Lesson video

Hello, learners and welcome to this lesson on attitudes towards sexuality.

We are going to be exploring lots of different views around sexuality in the UK, and there are so many diverse sexualities, as well.

So we're going to be exploring all of that in this lesson today including looking at the views of Muslims, Christians and non-religious people.

Interesting fact, as always, before we begin, did you know that homosexuality is possibly 5,000 years old? Of course, you may already know that homosexuality was practised in Ancient Greece and in Ancient Rome, but recently, people are talking now about whether or not it was practised in ancient Egypt.

Recently, they discovered an intimate relationship between two men, two court officials of the Pharaoh, and many are interpreting this to suggest that actually, they were homosexuals.

Do we know this? I don't know.

There is lots of interpretation, and in the context of religious education, it is always important to be aware of interpretation but it's a possibility of a very, very interesting fact, if verified later on.

Today, we are going to be exploring sexualities, and of course, this links very well with our topic.

So I hope you are ready to learn and when you're ready, let's begin.

Okay, before we begin, let's make sure we've got everything that we need for this lesson.

For this lesson, you'll need a pen or a pencil, that is, something to write with.

You also need paper or an exercise book, something to write on.

You'll also want to work in a quiet space as far as possible so you're able to concentrate and learn.

The most important thing to bring, of course, is a curious brain, as we are going to be studying lots and lots of different ideas and views and attitudes towards sexualities.

Remember, if you've got a TV in the background or playing or music, to take that off, so you're able to concentrate in this lesson.

You want to remove any distractions.

So if you're using the mobile device for the lesson, turn off your notifications and your conversations, and if you're using a desktop, remember to close any of your application, put your mobile phone to one side, and make sure it's on silent or turned off so that you able to go through this lesson without any disruption.

Know in this lesson, we're going to be covering sexuality, and if this is a sensitive topic to you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before beginning this lesson, or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

Speak with your parents if you are affected by anything we talk about during this lesson, and of course, you can also contact Young Minds for further support.

Before we begin, just make to sure you have got everything that you need, so I'm going to ask you to pause this video at this point, and make sure you've collected everything you need in order to start this lesson.

Press resume when you're ready to continue.

Perfect! Welcome back.

I trust now that you are ready to learn and study some different attitudes in contemporary British society towards sexualities.

We're going to be exploring that, so we're going to start off by looking at different types of sexualities that we have in contemporary British society.

We'll also look at its historical development and how views have changed over the years.

We'll look at religious and non-religious points of view, as well, with regards to human sexualities.

Well, of course, the question that we start with, is what is sexuality? Well, sexuality is a person's sexual orientation or preference.

That is, who is a person attracted to? Now these are two loaded terms, so I think it's important to talk about that before we continue.

Orientation often has this, or holds this idea that a person is born with their sexuality, it's something genetic, something biological.

Preference tends to lend itself to a side of the argument that suggests that sexuality is something that people choose or something that develops over time.

But I'm not using these words or these terms in any of those contexts, holding any sides of these arguments.

I'm just using these words to help us understand the definition of sexuality.

So I will be using these words interchangeably throughout the lesson.

So remember, sexuality is a person's sexual orientation or preference, who a person is attracted to.

Well, there are five different types of sexualities that I want you to be aware of before we continue with the lesson.

So let's go through the different types of sexualities that we find in contemporary British society and around the world.

We've got, firstly, homosexuality.

That is when someone is attracted to someone of the same sex.

For a woman who is attracted to another woman, sometimes, the term lesbian is used, and gay is used interchangeably to refer to both men and women who are attracted to people of the same sex.

The next type of sexuality we want to look at is bisexuality, and that is when someone is attracted to both sexes, male and female.

We also have heterosexuality, someone attracted to someone of the opposite sex.

So you can see, we've got at least three sexualities already that exist in contemporary British society.

The next type of sexuality that's important to know is pansexuality, and that is attraction without limitation based on sex or gender.

So a pansexual can be attracted to a male or a female, can be attracted to someone who is masculine or feminine.

Gender and sex is not important in their attraction.

The next type of sexuality is asexuality, and that's when someone has no attraction to either male or female, masculine or feminine.

So we've got five types of sexuality that we've looked at so far that exist in contemporary British society.

But of course, there are some problems, and the problem is, it's difficult to classify people according to sexuality.

That is because of social stigma that exists around certain sexualities, such as homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, and pansexuality, and also, difficulties surrounding identification, how people identify themselves with regard to sexuality.

For example, a heterosexual person many identify themselves as heterosexual even though they have had some, even though it's minute attraction to someone of the same sex.

The same thing can happen with other types of sexualities, as well.

So self-identification is sometimes problematic, and finally, even though sexualities may not necessarily change, how people identify over time sometimes changes, and therefore, that makes it problematic as well, to identify how people or what people's sexualities are.

But it's important to note that there are diverse sexualities that exist in contemporary British society.

On the one hand, we've got heterosexuality, and the other hand, we've got homosexuality, and in between those two, we've got bisexuality and pansexuality, and somewhere, we've also got asexuality off that continuum.

So we've got, it's really important to know that we've got diverse sexualities in contemporary British society.

We've learnt a lot, therefore, about the different types of sexuality so far.

So let's go through some quick-fire questions and see how much you remember and how much you understood.

First question, a heterosexual is a person who is only ever attracted to members of the opposite sex.

True or false? If you said false, you are correct.

A heterosexual and also a homosexual may be predominantly attracted, either to the same sex or to the opposite sex, but they may also have attraction to someone else.

So for example, a heterosexual may also have minute attractions to the same sex, and a homosexual may have minute attractions to the opposite sex.

So it depends, but on the far end of the continuum, there are people who are only attracted to opposite sex or who are only attracted to the same sex.

Next one, it is easy to classify people according to sexuality, true or false? If you said false, you are correct.

It's difficult, remember, because of social stigma, because of self-identification, and because of how people change their self-identification over a course of time, as well.

A pansexual can be attracted to a feminine man.

True or false? That is true.

A pansexual can be attracted to a feminine man because they're not limited by sex or gender, male or female or masculine or feminine does not limit their attraction.

An asexual does not have a sexual orientation or preference.

That is false, they do have a sexual orientation or preference.

It doesn't fall anywhere between heterosexuality and homosexuality, but it forms another spectrum, and asexuality is someone whose sexual preference is not being attracted to either sexes or either genders, or any gender.

Which of the following sexual orientations may be attracted to both males and females? Interesting.

Good, if you said all of them, you would be correct.

You remember, pansexual and bisexual can be attracted to both sexes, and the same applies to homosexuals, to some homosexuals, and to some heterosexuals.

Remember that some of them may be predominantly attracted to one sex or the other, but may also have attraction to same sex or to the opposite sex.

So be aware of that.

So even though on the ends of the spectrum, we have people on both sides who are only attracted to the same sex, and who are only attracted to the opposite sex, remember, there are people who consider themselves heterosexual who are also, in some minute way, also attracted to either the opposite or the same sex.

What do the terms sexual orientation or preference indicate? Good, if you said all, you would be correct.

Remember, orientation tends to indicate nature, and disposition, that is to say, you are born that way.

Choice and nurture says you've chosen or you've developed your sexuality, and that's indicated by preference.

So actually, all of these are indicated both by these terms orientation and preference.

So let's talk about is sexuality nature or nurture? Is it something that's a matter of preference? Is it something that's a matter of orientation, is it biological, is it choice, is it developed? Well, what I want you to do at this point is to watch the video on your worksheet, and you're going to see lots of people sharing their points of view on where sexuality comes from or what causes different types of sexualities.

And what I want you to do is explain whether you think sexuality is chosen, is developed, or people are born with their sexuality.

So pause the video at this point and complete the task by watching the video and explaining your position, whether sexuality is something that's chosen or developed over time or something that people are born with.

Pause the video at this point and resume once you're finished spending a few minutes on this task.

Good.

I trust you have spent a few minutes, and you've come up with your own ideas and your own thoughts.

You've expressed your own points of views on whether or not sexualities developed or whether it's chosen or whether it's biological and people are born that way.

But of course, this is something that divides researchers and specialists among many different disciplines today, including the biomedical and psychological fields.

And this is a driving question in their research about sexuality, but it's important to note that there is no single theory that explains the diverse sexualities that we have in the world, and specifically, in contemporary British society.

Many of these scientists and researchers will say that there are factors that correlate with sexuality but they don't necessarily attribute these correlations as causations, and it's important to realise that.

There are some factors that correlate, though.

For example, genetics correlate with sexuality.

Hormones, such as testosterone or oestrogen, your childhood gender roles, and your upbringing and your role models tend to have, and your socialisation, as well, tend to have an impact on your sexuality.

And your fraternal birth order tend to have an impact, also, but neither, none of these things are causes, none of these things are direct causes, but there are correlations and relationship between those and people's sexuality.

But we can learn about sexuality in history.

We've seen that there are different types and we can't always explain what causes diversity in sexuality, but sexuality has been diverse for many, many thousands of years.

And when we look at sexuality in history, we're going to see that actually, people's view of sexuality have changed and their attitudes to sexuality have changed over the years.

For example, 50 years ago, it was illegal to engage in homosexual acts and gay people were widely persecuted, they were treated badly because of their sexual orientation or preference.

It became, it was the norm, rather, for everyone to get married and people rarely ever got a divorce.

Many of these things have changed, and we're going to explore some of those changes at this point.

But let's look specifically at some changes in law.

Look at these laws and look at these dates.

You will see that, actually, some of these dates and laws are muddled, and what I would like you to do for me is to sort the dates from first to last or beginning to end from the earliest to the latest, and then you're going to try to pinpoint at which point these laws were made.

So sort the dates first of all, and then see if you can match the laws with particular dates.

So I want you to pause the video at this point, and sorts the data in order, and then match them with the laws based on when you think the law was made.

Resume once you are finished spending a few minutes on this task.

Good, welcome back.

I trust now that you have spent a few minutes going over these dates and trying to match them with these particular laws.

You will need a pen for correction at this point to see if you've got them right.

Let's have a look.

So in 1885, sexual acts were made illegal between homosexuals.

In 1967, it was the first time where it was declared legal, but only for people over 21 and they were not allowed to do so, or be homosexual practise homosexuality in the armed forces.

It wasn't until 1994 that the age of consent to be engaged in homosexual acts was reduced to 18.

And only in 2000 people were allowed to serve in the armed forces, even if they were homosexual.

In 2001, the age of consent for homosexual acts was reduced to 16, and in 2004, we had the legalisation or the legal recognition of civil partnerships, and in 2013, we had the legal recognition of same sex marriage.

So you can see that throughout history, throughout the last few hundred years, things have changed, laws have changed in British society and attitudes have changed as well.

In fact, not only is homosexuality legal, but it is socially acceptable among many young people and even more mature people in society today.

As same-sex marriage is now available and legal, and things have not only changed with sexuality, but even the norms have changed.

For example, there's been a reduction in the rate of marriage and an increase in the rates of divorce, and there are now more childless families, as we spoke about in our families lesson.

So things have changed throughout history in the UK in terms of law and also in terms of attitudes towards sexualities.

So let's have a look now and see how much you remember and understood because things are now being processed in your working memory, and I want to make sure they move into your short-term memory, and of course, eventually, into your long-term memory.

So true and false statements.

Sexual acts between homosexuals were made illegal in 1885.

True or false? If you said true, you are correct.

It was when sexual acts between homosexuals was made illegal.

Civil partnerships were legally recognised in 2000.

Is that true or false? That is false.

Sorry, that is false, civil partnerships were first recognised in 2004.

So forgive me for the error on the slide there.

Civil partnerships were first legally recognised in 2004.

Same-sex marriage was legalised everywhere in 2013.

True or false? That is false.

It was legalised in 2013, but it was not legalised everywhere in 2013.

So there are still some jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is not recognised and is not legal.

So you have to be aware of that difference between different countries around the world.

The age of consent for the homosexual acts is 18.

Is that true or false? That is false.

The age of consent for homosexual acts is 16.

So you could be 16 years old and you can be in a sexual relationship, homosexual relationship.

Let's have a look now at some different views toward sexualities, human sexualities in contemporary British society.

Now remember, in our society today, we've got Islamic views, we've got Christian views, we've got non-religious views.

We've got a diverse array of views, and for examination purposes, we're looking at two world religions, Islam and Christianity.

So let's start off by looking at Christian views on different sexualities.

So there are different views among Christians.

Some Christians view heterosexuality is God's plan, and they based this on things like Genesis 1:28, where God makes Adam and Eve and tells them to have many children.

So that idea of procreation is limited to a male and a female, and therefore, some Christians think that procreation and that heterosexuality is God's plan and God's ideal.

They also may think that homosexuality is immoral, and that is because of particular Bible passages like Leviticus 18:22, which says that man should not lay or sleep with another man in the same way that he sleeps with a woman.

So there are different views between different Christians, different denominations and branches of Christianity.

And we can look for example, at a Catholic and the Anglican church, both of whom agree the practise of homosexuality or, that is, having sexual intercourse with someone of the same sex, but they differ with regards to their opinions on whether or not the desire itself is wrong when it's manifested.

So the Anglican church has officially allowed for homosexual relationships, even though they have not allowed sexual relationships.

So if you are in a homosexual relationship, you have to remain celibate, and you'll remember that celibacy means that you are abstaining from sexual intercourse as one part of it.

In some instances, it means marriages, marriage and relationships as well.

Within this particular context, it means being, abstaining from sexual relationship with the man that you were with or with the woman that you're with in that same-sex relationship.

So there are different views and practises between different branches and denominations of Christianity.

And this is for different reasons, because some people will say Jesus taught love and therefore they support homosexuality and same-sex relationships.

They say the Bible needs to be reinterpreted.

It's an ancient text and it needs to be considered and interpreted for modern times, and relationships that do not involve penetrative sex are not necessarily banned in the Bible.

So there are different arguments for homosexual relationships among Christians.

Of course, there are arguments against it, as well, as I recently talked about, with regards to Leviticus 18:22 and heterosexuality that is seen in Genesis and of procreation that is also seen in Genesis.

I want you to pause the video at this point, and have a look at some of these Bible passages.

I want you to tell me what they mean, and also, how do you think they shape Christian practises or their actions or behaviours? So pause your video at this point, and complete the table by explaining the meaning of the Bible verses and the potential Christian practises or actions that may come from those texts.

So pause your video at this point and resume once you're finished.

Good, welcome back.

I trust you've gone through the table and you've now filled in the meaning of these verses, according to what you think they mean or how you've interpreted them and how you think that might translate into Christian action or practise.

Well, let's have a look.

Remember, you need a pen at this point to correct or to change or to edit what you may have written.

Well, for the first text, we look at, we're going to start off with Romans 1:26, which says it is not right for a woman to be with another woman or for a man to be with another man, because it's considered something that's perverse, according to Romans chapter 1, and therefore the idea is that for a man, a marriage between a man and a woman, and there is opposition in Romans 1, idea for support to same sex relationships.

We find the apostle Paul again in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and he says there is no salvation to people who are homosexuals, if they continue to practise their homosexuality.

That's not to say that homosexuals cannot be saved in Christianity, continue and not repent of something that's considered a sin or immoral, then they're not going to receive salvation.

So there's opposition there, also, to same-sex relationships or sexual intercourse.

Genesis 1:28, something I referred to earlier is instructing humans to procreate, and therefore that's going back to marriage and the family between a man and a woman.

This is a heterosexual, heteronormative family.

In Leviticus 18:22, we see there the instruction not to have sex with someone of the same sex.

And there, for us, again, going back to the idea of marriage between a man and a woman, or between two people of different sexes as well.

So you can see here lots and lots of different views and different texts that lend themselves in different interpretations among Christians.

Let's go through some quick-fire questions.

same sex and sexual intercourse is frowned upon more so than same-sex attraction in Christianity.

True or false? That is true.

Remember I said earlier, Catholics and Anglicans condemn the practise of having same-sex sexual intercourse, penetrative sex between two men or sex between two women.

They condemn that more so than they condemn desire.

So to be in a same-sex relationship with someone else.

So it's, the practise is frowned upon more so than the attraction.

You cannot be a gay Christian.

True or false? That, of course, is false.

You can be a gay Christian, like I just mentioned earlier, there are some gay Christians who, are, for example, in the church of England who are in a same-sex relationship, but may not necessarily be in a sexual relationship because of their faith.

So they can be gay Christians, as well, not only in the Church of England, but also in other Christian denominations.

So what about Muslims, what about Islam? Let's have a look at some of their beliefs when it comes to sexuality.

It's forbidden by law in Islam, by Shari'ah law, and is condemned as unnatural by Muslims and the Qur'an, and they have this particular distaste for penetrative sex between two men, and of course it's not really the same because women are physically incapable of having that penetrative sex, but they frown upon that even more.

But it is a crime to engage in homosexual activity in an Islamic state or an Islamic country, and the penalty for that is death.

So it is really, really a dangerous thing to practise homosexuality in an Islamic state or in an Islamic country.

For example, and this, again, is backed up by a sacred text, and in Surah 26, Allah says, "Do you approach males among the worlds "and leave what the Lord has created for you as your mates?" So again, you see this idea there of God having created a man and a woman, a male, and a female to be together, and therefore this idea or practise of homosexuality is incorrect.

Of course, though, Allah is merciful in the same way that Christians believe God is merciful.

So yes, homosexuals can be saved in Christianity, and Allah is merciful to homosexuality, to homosexuals in Islam.

So for example, in Surah 4:16, it says, "And the two who commit it among you," that's a references to homosexuality, "dishonour them both.

"But if they repent and correct themselves, "leave them alone." So there's this idea that yes, it's condemned, but the homosexual is not condemned.

The practise of homosexuality is condemned.

So what does this mean in practise? Like I mentioned already, there's a death penalty, in countries, you'll find that the death penalty is not necessarily allowed because anti-discrimination laws and of course, death penalty's illegal in European countries, and of course, you will find that there isn't always consistency or agreement across all Islam, for all Muslims. There are some strong opposition from family members if someone is homosexual, but there are also contemporary Muslim scholars who will say actually the Qur'an does not necessarily condemn homosexuality now.

Quickly then, in an Islamic state, the death penalty is the punishment for homosexual acts.

Is that true or false? That is true.

The death penalty is a penalty, is the sentence for committing a homosexual act.

All Muslims believe homosexuality is wrong.

That's false.

All Muslims do not believe that.

Remember, and he says there is barely anything on which all Muslims agree.

So no, there isn't, all Muslims don't believe homosexuality is wrong.

Women cannot be punished for same-sex relationships in an Islamic state.

That is false.

Women can be punished.

Even though I said earlier that women cannot have penetrative sex, and therefore, they may get lesser sentences, they can be punished.

For example, they can be beaten for practising same-sex sexual intercourse.

I want you to pause the video at this point and answer this question for me.

Explain two contrasting views about homosexual relationships.

Of course, then with this point, we've explored Muslim and Christian views.

And so I want you to use those different beliefs and explain two contrasting views for me.

So points, pause your video at this point, and I want you to do point, evidence, explanation, for both Muslim and Christian views.

And you should, of course, refer to sacred texts in your answer.

So pause the video at this point, take a few minutes, five to six minutes, and answer this question, and then resume once you are finished.

Perfect, welcome back.

I trust at this point you've finished and you've written your answer to this question.

Let's have a look at a potential answer to this question.

You could say, for itself, Muslims do not permit same-sex relationships because of the Qur'anic teachings and you can refer to the Qur'an, "Do you approach males and leave "what your Lord has created for you as mates" would be evidence for the points that we've just made.

And then you need to explain, therefore, homosexual relationship are not part of Allah's plan.

Rather, heterosexual relationships are.

You can say, Anglicans, whilst they may agree that homosexual sex is immoral, don't necessarily agree that homosexual relationships are immoral, and so they will allow same-sex relationships but not same-sex intercourse.

And of course, the reason that same-sex intercourse is not allowed is because of Leviticus 18:22, it says, "No man is to have sexual relationships "with another man because God hates that." So you can see, therefore, different views between Muslims and Christians here.

Muslims who may not permit it at all, and some Christians who will permit a same-sex relationship, but will not necessarily allow same-sex intercourse.

So again, different contrasting views among different religions, among different people in British contemporary society.

Finally, then let's look at some non-religious views on it.

Well, of course, we're going to look at the utilitarian perspective.

Remember that not all non-religious people or secular people are utilitarian, but it is an ethic that some of them may use.

And so they will accept homosexuality, because of course, there is some good for it.

For example, it promotes the happiness of the homosexual people themselves, but it also promotes happiness for society, as we talked about in our families lesson, because homosexual men or women can adopt children.

And of course, that's going to benefit society 'cause we need more parents because there are some children without parents or carers in society.

And of course, we can see already lots of change over history, but particularly with regards to the non-religious view, because it's widely accepted now among non-religious people.

And of course, we looked at some changes to the law and to attitudes in contemporary British society.

So final quick-fire questions then.

Many non-religious people accept same-sex relationships and marriage.

True or false? And of course, it's true.

They do accept it, more non-religious people accept it today than in the past.

Good.

We've come to the end of our lesson.

And it's been a very fast-paced lesson.

We've looked at lots of different things.

We looked at types of sexualities.

We looked at the history of sexuality in contemporary British society.

And of course, we looked at different viewpoints, Christian, Muslim and non-religious viewpoints on sexualities and their attitudes as well, in the UK.

So at this point, what I want you to do is to complete your end of unit quiz, and make sure you remember, as you continue to review your learning over and over again, revise from time to time so you can transfer this knowledge into your long-term memory.

In the next lesson, we are going to be doing a recap and deliberate practise lesson.

So we'll go over all the things that we've covered in the last five lessons.

I hope you're looking forward to that.

I look forward to teaching you then.

So until we meet again.

Take care.

Bye.