Sexuality Interviewee Report - Assignment Example

? Sexuality – Interviewee Report The purpose of the report is to understand sexuality or sexual behavior amongst the young male and teenagers in the modern context where homosexuality and cross dressing are common amongst the sexually aware youngsters. The report reveals what the young men experience during their high school years. The main theme of the report concentrates upon homosexuality. Two male students of high school years, Robert and Aly Al, were interviewed to get some insights in this respect. The two brief interviews bring up some useful results which can help in understanding the perception of the young male students regarding their sexuality. Cross dressing. The question asked in this context is whether the interviewee has any friend who is a homosexual and a cross dresser. Robert responds saying that despite the fact that there is no such person in his friends’ circle, he witnesses many cross dressers around himself at school. Most of his acquaintances who are cross dressers are girls rather than dudes. These girls both dress and act like guys. Aly Al responds that he knows no such peers who are cross dressers and gay. According to previously recorded literatures, gay and lesbian young people show behavior which deviates from their gender. Cross dressing is an aggressive or rebellious manner comes up in circumstance where they feel the presence of some hostile behaviors which might lay a challenge before their self esteem. Often when a homosexual person or youngster is surrounded by gay peers they often give up the habit of gender deviant or cross dressing (Unks, 1995, p. 24). The conversation held here is more or less close ended and hence the impact of gay peers on a homosexual teenager’s way of dressing could not be captured. Impact of homosexual peer on group participation When asked if working with peers affected the interviewee’s group participation and performance, Robert says that he would not care if the peer was a homosexual girl but would not work with a gay male since he does not want to “lose”. In case he is teamed up with a gay male, he would carry out the class room activities with him but no outdoor work since he is not sure of the sexual experience he might face otherwise. Aly Al also says something similar. He does not consider playing sports because he does not think the gay people are capable or interested in playing sports. But he has no problem in-house activities of project work. This clearly shows the lack of trust that the straight male teenagers have on the sexual behaviors of homosexual peers. Their answers clearly reveal their sexual discomfort around the gay peers especially when left outside the class or in case of sports where physical association might perhaps occur accidentally or intentionally on part of the gay peer. Teacher’ sexual preference – teaching ability When asked about the association between a teacher’s sexual orientation and talent in teaching, Robert replies that the teacher’s teaching ability would not be affected but he would not be at ease around him. Aly Al also thinks the same way and would avoid one-to-one lesson or assistance from the homosexual male teacher. This shows that the teenagers normally do not associate talent and soft skills with sexual preference but they are uncomfortable to be around them physically. The answer merely reveals their opinion about the aspect but not their practical experience of being harassed in any way by a gay teacher. Neither does it express whether a teacher’s sexual preference might affect the education or performance of the student. From the answers it might be deduced that the performances are not influenced by a teacher’s sexual orientation. Gay actors/actresses Lastly, the participants were asked what they think about gay or lesbian actors and actresses. Are they merely acting or are they actually gay are the questions on which opinion is sought. Here the two participants differ largely as they express opposing views. Robert thinks these actors are actually gay because one cannot actually act like a gay if he or she is straight while Aly Al feels that they are merely acting as their job demands. Here one might find the answer of Aly Al more rational to that of Robert who seems to be a little too averse to homosexuality and hence cannot think acting skills can overpower one’s sexual orientation. Aly Al however places weigh on the acting skills of the performer which is to be cherished in such cases instead of criticizing the same. Limitations The main limitation of the interview report lies in the number of interview undertaken for addressing the topic of the survey. A minimum sample size of 20 members is required to generalize the results for a common population of male adolescents or young adults. The second limitation is the nature of questions asked which does not give much scope for open ended questions and hence the domain and coverage of the responses are limited. On such issues there is high probability of hiding important information which the participant might not willingly reveal. As an interviewer ethnographic ethics need to be followed and one cannot lead the interviewee to give a certain answer. in such cases more open ended questions which give the respondent more scope to answer and explore would have been conducive to the current topic in discussion. Inferences and Future scope of research The above research gives a crude insight into the opinions of male youngsters in their school years regarding sexual orientation with special reference to gay peers and mentors. Although in most cases they do not associate skill and talent with sexuality, in some cases, where it comes to sports and masculine activities, Al assumes that the gay male is more feminine and hence not made for sports or alike activities. Both are concerned about preserving their virginity against the homosexual assaults. Some of the important questions which come up from the research are: are the heterosexual students or adolescents more comfortable with opposite gender and heterosexual orientation rather than same sex with homosexual orientation? In how many cases? How frequently have the adolescents been sexually harassed by peers during outdoor activities? Are the cases of homosexuals’ sexual harassments amongst young adults more severe than heterosexuals’ assaults? Does group system help the straight young male to stay from homosexual peers’ sexual harassments? Can students’ education be affected according to the sexual preference of the educator? References Unks, G. (1995), The Gay Teen, London: Routledge Read More