Week 8 - Angela Alejandro - A04

 In Boyung Lee’s article “Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian American Communities” the author discusses how Confucian and Christian teachings influence the attitudes that Asian Americans hold towards sexuality. Many of the older generation of the Asian American community hold a more conservative stance in regards to sex, so much so that many of their educations choose to not speak of it. Lee states that this is a form of “null curriculum” meaning that even choosing to ignore an issue indirectly teaches the students how to approach the subject. By keeping sexuality taboo, students learn to be ashamed of it, leading to a damaging mindset that they keep with them throughout their life. For instance, in the reading the author mentions that Asian ideals focus on the collective wellbeing, meaning that they focus less about the individual and more on how to contribute to the community. This makes some parents feel that they need to be ashamed of their gay children because they “failed to live up to the norm of the community” and somehow they will be ostracized and live a meaningless life. This way of thinking is insensitive and toxic. My question is how can we change religious ideals so that they will be more inclusive of different sexualities.

References: Lee, B (2006). "Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities". Religious Education.
PHOTO Retrieved from: Confucian Weekly Bulletin