During
this week’s read in Brown (2016), I was very interested the issues that were
concerning in career counseling. The issues
in chapter 7 focused on women, men and sexual orientation issues that a career
counselor might face. I love how they
define what sexual orientation is and what sexual identity is. I think it is important to know the difference
between gender and sex. Brown (2016)
defined sexual orientation (as cited in Prince, 2013) as a “person’s sexual and
emotional attraction to (1) members of the opposite (2) members of the same
sex, and (3) members of both the same and opposite sex, although not
necessarily to the same degree” (pg. 124).
Sexual identify was referred to as one’s presentation of their own self
and gender and their own identification as either male or female (Brown,
2016). A person’s gender is socially
constructed roles that society as given to people to categorize them as either
male or female. Sex is one’s biological
characteristics that define them to be either male or female. I think it is important to know the difference
between the definitions to save a counselor from any judgmental, prejudice, or
discriminatory actions toward a client.
The
oppression of women has been a huge epidemic throughout the years. It has change dramatically from the previous
years but is still not where it should be.
I like how they mentioned this topic in Brown (2016). It allows the reader to understand that you
may not experience these issues personally but when counseling they will be
present and you will notice them because they still exist. Brown (2016) mentions the inequalities of “salary,
sexual harassment, and various forms of discrimination” (pg. 125). I have a particular story that relates to the
decisions women have when career making.
I was in my freshman year of high school and my high school is like a
technical high school where we pick a career field we are interested in like
Tech Ed, Gym, Family and Consumer Science, Biology, etc. At that time mine was Tech Ed. I loved to build, and weld items. I was the only girl in my class and dealt with
a lot of harassment from my male peers. They
always teased and said “Look around, girls don’t belong here.” I was, in fact, the only girl in my Tech Ed
classes. We worked on cars and taking
apart engines in cars and building motors for peoples jeeps. I found it very fun. It was not until my sophomore or junior year
that I started to notice my “role” as a woman.
I started to lean away from the Tech Ed and joined the Family and
Consumer Science field. I was baking,
sewing, and cooking all types of things.
I gave into the gender stereotypes and wish that I never did. Brown (2016) discusses that “women may also
have prematurely limited their career chances because of sex-role stereotyping”
(pg. 125). I think this is a huge issue
in our society and as a school counselor I urge counselors to not limit their
students despite their gender, sex, or sexual orientation but guide the student
to what best fits them despite what society is limiting them to.
Brown, D. (2016). Career information, career
counseling, and career development (11th Ed.). New York: Pearson Education,
Inc. ISBN 978-0-13-391777-2.
WHO | What do we mean by
"sex" and "gender"? (n.d.). Retrieved October 07, 2016,
from http://apps.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/
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