GEC 1 Understanding the Self (Module 5: The Sexual Self) - General education subject - CHED-based (for College level)

1. GEC 1 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
Module 5 (Week 8 to Week 9)
 The Sexual Self
Prepared by: Nancy Jane D. Victorino, RPm, LPT

2. DISCUSSION
CILO (Course Intended Learning Outcome/s):
 Understand the differences between sex and gender.
 Identify the main changes that happen during puberty.
 Understand the three stages of love and the hormones involved
in the process.
 Articulate the importance of having awareness towards
sexuality and gender issues.
 Discuss the relevance of Family Planning in the contemporary
world.

3. I. Sex and Gender: What’s the
Difference?
Sex refers to a set of biological
attributes in humans and
animals.
https://thelogicalindian.com/h-upload/2020/01/27/163086-abc.jpg
Gender refers to the socially
constructed roles, behaviours,
expressions and identities of
girls, women, boys, men, and
gender diverse people.

4. II. Understanding Puberty Thoroughly
Puberty is the time in life when
a boy or girl becomes sexually
mature. It is a process that
usually happens between ages
10 and 14 for girls and ages 12
and 16 for boys. It causes
physical changes, and affects
boys and girls differently.
https://www.realperiodproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/puberty-1024x832.jpg

5. II. Understanding Puberty Thoroughly
https://www.agelessmedica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/puberty-sexology.jpg

6. Hormones
Hormones, chemical messengers produced by the body's glands, travel through the
bloodstream to affect:
• Growth
• Sexual characteristics
• The ability to have children
• Metabolism
• Personality
• Mood swings
Although the trigger that starts puberty is not yet fully understood, sometime between the
ages of seven and eleven in girls, and nine and a half to thirteen and a half in boys, the
pituitary gland at the base of the brain releases two hormones that signal a girl's ovaries to
start producing the female sex hormone, estrogen, and a boy's testicles to start producing

7. Hormones
Sex hormones instruct reproductive organs to develop or mature in preparation for one
day being able to have children. Estrogen and testosterone also cause the development
of secondary sex characteristics, which lead to male-female differences, such as
women's breasts and rounded hips, and men's facial hair and muscle development. The
maturing ovaries and testicles make increasing amounts of sex hormones, further
promoting the process of puberty.

8. III. The Three Stages of Love and the
Hormones Involved in the Process
https://i0.wp.com/sitn.hms.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Table-1.png?resize=720%2C381
According to anthropology professor
Helen Fisher, there are three stages
of falling in love. In each stage, a
different set of brain chemicals run
the show.
Lust is driven primarily by the hormones
testosterone in men and estrogen in women.
In the second stage, you begin to obsess about
your lover and crave his presence. These feelings
are created by three chemicals: norepinephrine,
dopamine, and serotonin.
Attachment involves wanting to make a more
lasting commitment to your loved one. If things are
going well, it gets replaced by the hormones
oxytocin and vasopressin, which create the desire
to bond, affiliate with, and nurture your partner.

9. IV. Gender Stereotyping and Why it Needs
to Stop
https://ideas.ted.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/3/2019/06/web_ready_03_gender_fluidity.jpg
A gender stereotype is a
generalized view or preconception
about attributes or characteristics,
or the roles that are or ought to be
possessed by, or performed by
women and men. A gender
stereotype is harmful when it limits
women’s and men’s capacity to
develop their personal abilities,
pursue their professional careers
and make choices about their
lives.

10. V. Diving Deeper into Other Sexuality and
Gender Issues
Societies across the world have experienced large-
scale social change related to gender and
sexuality. For example, despite some
intensification of homophobic attitudes and laws in
a number of countries, the global trend has been
towards increasing legal rights for gay, lesbian and
bisexual people (Smith, 2011). Transgender issues
continue to be a cultural battleground, but a
growing movement, connected through social
networks, recognizes the importance of combatting
transphobia as a human rights issue. Experiences
in other parts of the world are radically diverse but
too often marginalised in research in the global
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicky-Le-Feuvre/publication/305300895/figure/fig3/AS:593524873502720@1518518765004/The-
composition-of-the-European-Gender-Equality-Index-2015.png

11. LGBTQIA+ Terminology:
General Definitions
V. Diving Deeper into Other Sexuality and
Gender Issues
https://journal.getabstract.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ga_educateyourself-prommobox-1140-gA.jpg

12. VI. Understanding Family Planning
https://www.winnetworkdetroit.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Family-Planning.png
Family Planning (FP) is
having the desired number of
children and when you want
to have them by using safe
and effective modern
methods. Proper birth spacing
is having children 3 to 5 years
apart, which is best for the
health of the mother, her child,
and the family.

13. Why Is Family Planning Important?
https://slideplayer.com/slide/3849278/13/images/11/Family+Planning+Is+Important%21.jpg
Unintended pregnancies include
pregnancies that are reported by
women as being mistimed or
unwanted. Almost half (45%) of the
6.1 million annual pregnancies in the
United States are unintended.
Unintended pregnancies are
associated with many negative health
and economic consequences. The
public cost of births resulting from
unintended pregnancies was
estimated at $21 billion in 2010 (this
figure includes costs for prenatal care,

14. Family Planning Methods (Natural and
Artificial)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/u7X_RnlB_FDEeXyq60R1LEKP9YsfXXHVf4tJEvLpokwPErdU
eABPfhyS68MoDiuW49F6WahztsaE2v0zmc1_hBWv_9ndBEN52EbjWW8iu4s3dJmd7puyB5HaRhMn9v
R8
https://caro.doh.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/family-planning-
methods-3-4-2021.jpg

15. Sexually Transmitted Diseases or
STDs/STIs
https://www.verywellhealth.com/thmb/FubdafkiuD0Vgi8yAYN7RZHXwdk=/3000x2000/filter
s:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/std-causes-3133097-Final-
c1cc7e2214db4a22bb86718681dba7cd.png
https://image.slidesharecdn.com/stdonnet-131014054457-phpapp02/95/sexually-transmitted-
diseases-4-638.jpg?cb=1381729642

16. Why is Population Education
Important?
https://kullabs.com/uploads/1392914266289.jpg
Most of the people agree ‘Population
Education’ with education of the
population. If we go deep into the
matter, we will find that population
education is education about
population matter, i.e., fertility,
mortality, migration etc. It is an
educational process which helps
people to understand the nature, the
causes, and consequences of
population events.

17. References:
 What is Gender? What is Sex?; https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48642.html; 03/09/21
 Puberty; https://medlineplus.gov/puberty.html#cat_51; 03/09/21
 Physical Development: What’s Normal and What’s Not?; https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-
stages/gradeschool/puberty/pages/Physical-Development-Whats-Normal-Whats-Not.aspx; 03/09/21
 The Science of Love and Attachment; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201603/the-science-love-and-
attachment; 03/09/21
 Gender Stereotyping; https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/genderstereotypes.aspx; 03/09/21
 Gender Stereotypes; https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1222; 03/09/21
 LGBTQIA+ Community Terminologies: General Definitions; https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/glossary-terms; 03/09/21
 Focus: Looking Critically at Gender and Inequality; https://discoversociety.org/2016/12/06/focus-critical-perspectives-in-gender-and-
sexuality/; 03/09/21
 What is Family Planning?; https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-is-family-planning; 03/09/21
 What are the Benefits of Using Family Planning?; https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-are-the-benefits-of-using-family-planning; 03/09/21
 List of STDs; https://beforeplay.org/stds/; 03/09/21
 Family Planning; https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/family-planning; 03/09/21
 Family Planning Methods; https://nurseslabs.com/family-planning-methods/; 03/09/21
 Population Education: Meaning, Needs and Aims; https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/population/population-education-meaning-needs-
and-aims/84849; 03/09/21

18. https://www.achildsplacepa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/thank-you.jpg