essay

Karen Lopez Cornejo

533 words

Sociology (MW 3:30-4:45)

In, "Framing Strategies and Public Support for the Legalization of Marriage Between Two People of the Same Sex" those that ere against the legalization of same sex marriage use the term, "homosexual", and organizations are against saying, "same-sex couples" or using the term "civil rights" to describe the issue of homosexual marriage. There have been a few studies that research whether these different terminologies among supporters and opponents have any effects on support for the legalization of same sex marriage. One study focused on political sociology, psychology, political science, and social movements research. This study suggests that using a certain term to describe a group can influence the opinions of individuals in regards political and social issues. The second study looked upon how stable political preferences played a role, and this study shows how public opinion can be influenced by beliefs and values that are pre-existing, and how these beliefs and values in regards political and social issues are less manipulated by terminology strategies.

Terminology used to frame groups can affect the response in surveys. In this research two types of framing were focused on, equivalence frames and issue frames. Equivalence frames include descriptions in which are alternative but posses alike phenomenon. These type of frames are used to describe "homosexual couples" or "same sex couples." Issue frames focus on distinct that is qualitative and relevant. These include "civil rights activists," "gay activists," and "some people." Research has shown that that people who vote have already stable preferences in policy. Other evidence points out that preferences can be from additional education or rationalization and not driven from the effects of framing. According to the study in this article, the term "same sex couples" did not have a significant effect on the results of public opinion. Neither did the terms "civil rights activists" or "gay activists" had no significant effect as well. The results persisted after studying these terms in regrard of interest in politics, religiosity, region, education, income, marital status, gender, age, race, and party identification.

In "Talking about Sex: Religion and Patterns of Parent-Child Communication about Sex and Contraception," it is found that parents' religion has a high influence to avoid frequent conversations on sex, birth control, and sexual morality. Regardless, age, race, and gender are still constant influences for infrequent conversations of this matter. Seventy percent of adults in a study showed that sexual information that was inaccurate played a negative effect on physical and emotional well-being in their life. Young adults tend to misunderstand their parent's attitudes about sex when there is little communication with them about sex. Communication patterns vary by race and ethnicity but more highly seen in gender. In one gender study, only half of boys had a parent who said they communicated with them on sex, compared to eighty-five percent for girls. Interestingly enough daughters with elderly mothers have less communication about sex. It is preferred by the youth for them to communicate with a parent rather than a peer for a source of information.

There is higher amount of communication on contraception and postponement of sex in African American families. African American parents make sex communication with their children of adolescent age a priority. The greater religious conservatism the more frequency of morality-focused communication. Although religion is still seen to be of less influence in regards to sex education than other factors such as age, race/ethnicity.