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Sexual Identity Development
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After reading Chapter 12 of the course textbook and the 60 minutes video I see the main topic is sexual development during adolescence. I identify a sexual identity-related problem as transgender teens. I have worked with these teens in a group home and a psychiatric hospital and also from a youth perspective on homeless youth. They are seeking love, compassion and warmth from an otherwise cruel world. They were born into bodies that they don’t feel comfortable in. It is not my place as a human services worker to try and change them or make them accept their biological body. Their brains tell them that they are not in the right body and this causes a dysmorphic state. According to Mossler and Ziegler (2016), “The greater exposure to harassment probably contributes to higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and suicidal ideation in this population.” (p.12.7) These teens struggle with society as there is a section of people who believe in a monotheistic god or polytheistic gods that want to convert these teens to heterosexuals and conforming people. The other side of the issue is for human service workers, parents and teachers to embrace these youth and their feelings.
To identify and evaluate the key positions and theoretical arguments relating to my issue, I see that transgender youth are bullied more by straight peers than heterosexual youth. According to Mossler and Ziegler (2016), “As a result, identity formation may suffer due to prejudice and feelings of shame. Homosexual relationships during adolescence are often fraught with additional anxiety for fear of persecution and rejection. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adolescents will therefore sometimes first date members of the other sex. More than heterosexuals, LGBT teens question their sexuality and their gender, epitomizing what Erikson referred to as role confusion.” (p. 12.7) Transgender youth are searching to be themselves and need to be free to explore. And, since we know that sexual orientation runs on a spectrum then those with sexual identity crisis such as transgender youth can take comfort in the fact that they can be gender queer. Some transgender youth decide to change their body appearance with clothing, makeup, jewelry, tattoos whether male to female or female to male. Some get surgery done on facial features or on buttox and other regions of the body. Many start taking hormones to suppress the biological sex characteristics. According to McGuire and colleagues (2010), “Transgender youth experience negative school environments and may not benefit directly from interventions defined to support Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB)
Youth.” (para. 8) It is important to support the LGBT community and embrace diversity and differences among people. This is how we as adults impact the youth by setting a good example of tolerance and respect and pro-social behaviors.
There are many reasons for sexual orientation or transgender behavior. There are nature and nurture debates. But there are also cultural differences (i.e. The native cultures recognize transgender and gay as two spirited). And there are hormonal differences and structures of the brain that differ between gay and straight people just like there are differences in brain structure between girls and boys. These are the reasons for differences in sexual orientations, gender identity and gender. All these positions can be found in science and in theory and evidence seen from research.
