Editor's Eye

Hello --

 

 

 

Until next time,

Linda Grobman, ACSW, LSW

Publisher/Editor

THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER®

 

 

 

• National Foster Care Month
• Mental Health Month
• National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month

• National Alcohol- and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Awareness Week (May 8-14)
• National Women's Health Week (May 8-14)

 

 

 

 

Social work programs throughout the country help prepare you for many of the challenging content areas that you will face throughout your career. The topic of human sexuality, however, is typically glossed over, despite the fact that it is an important part of life that many of your clients may struggle with at some level during their lives. This article is designed to serve as a brief introduction to the vast and fascinating world of human sexuality.

 

 

The concepts of biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression are often used synonymously, despite the fact that they are vastly different. Sex, or biological sex, refers to the identity that was assigned to you at birth by others (e.g., doctors and other adults) based on your external sexual organs you were born with (e.g., penis, scrotum, vulva, clitoris, or any naturally occurring biological variation). This determination may or may not fit the way you think about yourself. Gender identity refers to how you internally perceive yourself. Gender expression is how you present yourself to the world. More simply put, your biological sex (e.g., male, female, intersex) is dependent on your physical body, whereas your gender identity (e.g,, man, woman, trans*, genderqueer, agender) is determined by the ways in which you view yourself, and gender expression (e.g., masculine, feminine) is how you present yourself to the world. Although our culture tends to think about these categories in a binary way (only male or only female), the human experience is not binary in nature.

 

 

As a result of the norms and expectations of the culture you live in, gender expression is socially constructed. Think about this for a moment: are young girls inherently born loving the color pink and wanting to play with dolls? Many would argue “no.” They are taught these things by interacting with the world around them. A person learns what behavior (gender expression) is socially acceptable for a woman or a man (meaning gender identity) by way of observing and emulating the actions of others in society. The standard that people are often encouraged to follow is that women have long hair and wear dresses, and men have short hair and wear pants, for example. Those who do not follow these standards can be seen as transgressive. By acknowledging that these standards are created by society, we can learn to accept people who express themselves differently from the standard.

 

 

As social workers, we pride ourselves on being culturally competent and inclusive, but when it comes to human sexuality, we do not always recognize the great diversity that exists in our world. For example, the acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) is often used in social work when we are trying to be inclusive of sexual and gender minorities. However, this acronym does not adequately represent the sexual and gender diversity that is found within society. A better acronym that members of the social work community could be using to be more inclusive is LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual). This is still an underwhelming acronym to represent the broad spectrum of attraction, identity, and behaviors related to human sexuality. As a field, we must continually strive to increase our understanding of the diversity found within society, to better serve our clients.

 

 

 

What does a life in social work look like? You might look at it as a series of “sideways” stories! “If life were black and white, we’d have no need for social work.” Read Ogden Rogers’ collection, Beginnings, Middles, & Ends: Sideways Stories on the Art & Soul of Social Work. Available on Amazon.com (print and Kindle), Google Play (e-book), directly from the publisher, and other bookstores. Do you know a social worker or social work student who loves to read? This book is a welcome retreat from academic textbooks.

 

Job Corner

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Find jobs for new grads and experienced social work practitioners at http://www.socialworkjobbank.com, THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s online job board and career center.

 

News & Resources

 

 

 

 

In Print

White Hat Communications, publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine and the Social Work E-News, has published several books about social work. These books make great gifts (for graduation, holidays, or other occasions) for yourself, or for your friends, students, and colleagues in social work!

 

We also publish books on nonprofit management. Want to start your own agency? We have a book for that.

 

 

All of our books are available through our secure online store at:

 

Most are also available at Amazon.com.

 

You can also view and download our catalog in PDF format.

 

Reminders

VISIT OUR SITES

www.socialworker.com