Gender roles

           Gender roles was the main focus this week in my Family Relations class. I learned way more than I expected to on this issue of how gender plays a significant role in society today. We had to take a moment and analyze how important our gender has been in the interactions we have had with our families. I stopped and thought about how my feminine traits have influenced me to take on the role of a second mother as the oldest in our house. I have always assisted my mother in taking care of the kids like when I direct them to go to bed when they choose to stay up late or when I break up fights that start. If I were a male, I would act completely different! I would most likely take on the role of a fatherly figure that my siblings would look to. I would have more masculine tendencies and would almost have a different personality because of that.
       I believe that gender is ordained of god. The topic of sexual orientation is extremely contriversial, but from the various readings and videos I have watched this week and an accumulation of observations I have made in my life, I know that we are given a sexuality at birth and for a reason. God is good. He would only give us what is natural and right. To completely rebel against that given gender, even if there are bisexual attractions is denying a gift given us from god. Those that choose to identify themselves as "gay" or "lesbian" choose to act on those attractions and outright decide that they do not like this gift.
        Those are my personal ideas on this topic, but from some of the reading I found that people with homosexual tendencies can seek and obtain help. There are programs offered that provide liberation and assistance to those that desire it. There is a 65% success recovery rate of all those that go through these programs. Reading this I realized that there are people that want to embrace that gift of gender, but just need some help. In choosing to obtain that help, there was joy, happiness and change. One boy went through an interview on one of the required videos we had to watch. He explained his experience of choosing to accept the homosexual feelings he had and lived such a lifestyle. He described his utilizing programs to help him and in the end he emphasized the lightness, joy, and happiness he felt. The tendencies he had vanished and he found girls extremely attractive. It was a process, but out of choice he changed his ways to become ones that were of god. In doing that, he found joy and the lack of empty sadness that he felt extensively during the earlier choices he made. Change is possible.