Different Perception of Different Religions on Human Sexuality

Different religions have different ways of thinking when it comes to human sexuality. When it comes to the issue of gender and sexual orientation, one must first consider what it was like when the issue first arose and where people stand on it today. Most religions of the world are patriarchal, meaning men are the dominant beings. However, there have been some religions where women play very important roles. A good comparison would be to examine the Hindu tradition as well as the Oglala Lakota tradition to see how male and female roles are portrayed.

The Lakota people are very spiritual and there are a lot of spiritual responsibilities to fill. Women play a vital role in Lakota mythology especially in the myth of origins. “It is a woman who coaxes the Buffalo People to come from their subterranean world to the earth. and who instructs them in the ways of culture” (Page 373). This would be seen as a very important situation in Lakota history because men didn’t do it.

It is much overemphasized that there is a superficial male dominance in the Lakota culture because women have and still are in key positions of leadership. Women “have always formed the backbone of indigenous nations on this comment”. In the traditional Hinduism, women are suppose to be idealized and honored. However, how Hindu women actually get treated is horrible. Awomen is to follow her husband around like a shadow and follow orders very closely. Men are to be viewed as Gods to their wives.

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If a woman devotes her life to her husband and done everything he has asked for in a particular life. it is believed that she will be reborn as a man in the next life. Another sad tradition that demonstrates the oppression of women in Hindu society is female infanticide.

This would be the practice of killing of infants or newborns. Hindu men and women will have multiple females but keep trying to have a boy so they can feel “fulfilled.” Infanticide is against Indian law but unfortunately is so common in India that the prosecution of parents who kill their female infants is rare. For Hindu families who can afford it, female infanticide has been replaced by abortion. In the Code of Manu, it says that women are to be loyal to their husbands even if their husbands are unfaithful, drunk, abusive, or deformed. Last. one of the saddest Hindu traditions called sati. is when awidow would take her own life on her husbands funeral pyre. Widowed Hindu women do this because their life symbolically ends with his death. The discussion of gender in religion brings up the next big question of sexuality and how it is viewed and judged by members in a said religion.

Homosexual relations will occur in all religions but it is the consequences that change from religion to religion. In the Lakota tradition, homosexual activities exist but most are of a transgendered and portray both the man and woman role. The Lakota have a term for this called “tow-spirits.” These people dress like the opposite sex and engage in physical activities with the same sex but they are not ”known of” or “looked down on” for being homosexual but as a spiritual power. They are thought to be able to mediate between the human and supernatural realms and also between both sexes. In traditional Hinduism. there was not much said on homosexual relations because it was so uncommon amongst the people of India. A man named J.L. Nehru said, ”homosexuality was evidently neither approved nor at all common in India” (Page 391). This would lead us to believe that homosexuality in India, even if it was seen or considered common, would not be approved.

However though, there are signs of acceptance of same- sex relations in Hindu culture. It has become acceptable because it is still in pursuit of the goal of kama. The experience of physical love is still being achieved between two people, as it says in the kamasutra. Also, like the ”two-spirits” idea in the Native American cultures, the Hindus have the ‘hijra. ” The hijra is what they consider that third gender. Usually, hijras are men who live their lives and dress up like women. Hijras do have a very important role in Hindu culture and are often employed to perform at birth ceremonies and weddings. Gender and homosexuality are two factors that way heavily in religion. They are not seen in the same ways by everyone but still need to be acknowledged.

As was looked at in the Lakota tradition both men and women have necessary roles for the well-hing of their people and their practices, The Hindu people on the other hand despise women for the most part and feel that a women presence on Earth could only be to serve and better the life of their husband. On the issue of homosexuality, Hindu‘s don’t really see it in their country and hence don’t see it that often in their religion. In recent years though, there has been a lot of acceptance for the little homosexuality they do see. Despite what these religions say about women and sexuality, men would be a lot worse off without women.