In this exercise, like many other topics explored in this course, we cover controversial issues. People can differ widely in their beliefs and practices related to these issues, as viewpoints are based on many different aspects of their value systems, backgrounds, morals, and religious convictions. These topics are explored in this class because they are part of the social milieu. Whether it makes us uncomfortable or not, these issues are a part of our modern world, and to understand them is to better understand ourselves, our neighbors, and humanity in general.
Please remember to remain respectful and tolerant of differing views surrounding the issues we will discuss in this activity.
View one or more of the following YouTube videos/TED Talks about issues related to sex and/or gender. After viewing the videos/talks, address the following questions in your discussion.
Important Note
Some portions of these videos may contain sexually explicit discussion and/or language. All video descriptions are derived from the owner of the related YouTube channel.
Gender | The Space Between (YouTube, 1:00:09) (https://youtu.be/x7mBLMnaa) – This CBS news report explains how, over the past several years, transgender narratives have populated countless headlines and TV sets. The world watched as Caitlyn Jenner transitioned, “Transparent” swept the Emmy Awards, and a Virginia boy’s case to use the men’s bathrooms at his school is headed to the Supreme Course. Yet, in all that conversation, there is a type of transgender person you will never hear about. They are known as non-binary. They use the pronouns they/them as a form of identification. “They” do not identify with being neither male nor female. Rather, these individuals often choose to reject gender completely or fluctuate between masculinity and femininity on a day-to-day basis. As a result, no one non-binary person is like the next. View their stories in this video.
Is Anatomy Destiny? (TED, 18:33) (https://www.ted.com/talks/alice_dreger) – In this talk, Alice Dreger asks this question, “Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?” Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it’s often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other distinctions.
The Ethical Stripper | Stacey Clare | TEDxCoventGardenWomen (YouTube, 15:06) (https://youtu.be/kZQkIw1MH3E) – This video will challenge your presumptions, stereotypes, and convictions with Stacey Clare as she raises important questions at the intersection of feminism, workers’ rights, objectification, and sex work.
Sex Worker – The Truth Behind The Smile (YouTube, 15:10) (https://youtu.be/n9_REwV8z) – In this TED Talk, Antoinette Welch, former ADA in Nashville, TN, who won a landmark case under enhanced sex trafficking law, identifies and tackles the issues with the unequal societal perception of prostitution, how those views leave women drowning in the cycle of prostitution, and how the Hannah Project levels the playing field for those who want and need help to get out of the vicious cycle.
What Do Sex Workers Want? (YouTube, 18:01) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJRBx0JjM_M) – Everyone has an opinion about sex work, but what does sex worker Juno Mac think? In this TED Talk, Juno takes us through four different legal models addressing the sex industry and explains why they and sex workers around the world believe decriminalization and self-determination are the only way to keep sex workers safe.
Choose one or two videos
Please address the following questions:
What are the basic issues and main themes addressed in the videos?
Were the issues addressed from a biased or unbiased perspective? Were the presenters operating with an underlying agenda?
Was there agreement or disagreement among presenters regarding the main issues addressed?
What were the major moral/ethical issues related to these topics?
How does the concept of ethical relativism relate to this topic?
