Discussion of sexuality among friends and family

What is sexuality defined as? Sexuality can be defined as how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings; the awareness of themselves as males or females; the capacity they have for erotic experiences and responses according to Wikipedia. Sexuality is more so of a biological construct because it deals with your organs and what makes you who you are on the outside and inside the body. With sexuality and individual can then determine if he or she is heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual when it comes down to physical attraction with another individual. With sexuality comes sex, which can be defined as a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety.

The idea of sex and sexuality is highly discussed in the streets of urban areas and maybe some suburban areas among friends and acquaintances but rarely within homes. All kids sooner or later receive the “birds and the bee’s” talk but never fully about sexuality until they get in high school or middle school; sometimes college. Most individuals are left to learn about sexuality and what stems from it on their own. When kids or teenagers talk about sexuality they do not know or understand the full aspect of it. When they talk about sexuality all they know and discuss is the size of a female breast and butt then become interested in sex. Some parents or guardians try to teach their kids to be comfortable in their own skin and with their sexuality by making they conform to their gender at a young age. Meaning dressing their children up in blue if a child is a boy and pink for a girl. Until they hear a term in school such as hermaphrodite this is when it becomes talked about in a home. Not talking about sexuality within a family can lead to confusion for a child or maybe something worse. Studies and from recent observation shows that most children or teenagers explore sexuality in high school because this is when they are introduced into a whole other world. Some decide if they want to explore with the same sex or different sex and this is where they find their “identity”. 

This video shows African-American women talking about growing up and how sex and sexuality was talked about in their house. This shows people views on sexuality and how they feel about it.

Because of the lack of discussion of sexuality within a household, this leaves me wondering why sexuality is such a difficult topic for families to talk openly about? Is it important to talk more openly about it? What would make it easier to talk about sexuality?