Human Sexuality 101
by Melanie
Anne Phillips
There are four aspects to Human Sexuality. They
are:
1. Anatomical (physical) sex
2. Sexual preference
3. Gender Identity
4. Mental Sex
I'll briefly describe each one, hoping to clarify
the Mental Sex concept. Mental sex is the one unique to Mental Relativity: it is what we
have added to this list that most people see as only having the first three items.
1. Anatomical sex is simply what body you are in:
male or female. But it is really not all that simple. There are hairy women and very
slender men. Facial features can range from more "male" to more
"female" regardless of what's between one's legs. In addition, there is the
chromosomal nature of being XX, XY, or even XXY. On top of that, we have hermaphrodites.
So, all things considered, each and everyone of use cannot truly be seen as simply male or
female physically, but truly occupy a range on a spectrum. And, such things as body
building can alter the overall physical impact we have, meaning that we can alter our
physical sexually characteristics (short or long hair, nose jobs, sex change surgery) so
that the line blurs even more. True, most people gravitate to one end of the scale that
the other, which creates an inverse "bell curve". However, the line from one
side to the other is truly unbroken, with more that a few people right in the middle.
2. Sexual preference. This one comes in four
flavors: same, opposite, both, or neither. Regardless of anatomical sex, any individual
might be any one of these four. What's more, most people find their sexual preferences
depend on context and may shift depending on the situation or the person. For example, a
man who sees himself as attracted to the opposite sex might not be at all attracted to a
female body builder. If he were honest with himself, he would probably find some level of
attraction to a very pretty boy. It is the cultural training we have that leads us deny
and not even experience the capacity to shift our perspectives here.
In addition, people change over time as well as in
different contexts. Some start out being hetero, then shift to bi, then to same sex, then
give up altogether and then jump back in somewhere else. With the spatial and temporal
flexibility in this area, each of us is fluid. But in the range of people as a whole,
regardless of where you fall on the anatomical sex scale, any individual might at any time
have any one of the four sexual preferences.
So, since anatomical sex does not determine sexual
preference, the two factors are independent and can be multiplied together to determine
the range of human sexuality on these two points alone. Already we can see there are a
tremendous number of combinations!
3. Gender Identity describes where on the scale of
masculine and feminine behavior an individual falls. Clearly this is a range. What's more,
each of us changes in context as well. Men who are very macho on the weekend playing
tackle football with friends might be very demure during the week at their job as a bank
teller. And, over time, we all change. Most men start out more masculine than they end up
at age 80.
Gender identity four any one of us ranges in a
segment of the masculine/feminine line. Which segment we define depends on our
conditioning as a child and "locks in" somewhere between age 3 and 5. Then, for
most of our lives, we move up and down that segment, feeling uneasy if we get close to one
of the ends of our personal range.
Now, since masculine or feminine is a range and
does not depend on sexual preference or anatomical sex (we all know masculine women and
feminine men) then we can multiply that in as well and create an ENORMOUS number of
combinations of human sexuality.
4. Mental Sex. Finally, we get down to the nitty
gritty. Mental Sex is the only one of the four aspects of human sexuality that is truly
binary. Here is how it comes to be that way:
In the 12th to 14th week of pregnancy, a developing
fetus will get a wash of hormones over its brain. Boy babies get a flush of testosterone,
girl babies get a flush of estrogen. Testosterone has a direct impact on the level of the
neurotransmitter Seratonin in the brain. As Testosterone goes up, Seratonin production
goes up.
Seratonin is an "exciter" which
stimulates the firing of the neurons. When they fire, the neurological activity of the
brain takes center stage, and the biochemical aspect of the brain steps a bit into the
shadows.
Let's stop for a moment to describe four aspects of
the Brain:
1. Networks of neurons in the "ganglia"
2. Neurons connecting the ganglia 3. The biochemistry within the ganglia 4. The
biochemistry between the ganglia
Ganglia are little groups of perhaps 4,000 neurons,
connected together in a tight pack. The neurons in this group communicate with each other
much more frequently that with other ganglia. Other neurons carry communications from one
ganglion to another.
Inside each ganglion is a "micro-climate
zone" of biochemistry that is a "density" of chemical interactions. The
specific chemistry of each ganglion "leaks out" into the biochemistry of the
brain as a whole, interacting with all the other ganglia's biochemistry, creating an
interference pattern of currents and eddies in biochemical composition and density.
So, there are four different aspects of the brain,
from which our capacity to sense Mass, Energy, Space and Time, are created.
When Testosterone is present for that 2 week period
before birth, the neurology is favored and that affects the "focus" of energy in
the brain to favor the spatial view.
When Dopamine is the hormone wash over the brain of
the developing fetus, neurological activity is suppressed, focusing the energy in the
brain toward favoring the temporal view.
After two weeks, the hormone wash recedes, leaving
behind no physical trace, but instead a "dynamic" impact that forms a bias which
is the foundation of self-awareness.
Before the wash of hormones, the brain neither
favors space nor time. As a result, information coming in through the senses is equally
handled and distributed by both sides, leading to an unbiased "view". But
without bias, there is no "point" of view, and hence, no mind.
The hormone wash acts as an ocean wave on the
shore, wiping out all existing information, and then receding, leaving a clean slate in
its wake. But during that two week period, there is a biochemical bias toward the
neurology or the biochemistry which then allows for an orderly handling and distribution
of information, favoring either space or time. Once the wave recedes, the biochemical bias
is gone, but the dynamic bias caused by "choosing" one method of organizing data
over the other remains, forming the foundation of consciousness.
So, there are two kinds of consciousness on this
planet: those of a spatial foundation and those of a temporal foundation. They are as
unalike as two alien species.
Spatial thinkers look outward and first see things
in terms of their arrangement and where it leads. Temporal things first look inward and
see things in terms of what they mean and how they are going.
If that's all there was to the human mind, men (the
spatially biased thinkers) and women (the temporally biased thinkers) would find no common
ground for communication. But, Mental sex is only one aspect of the mind.
Let me draw an "L" shaped image here:
1. Anatomical Sex 2. Sexual Preference 3. Gender
Identity 4. Mental Sex
That forms the vertical arm of the L.
Now, at the same point as Mental sex, let us create
a horizontal arm for the L, as if we were using the X and Y axes of a geometric graph.
1. Pre-conscious 2. Subconscious 3. Memory 4.
Consciousness
Mental Sex is only found in the Preconscious. It is
the PRE conscious because that spatial or temporal bias filter everything else that
follows.
If we are spatial thinkers, no matter how much we
try to get into our emotions, we will always have some aspect of logic blended in. We
can't help analyzing, even when we aren't aware of it. If we are temporal thinkers, no
matter how much we try to be logical, we will always have some aspect of emotion blended
in. We can't get rid of our passion, even when we think we are being absolutely
reasonable. Beginning to sound like men and women to you?
But on top of that Pre-conscious are three other
aspects of the mind.
The Subconscious is made up of the "mean
average" of all of our experiences. We cannot see in it specific images, but only
feel the pull of attractions and repulsions it engenders. Suppose we observe with our
consciousness a set of vertical parallel lines. We file that away in our memory, then
observe a set of horizontal parallel lines. We file that in memory. Consciousness has
observed it, memory has stored it. Whenever we want to access it, we can call upon our
memory and "pull up" either the vertical or horizontal lines, whichever we want.
But the subconscious gets the "drift
down" from the memory. First it experienced the vertical parallel lines. Next it
experienced the horizontal parallel lines. The two images are blended rather than being
held separate as in memory. So, the subconscious is most affects by the points at which
the two sets of lines intersect, creating a "double dose" of exposure at the
four points where the lines intersect.
The subconscious, then, will be more sensitized to
any observation involving four points, even though four points were never observed in
reality. This is where creative thought happens.
The point here, is that the subconscious, through
the averaging of personal experience (though exposure to parents, peers, and the media)
can end up more "pulled" toward the spatial or the temporal, regardless of
Mental Sex. Similarly, specific training or memories may make the responses we have more
geared toward the spatial or temporal. And finally, at any moment, each of us can decide
that it is best to view things either by how they are, or how they are going.
So, Mental Sex itself is only a bias, not a black
and white either/or situation. On top of that, our specific life experience may result in
a bias more toward spatial or temporal attractions in our subconscious. Our training and
conditioning may lead our memories to be more "triggered" by and more fluent in
spatial or temporal imagery, and our momentary situation may bend our consciousness more
toward the spatial (logistic) or temporal (emotional).
Emotions are just as accurate for temporal issues
as Logic is for spatial issues. Male and Female Mental Sex determines which one is most
clear to any individual. The other three levels of the mind my match or mismatch that
bias, creating, level by level, as complex a mental process as the four levels of human
sexuality create in our relationships with one another.
