good-looking or attractive at all. In reality it probably was the ‘sexiest’ it has ever been. Now, although I have gained some weight, I am feeling more comfortable with my body than ever. Reflective Journal Entry #10 The two aspects from this class that I will take with me forward are the knowledge I have gathered and the friends I have made throughout. I was late to a lot of knowledge about sex and sexualities. Similar to what I said in the Reflective Journal Entry #1, it was only first formally depicted in science textbooks for grade 5 so at about 10 years old but was just vaguely discussed. Then we learned about how it works properly in grade 6 or 7, but, still, very lackluster and insufficient. From then, most of my knowledge had been self-taught and self-explored. Only until now that I get to learn more about STDs and pregnancy prevention, about different types of sex, or how condoms work, etc... These knowledge about how we can get help should we get pregnant and also that abortions are an option in some cases and what good alternatives there are, or the ethical grey area of some sexual practices, etc. will definitely be helpful further down the line. Lastly, I cannot talk about the impact of this course on my life without talking about the friends I have made along the way. They have been very supportive and helpful, not only about schoolwork, but also about personal issues regarding sexualities that I have bottled up a lot throughout my childhood. Their existence also makes me realize the importance and needs of having sex-positive people around me whom I can discuss freely the matters that are difficult to openly discuss aloud.
