1. 1
How Culture & Religion
Affect My Sexuality
Mia Orlandi
4-07-15
Seat #24
SSCI-114
2. 1
Culture and Religion are very influential when it comes to my sexuality. In the 23 years
that I have been alive, I have been exposed to countless methods of influence that determines my
sexual attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. I wouldn't be the person I am today without these
influences, both positive and negative. I will discuss how society, peers, and culture have
influenced my sexuality in great detail.
American society has made up a great deal of my attitudes towards sexuality. Planned
parenthood clinics are in almost every medium sized town, which makes care and help easily
accessible. I always knew that if I were to get pregnant or needed birth control, I know that those
places were there to help me. Seeing clinics like that made me less scared to ask questions and
seek help because I know that they are designed for girls my age who are looking for assistance,
care and help regarding sex and sexuality. This honestly made it easier to have sex in college. In
addition to this, sex education classes are taught all through middle school and high school, and
they continue on in college if desired. These classes affected my attitudes on sexuality because
they showed me that sex is normal and natural and puberty happens to everyone. These classes
almost always showed a baby being born as well, which affected me and all of my classmates
who swore to never have a child after seeing that. This may have only worked for the rest of high
school, but it did its job in some way. Sex education teachers almost always had a “question
box” as well, which made it easy for my peers and I to ask questions which made me develop an
attitude of ease and comfort towards my sexuality.
Peers of all kinds have affected my sexuality attitudes and beliefs in many ways. First off,
my parents had my sister and I when they were in their early 40’s, so my sister and I have been
raised to not have kids until you are financially ready and stable. This has made a big impact on
3. 2
my life because many people I know already have children or are excited to get out of college
and start a family. My parents also told me to be safe and wouldn’t let go to a boyfriends house
unattended until I was an appropriate age. this affected my attitudes towards sex because I
realized that it was something that I should probably wait until the future to continue doing and
that they didn’t want me to ruin my life and end up pregnant. I continued to grow up thinking
that my life would never be the same if I had a child, and that has influenced me enough today
where I don’t know if I ever even want children. I still continue to think about my life depending
on someone else and my plans and dreams being altered, even if I was financially ready. My
parents changed my attitude on this so long ago, and these beliefs have continued to stay with me
today. My friends in high school have impacted my sexuality, since they all began to have sex
and other sexual acts when they were 13-15. This influenced me to want to try things and
therefore I ended up having sex around the age of 15. The boys in my high school also impacted
my views on my own body, since they were always making comments about my breasts or
behind, which led me to understand that those are man’s desired assets on the opposite sex. My
boyfriend has also changed my beliefs and attitudes on sex. He has had many sexual partners
before me, which at first I found repulsive and disgusting. But after learning more about him, I
realized that he is a very sexual person and I began to understand and change my beliefs.
Our culture is very influential on my attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Turning on the TV
or looking at a magazine advertisement, I see thousands of beautiful women who are extremely
sexualized. These TV shows and advertisements all use sexuality to sell their products or
increase viewers. This leads to me believe that sex is more than just a bond between a man and a
woman, but a very taboo and superficial part of American culture. In addition to this, seeing
4. 3
women with perfect bodies and faces make me feel like I may not be pretty enough or have a fit
enough body. American boys drool over these types of girls and sometimes I wonder if the
normal American girl is even good enough. This “perfect woman” stereotype has even made its
way to children's toys, such as dolls and television shows. This creates a stereotypical image that
a young girl feels like she has to follow and become. I know that when I was growing up, I
played with dolls which had huge breasts and tiny waists, which influenced my beliefs on
woman and their bodies at a very young age. Another thing that our cultures and many other
cultures have is pornography popping up everywhere. You can find it at gas stations, and it pops
up all over the internet. Pornography has given me the idea that you must act a certain way
during sex, and look a certain way, otherwise you are doing it wrong. I now know that isn’t true,
but when I was younger I would always assume that that’s how sex was.
As you can see, society, peers, and culture all have affected my sexual beliefs, attitudes
and actions. Without these influences, whether they are negative or positive, I wouldn’t be the
person I am today. Before this assignment, I had no idea how much these factors changed my
way of thinking and I found this project to be very interesting. Thank you.
