Beacon of Light

There is more reason for hope in our society when an organization like the Ford Foundation not only recognizes and acknowledges the natural diversity of human sexuality, but also throws its enormous weight behind promoting a more positive understanding of human diversity including the GLBT community.  In addition to the positive affects of understanding and the negative affects of the various kinds of prejudice, the foundation deals with all related aspects of human sexuality.  Enough cannot be said to stress the importance of their impact on creating a better, more productive, healthier and harmonious society.

From the Ford Foundation Report (Preface)

After widespread neglect over many years, the value of studying human sexuality has recently been recognized for its bearing on many important debates and problems in contemporary society. This is the result, in part, of contributions from feminist theory, the emergence of gay and lesbian movements, new efforts to prevent sexual abuse, and the international AIDS epidemic, which have generated a significant amount of new research on human sexuality. Along with increased research we see academics, advocates and community activists in the field coming together to exchange information and ideas. Having combined forces,they are focusing new attention on the ways in which gender and sexuality are shaped in different social and cultural settings, and on the complex interactions between sexuality, health and issues of social justice. This new wave of activity has led to the creation of more effective program interventions and services.

Since the early 1990s, the Ford Foundation has recognized the general lack of information and theoretical understanding concerning human sexuality. Through its work in the reproductive health field, the foundation has supported social science research and training, advocacy and public education on sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights. Early programming revealed the critical role sexuality and gender play in determining women’s social status and ability to protect themselves against violence, disease and unwanted pregnancy. As our work has evolved, it has also come to include a focus on the role of sexuality in healthy human development.

Our primary motivation in writing this report is to stimulate conversation and to encourage other donors and organizations to support work on human sexuality. Funding is needed to advance efforts by social science researchers, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health advocates, community activists, parents and practitioners. At Ford, we welcome partnerships with other donors interested in this important field.

Susan V. Berresford
President
Ford Foundation

Executive Summary

Sexuality and Social Change; Making the connection

Sexuality is an integral part of the human experience–a complex phenomenon, with physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual dimensions. While deeply personal, sexuality occurs within specific social, economic, cultural, political and religious contexts. Those contexts, in turn, profoundly shape the possibilities and limitations of an individual’s sexual experience and with that, many other aspects of the individual’s life. At the same time, evolving expressions of sexuality by individuals and groups influence culture, politics and religion.

Sexuality is both central to some of the greatest problems of our time and at the core of human well-being for people of all ages. A culture’s treatment of sexuality can influence whether an individual is safe or unsafe; ill or healthy; rich or poor; educated or not; employed or enslaved; treated with justice or with contempt. Sexuality plays a crucial role in determining women’s social status, which in turn affects the number of women, children and families living in poverty. It influences a woman’s ability to protect herself against violence, disease and unwanted pregnancy; to survive pregnancy and childbirth; and to manage her fertility.

Sex can be an arena for contested power relations, and result in debilitating discrimination, abuse and violence based on gender and sexual orientation. Sex can also be a means for transmitting devastating diseases, as evidenced by extraordinary rates of morbidity and mortality from sexually transmitted infections (STIs)and HIV/AIDS. Young people today, as in past generations, are particularly vulnerable to the risks of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, maternal mortality, violence and sexual exploitation.

Failing to address the problems presented by sexuality poses myriad dangers that will affect tens of millions of people worldwide. But directing attention and resources to issues of sexuality can be a powerful means to achieve gender equity, improved public health and social justice.

For these reasons, the area of sexuality is nothing if not hotly contested, a lightning rod in contemporary life. Attitudes towards sexuality can cripple or free. Battles rage worldwide between repression and freedom; science and religion; feminism and patriarchy. This struggle over sexuality is a profoundly important one-a struggle that determines not only how well societies treat their own people, but how well societies are able to co-exist.

Read the entire Ford Foundation report in PDF.

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2. Yes Virginia, There Really Is Bisexuality*