Religious, Cultural, and Gender Considerations Custom Essay

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Week 11: Religious, Cultural, and Gender Considerations
Introduction
Clients’ and counselors’ views toward sexuality are influenced by a range of contextual issues, including their religious and spiritual beliefs, their cultural backgrounds, their gender expectations, their body image,

and societal norms. Counselors should reflect on how these influence their own beliefs and perspectives about the sexuality counseling work they do with clients. Likewise, they should be attuned to these

issues when working with clients. Clients may benefit from a discussion of their perceptions of how these issues impact their functioning currently.
In this final week, you are invited to view sexuality through a positive lens and consider what it means to have a healthy and positive sexuality. Cultural, religion, and gender certainly play an important role in

healthy sexual functioning and thus, it becomes important to consistently link these concepts together for the good of the therapeutic process. You are asked to consider steps you can take professionally to

continue to become better prepared to help your clients move toward a healthy level of sexual functioning. Lastly, you are asked to contemplate professional and personal growth that can help you to meet your

clients various needs, and how you will specifically meet these needs.
Objectives
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
? Explain insights gained from developing an advocacy plan to promote social change
? Develop an advocacy plan for a social change need related to sexuality
? Analyze positive sexuality and healthy sexual functioning
? Analyze controversies related to positive sexuality and healthy sexual functioning
? Explain personal competency to address client sexuality concerns
? Explain professional development steps to increase competency to address client sexuality concerns

? Positive Sexuality & Professional Development
? The novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy begins with the words: “All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
? To prepare for this week’s Discussion, consider whether this quote could apply to human sexuality. In other words, consider whether healthy, positive, satisfying sexuality is the same for everyone, but

unsatisfying, unfulfilling, and unhealthy sexuality is negative in its own unique way. Also consider whether you think there is some basic path to positive sexuality or whether the path may look different for each

person and what societal implications are inherent in this. Lastly, from a more macro perspective, please consider what you have learned about sexuality across this quarter and how that has impacted your

comfort level when working with clients experiencing issues surrounding sexuality. Lastly, what are your plans for ongoing growth in this domain?
? With these thoughts in mind:
? Write an explanation of what positive sexuality and healthy sexual functioning mean to you, both individually and relationally, and how these attitudes reflect or differ from broader social attitudes toward

sexuality. Then explain what controversies may arise because of society’s different views on positive sexuality and healthy sexual functioning. In addition, share how what you have learned about sexuality across

the course of this quarter has helped you to feel more competent in the area of sexual counseling and how a positive view of sexuality influences your comfort level. Lastly, include a professional development

step you could take to gain further competency.
? Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.
Week 11 Learning Resources
This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources.
Required Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your syllabus.
Readings
? Course Text: Handbook of Clinical Sexuality for Mental Health Professionals
o Chapter 4, “Lessons from Great Lovers”
? Article: Bancroft, J. (2002). The medicalization of female sexual dysfunction: The need for caution.Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31(5), 451?455. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ProQuest

database.
? Article: Dundon, C. M., & Rellini, A. H. (2010). More than sexual function: Predictors of sexual satisfaction in a sample of women age 40-70. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(2), 896?904.
? Article: Gillen, M. M., Lefkowitz, E. S., & Shearer, C. L. (2006). Does body image play a role in risky sexual behavior and attitudes? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(2), 230?243. Retrieved from the

Walden Library using the SocINDEX database.
? Article: Sherry, A., Adelman, A., Whilde, M. r., & Quick, D. (2010). Competing selves: Negotiating the intersection of spiritual and sexual identities. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 41(2),

112?119. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the PsycARTICLES database.
? Article: Woodward, A. J., Findlay, B. M., & Moore, S. M. (2009). Peak and mystical experiences in intimate relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(4), 429?442.
? Book Excerpt: Peterson, F. L, Dobbins, J., Coleman, F., & Razzouk, J. (2007). Culturally competent sex therapy. In VandeCreek, L., Peterson, F. L., & Bley, J. W., Innovations in clinical practice: Focus

on sexual health (pp. 245?260). Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press.
Focus on sexual health by VandeCreek, L. Copyright 2007 by Professional Resource Exchange/Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Professional Resource Exchange/Press, Inc., via the Copyright

Clearance Center.