There are issues brewing all the time that catch somebody's eye at one time or another. Issues such as abortion, single-parent families, the homeless, AIDS, politics, euthanasia, and same- sex marriages. Same-sex marriages caught my eye as an issue of 1996 which people should be aware of. Not necessarily because of gay and lesbian rights, but because they are people too and why should they be permitted on how far they are able to take their relationships because of state and federal laws?

An increasing problem on high school campuses and one of the main concerns of parents, school officials, and the government is teenage sex. It is on the rise, and they are worried that it may get out of control. Teenage sex can be a problem because of the pregnancies and many diseases it can cause. One solution that has been proposed is to distribute condoms in public high schools. This is a topic that is controversial and has been hotly debated for years. There are people who think it would be a good idea and those who think it may worsen the problem rather than solve it.

"Whatever the final equation of factors influencing sexual orientation and identity, there's an immediate implication for the increasing number of gays and lesbians forming families" (Of Boys 27). Today, many gays and lesbians are "out of the closet" and they are not afraid of facing society with what many people consider abnormal sexual orientations. We must now ask ourselves the question: is homosexuality really an abnormal lifestyle? Is it still against the norm?

In the human body, each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, one of each pair inherited through the egg from the mother, and the other inherited through the sperm of the father. Of these chromosomes, those that determine sex are X and Y. Females have XX and males have XY. In addition to the information on sex, 'the X chromosomes carry determinants for a number of other features of the body including the levels of factor VIII and factor IX.'1 If the genetic information determining the factor VIII and IX level is defective, hemophilia results.

The 1970's saw the intensification of the feminist movement as a social, moral, and political force in the American arena. They focused their attention on the systematic oppression of women in politics and business. They were attacking male chauvinism, dominance, and a social system that relegated females to household duties. By most standards, the feminist movement has been successful in nearly all of its endeavors. The result, however, has left the American male uncertain of his own role in not only the dating arena, but the business, marriage, and society in general.

The use of sex in advertising has become a major selling method in the society we live in today. It began sixty years ago when a beautiful young woman introduced the first windproof lighter and a new wave of advertising emerged - The Pinup Girl. She advertised everything from lighters to laundry soap. She even recruited for the U.S. armed forces (Parade Magazine; pg 6). Sexuality in advertising is now a major area of ethical concern, though surprisingly little is known about its effects or the norms for it's use (Baltimore Sun; pg. 1G).

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a very big problem today. It is a problem that hasn't really drawn much attention until now. More and more sexual harassment cases have been brought up today than ever before. We here about a harassment case in the papers almost everyday. Sexual harassment has even drawn attention to movies. One movie that has drawn its most recent attention to sexual harassment is Disclosure.

In the book Smut, Erotic Reality/ Obscene Ideology , by Murray Davis (1983), the author expresses the idea that the best source for studying human sexuality objectively is "soft core", rather than "hard core" pornography. (Davis p. xix). The purpose of this paper is to critique Davis's claim and to study what understanding of human sexuality someone might have if they used some other resource that is available today, in this case the Internet.

Yes, the military does have sexual harassment and discrimination against women in the nineties. "Firestone and co-researcher Richard J. Hurns analyzed a 1988 DOD Survey of men and women in the military and found that 51.8 % of men and 74.6% of women reported either experiencing or knowing of sexual harassment. Among the women surveyed, 70.1% had experienced "sexual talk or behavior at the work place [that] created an offensive, hostile or intimidating environment." Among the men, 36.9% gave the same answer."(1) The percent of women being sexually harassed is much higher than the percent of men being harassed. Even though it is not tolerated, it still happens regardless of the consequences, even in the nineties.

When people hear the word "rape" they might imagine a stranger leaping out from the shadows of a dark alley and attacking someone. Although this is partly true, most rapes are committed by people who know their victims. When intercourse is unwanted and forced upon by someone you know, it is known as "date rape." It occurs daily and is prevalent on virtually all college campuses across the nation and in cities all over the world.