Gender Norms and Sexual Desires
Gender is an essential determinant of sexual risk-taking behaviors. Gender attitudes force people into doing things that they would not want to do. The film Moonlight is a movie that shows various gender norms and sexual desires amongst people. Similarly, the text, Guadalupe the Sex Goddess also depicts various gender norms and sexual desires.
Gender Norms and Societal Conformity
Gender norms can be viewed as the standards and expectations to which men and women in a particular society conform. Gender norms vary from one community to the other. Gender norms are also ideas about the way in which women and men in a particular society ought act. There are things that men are allowed to do but women cannot do them. Similarly, there are other roles which are only meant for women but not men. These norms form part of the society and are passed down from one generation to the next. Sexual desires are interpreted differently by different communities. While some may loathe sexual acts such as gay, others find no harm in it. This explains why societies are different in the way they act. Gender norms and sexual desires affect the action of various characters in the film Moonlight and the text Guadalupe the Sex Goddess.
Moonlight: A Unique Portrayal of Black Boys
The movie, Moonlight shows the black boys as precious and extraordinary. This is a deviation from some of the other films which always portrayed the blacks in a negative way. This reason made this movie to come out as an extraordinary movie. However, the movie also acknowledges the effects that the stalking ghosts of premature death and incarceration have upon gay black masculinity (Jenkins). In most cases, it is the whites who are known to be being gay in the US. Contrary, this movie shows that this trend has been adapted by the blacks. Moonlight presents three stages in the life of the main character who grows up from being a toddler to an adult. As he grows, he faces various challenges related to sexuality and identity many of which include the physical and emotional abuse he experiences as he grows up. The main character, Chiron, experiences the wrath of bullies as a child and he has to hide in a crack house from where Juan finds him and allows him to spend the night together with his younger girlfriend, Teresa.
Exploring Sexual Desire and Comfortability in Moonlight
The film also depicts various issues related to sexual desire. In this movie, Chiron attempts to make love but his attempts do not turn out to be successful. Many of the characters in the film seek to love freely and demonstrate love in all manners but are often frustrated by notions of what is socially acceptable. For instance, the relation between Chiron and Kelvin and Paula (Jenkins). As teenage boys, Chiron and Kelvin are made to feel shy and embarrassed of their relationship. This causes a discomfort in them and haunts them into their adult life as Chiron finds it difficult to interact with anyone again. The audience is felt wondering whether Chiron and Kevin will ever engage in a relationship again. The effect of this is also extended to Chiron’s mother but she forgives him just before he moves to Miami to see Kevin again.
Gender Norms and Sexuality in Guadalupe the Sex Goddess
As regards gender norms, both Guadalupe the Sex Goddess and Moonlight presents various issues which are depictive of the societies they are set in. For instance, Moonlight presents various issues of masculinity. It gives the audience an opportunity to explore asexuality. This is a thing that very few people know about. The director of the film, Jenkins desexualizes Chiron perhaps due to his personal anxieties with same-sex sexuality. The film further depicts various issues of same-sexual activity and the muted sexual tones of his artistic desexualization of other characters such as Juan and Teresa. Kevin is portrayed as being bisexual and this is evident in the dialogue that exist throughout the film.
Growing Sexual Evolution of Characters in Moonlight
Moonlight depicts the sexual evolution of various characters. For instance, Kevin evolves as a character and his evolution is greater than that of Chiron. Kevin evolves and they confront with Chiron. Kevin has grown since adolescence but Chiron has only grown in muscular which has overshadowed his interior growth. The two confront as they repair the breach of their shared paths. Kevin evolves and his evolution is significant in that he amasses the ability to act as the healing waters that wash over Chiron (Jenkins).
Gender, Religion, and Culture in Guadalupe the Sex Goddess
Religion and culture go hand in hand. What is supported by the religion has a place in the culture of the same people. For instance, issues such as abstinence and sexual education are found in the religion and strengthened by the culture. However, for families that are known to be traditionally religious, issues of sexuality are rarely talked about. In the text, Guadalupe the Sex Goddess the author looks at how gender and sexual issues are handled in the society. It is easier to hear a parent advise her daughter not to get pregnant but he or she will never tell her how not to get it. This is mainly because issues on sexuality are rarely entertained. This text raises the question as to who the responsibility of sexual education falls in in the conservative society. Although Cisneros does mention that sexual education about abstinence may come from religious figures, the exact way to abstain is an issue that conservative societies fail to address (Cisneros).
Exploring Sexuality and Privacy Constraints in Guadalupe the Sex Goddess
Cisneros uses the example of her mom who is a traditional conservatist. She wants to rear a daughter to become a traditionist as well. Her mother rebukes her from using tampons until she gets married but she does not explain the reason behind this. As an inquisitive lady, Cisneros seeks to know why. However much she yearns to know, she is not allowed to ask her mother this question. Sexuality is essential because one identifies himself or herself as a woman and gets to know her values. This is what young girls like Cisneros are denied by their parents.
The Intersectionality of Religion and Culture on Sexuality
In this text, Cisneros looks at the intersectionality that she experiences. Her religion is prominent and dictates much of the things she does. Religion is a great instrument for the propagation of culture. As a young girl, Cisneros does not have privacy and this affects her sexuality in a great way. Her culture dethrones her sexuality as she finds it difficult to explore her own body. She says that culture and religion created an uncertainty about what took place “down there” (Cisneros). She did not have confidence and security because she lacked the necessary knowledge about what surrounded her. She becomes ignorant about what happens in her life and while in college, she engages in unprotected sex. This is because she felt afraid to tell the man to use contraceptives. Since the family does not offer her space for sexual education, Cisneros gets to know about her sexuality through clinical settings. Her family is not able to explain to other how her body worked and she is not able to discover it on her own (Cisneros).
Final Thoughts on Gender Norms and Sexuality
Moonlight reveals the story of Chiron’s sexuality and also carries some traces of race in it. This film amalgamates art film with hood film as it tries to portray the African-American characters. The film takes the audience to a journey as Chiron struggles with identity crisis as he strives to know who he really is. To show this clearly, the film makes use of the triptych structure which aids in the reiteration of the fragmented personality to the film and Chiron.
By and large, gender and sexual issues have been in the society for the longest time. They differ from one society to the other. The text Guadalupe the Sex Goddess and the film Moonlight have highlighted these issues explicitly. While Moonlight is more concerned about a black boychild and the lives of blacks in general, Guadalupe the Sex Goddess is pegged on the life of a young girl who grows under the keen eye of her conservativist mother who does very little to teach her about her sexuality. This lack of this requisite knowledge makes the girl have unprotected sex while in college fearful to tell the man to use a contraceptive. She only gets to learn about sexuality from clinical settings. Both texts reveal important details about gender norms and sexuality.
Works Cited
Cisneros, Sandra. "Guadalupe the Sex Goddess." Ms. 7.1 (1996): 43. Print.
Jenkins, Barry, Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Nicholas Britell, James Laxton, and Tarell A. McCraney. Moonlight., 2017.
