Week 8 Anna Bamford A02

When I started reading this article, what stood out to me first was the pairing of sexuality and religion, two topics that tend to be very separated in my mind.  When discussing the lack of sufficient education about sex and sexuality, people often point to schools or parents to provide this information.  However, Lee argues that sexuality should be discussed in Asian-American religious communities. 
I grew up attending Catholic mass every Sunday, and while sexuality was never discussed in depth, I felt that the parishes I attended were fairly liberal.  Similarly, my family and extended family almost never talked about sexuality, though I know that members of my extended family have distanced themselves from the Church because of it's views on issues including gender and sexuality.  I would describe my family as very westernized, but there were still parts of this article that resonated with me. 
However, Lee's description of how Confucianism interprets sexuality was completely new to me.  I was interested in the strong relationship between the individual and society and the "ritualization of the body," both ideas that are very different from the way I view society.  One thing that caught my attention was the relationship between a woman's virginity and her family's social prospects: "Losing one's virginity means bringing shame and humiliation to the entire family, and thus hurts the advancement of the male members of one's family."  Though the idea of a woman losing her purity and therefore her social standing is certainly nothing new, this male-centric interpretation of that idea stood out to me. 

The Virgin Mary, Christian symbol of female purity.



Lee, B.  (2006.)  Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities.  Religious Education 101-3, 402-419.