Business

Seattle Pride cuts Amazon as a sponsor

Seattle Pride has cut Amazon as a sponsor for its annual parade, citing financial support for legislation, lawmakers and organizations that do not support the LGBTQ community.

Business

Facebook parent Meta to remove sensitive ad categories

Facebook's parent company Meta says it will remove sensitive ad targeting options related to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion or sexual orientation beginning on Jan. 19.

Internet

EU says Facebook, YouTube remove less hate speech

The EU said Thursday that Facebook and YouTube took down less of the hate speech reported to them in 2021 than 2020 as pressure mounts to impose tighter regulation on social media platforms.

Machine learning & AI

EU data watchdogs want ban on AI facial recognition

The EU's data protection agencies on Monday called for an outright ban on using artificial intelligence to identify people in public places, pointing to the "extremely high" risks to privacy.

Business

Norway to fine dating app Grindr $11.7M over privacy breach

Gay dating app Grindr faces a fine of more than $10 million from Norwegian regulators for failing to get consent from users before sharing their personal information with advertising companies, in breach of stringent European ...

Automotive

Five things to know about: making self-driving cars safe

Self-driving cars, or connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), are closer than ever to becoming a mainstay on our roads. Already, many modern cars have self-driving capabilities—now the next step is full automation.

Internet

YouTube bans 'implied' threats

YouTube broadened its anti-harassment policies on Wednesday to include a ban on "implied" threats along with insults based on race, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender. According to the American Psychological Association sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of "personal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them, and membership in a community of others who share them." Sexual orientation is usually classified according to the sex or gender of the people who are found sexually attractive. Though people may use other labels, or none at all, sexual orientation is usually discussed in terms of three categories: heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. These orientations exist along a continuum that ranges from exclusive heterosexual to exclusive homosexual, including various forms of bisexuality in-between. The continuum between heterosexual and homosexual does not suit everyone, however, as some people identify as asexual. Sexologists see this linear scale as an oversimplification of a more nuanced notion of sexual identity.

Most definitions of sexual orientation include a psychological component, such as the direction of an individual's erotic desire, or a behavioral component, which focuses on the sex of the individual's sexual partner/s. Some definitions include both components. Some people prefer simply to follow an individual's self-definition or identity.

Some scholars of sexology, anthropology and history have argued that social categories such as heterosexual and homosexual are not universal. Different societies may consider other criteria to be more significant than sex, including the respective age of the partners, whether partners assume an active or a passive sexual role, and their social status.

Sexual identity and sexual behavior are closely related to sexual orientation, but they are distinguished, with identity referring to an individual's conception of themselves, behavior referring to actual sexual acts performed by the individual, and orientation referring to "fantasies, attachments and longings." Individuals may or may not express their sexual orientation in their behaviors. People who have a homosexual sexual orientation that does not align with their sexual identity are sometimes referred to as closeted.

Sexual identity may also be used to describe a person's perception of his or her own sex, rather than sexual orientation. The term sexual preference has a similar meaning to sexual orientation, but is more commonly used outside of scientific circles by people who believe that sexual orientation is, in whole or part, a matter of choice.[citation needed]

Sexual orientation is a concept that evolved in the industrialized West and there is a controversy as to the universality of its application in other societies/ cultures. As Michel Foucault put it, "'Sexuality' is an invention of the modern state, the industrial revolution, and capitalism." Non-westernized concepts of male sexuality differ essentially from the way sexuality is seen and classified under the system of Sexual Orientation. The validity of the notion of 'sexual orientation' has also been questioned within the industrialized Western society.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA