Understanding the Self

• The first aspect in understanding the self is the physical self.
• Physical Health: This refers to your overall well-being, including aspects like fitness, nutrition, and overall vitality.
• Appearance: How you perceive your own body and how others perceive you.
• Abilities: Your physical capabilities and limitations.
• Body Relations: How you connect with and relate to your own body.
• Body image is a complex and multifaceted concept. It involves how individuals perceive and feel about their own bodies.
• Physical Appearance: How you view your overall appearance, including aspects like skin color, physical disabilities, weight, and size.
• Self-Esteem: The emotional and psychological responses associated with your body.
• Body image is not static; it evolves over time and is sensitive to changes in mood, environment, and physical experiences.
• When individuals have a positive body image, they are more likely to accept and embrace their bodies as they are.
• Individuals with a positive body image are less likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression, which can significantly boost their overall self-worth.
• Sexuality is the quality or state of being sexual.
• Sexual desire or attraction: to whom or, in some cases, what someone is attracted physically and emotionally.
• Sexual activity or behavior: what a person does or likes to do sexually (intercourse, masturbation, oral sex, sexual fetishes).
• Sexual identity: how someone describes their sense of self as a sexual being (e.g., heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, homosexual).
• Sexual experience: observations of other sexualities, education or training related to sexuality, experiences that may not have been consensual.
• Sex refers to the biological and physical attributes that distinguish male and female bodies.
• Gender is a complex interplay of roles, behaviors, expectations, and identities that society considers appropriate for men and women.
• Sex is primarily concerned with biological and physical attributes, whereas gender is a social and cultural construct that encompasses roles, behaviors, and expectations.
• Sex is often considered more fixed and stable, determined by biological factors. In contrast, gender can be fluid, allowing for a wide range of identities beyond the traditional male and female categories.
• Sex is assigned at birth based on observable physical characteristics, while gender identity is a deeply personal sense of identity that may or may not align with the assigned sex.
• Gender identity is a personal and intrinsic aspect of a person's identity. It's about how individuals see themselves and how they want to be recognized and acknowledged in terms of gender, not binary.
• The development and discovery of one's gender identity can be a complex and evolving process involving self-reflection, exploration, and an understanding of one's feelings and experiences related to gender expression and presentation.
• Sexual orientation refers to an individual's enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to others. It exists on a spectrum, and there is considerable diversity within this spectrum.
• Heterosexuality: Attracted to people of the opposite gender.
• Homosexuality: Attracted to people of the same gender.
• Bisexuality: Attracted to people of more than one gender.
• Pansexuality: Attracted to individuals regardless of their gender identity or expression.
• Asexuality: Little or no sexual attraction to others.
• Queer: An umbrella term encompassing a range of non-heteronormative sexual orientations and gender identities.
• Hormones: Estrogen and testosterone play a significant role in influencing sexuality by affecting various physiological and psychological processes related to sexual development, desire, and behavior.
• Ethnicity: Can affect sexual behaviors, frequency, attitudes, and communications.
• Religion: Religious beliefs can influence sexual attitudes and behaviors, with more religious individuals often having more conservative views.
• The perspective that views sex as a divine gift often involves recognizing the sanctity of the human body and the intimacy shared in a sexual relationship.
• Excitement phase: Initial stage characterized by arousal and anticipation.
• Plateau phase: Continuation of excitement phase with heightened arousal.
• Orgasmic phase: Climax marked by intense physical and psychological release.
• Resolution phase: Return to unaroused state, with physiological changes subsiding.
• Masturbation is viewed as promoting healthy sexuality and can serve as an outlet for sexual fantasy and self-exploration.
• Sexual identity determines the sexual concept of the individual.