1. Chapter 6
Sexuality and Society

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3. Sex: A Biological Issue
The biological distinctions between females and males
Primary sex characteristics
Organs used for reproduction
Secondary sex characteristics
Bodily development that distinguishes mature males and females
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4. Sex and the Body Intersexual people (hermaphrodites) Transsexuals
Possessing some combination of female and male genitalia
Transsexuals
People who feel emotionally linked to one sex, but are biologically the other
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5. Sex and the Body
Often expressed feeling is “trapped in the body of the wrong sex”
Disregard conventional ideas about how males and females look and behave
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6. Sex: A Cultural Issue Cultural variation The incest taboo
Showing affection and sexual position
Notions of modesty
Restrictions placed upon openness
The incest taboo
Found in every society
Forbidding sexual relations between relatives
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7. First-Cousin Marriage Laws across the United States
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures (2011)
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8. The Sexual Revolution 1960s: A new openness toward sexuality
Birth-control pills
Double standard challenged
Premarital and extramarital sex
Men & women almost equal in premarital sex
American youth broadly accept premarital sex
75% of men & 90% of women remain faithful
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9. The Sexual Revolution Sex between adults
1/3 have sex a few times a year or not at all
1/3 have sex once to a few times a month
1/3 have sex with a partner two or more times a week
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10. The Sexual Revolution Sex over the life course
Patterns of change with age
Males are sexually active by age 16, females by age 17
Age 60: 85% of men and 60% of women say they've been sexually active in the past year
Sexual activity is normal for most older adults
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11. The Sexual Revolution: Closing the Double
Standard
A larger share of men than women reports having had two or more sexual partners by age twenty. But the sexual revolution greatly reduced this gender
difference.
Source: Laumann et al. (1994:198).
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12. Sexual Attitudes in the US
The sexual counterrevolution
The return to sexual responsibility
Limited partners
STDs
Premarital sex
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13. Contraceptive Use in Global Perspective
Sources: Data from United Nations (2008) and Population Reference Bureau (2011).
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14. Sexual Attitudes in the US
Premarital sex
Sex between Adults
Extramarital Sex
Sex over the Life Course
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16. Sexual Orientation Heterosexuality Homosexuality Bisexuality
“Hetero:” the other of two
Homosexuality
“Homo:” the same
Bisexuality
Strong attraction to both sexes
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17. Sexual Orientation Asexuality Roots of sexual orientation
No sexual attraction
Roots of sexual orientation
Mounting biological evidence for genetics
Can’t discount social influences
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18. Four Sexual Orientations
A person’s levels of same-sex attraction and opposite-sex attraction are two distinct dimensions that combine in various ways to produce four major sexual
orientations.
Source: Adapted from Storms (1980).
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19. Sexual Orientation What Gives Us a Sexual Orientation?
Sexual Orientation: A Product of Society
Sexual Orientation: A Product of Biology
How Many Gay People Are There?
The Gay Rights Movement
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20. Sexual Orientation in the United States:
Survey Data
Share of the Population That Is Bisexual or Homosexual
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21. Sexual Orientation in the United States: Survey Data
Attitudes toward Homosexual Relations, 1973–2010
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22. Opposition to Homosexual Relationships: Attitudes
of First-Year College Students, 1980–2008
The historical trend among college students is toward greater tolerance of
homosexual
relationships, a view held by a large majority.
Sources: Astin et al. (2002) and Pryor et al. (2009).
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23. Sexual Controversies Pornography
Sexually explicit material intended to cause sexual arousal
Supreme Court gives local communities the power to what violates community standards
Pornography in the U.S. is $5 billion/year industry
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24. Sexual Controversies Teen pregnancy
Criticized for moral and political reasons
Teen pregnancy
U.S. has highest rate compared to other high-income countries
Sex education: solution or problem?
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25. Teenage Pregnancy Rates across the United States
The map shows pregnancy rates for women aged fifteen to nineteen in In what regions of the country are rates high? Where are they low? What explanation can you offer for these patterns?
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26. Prostitution Social and cultural ties Types of prostitution
Strongest in low-income countries where:
Patriarchy is strong
Opportunities to earn a living are restricted
Types of prostitution
“Call girls”
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27. Prostitution A “victimless crime?” Workers in controlled parlors
“Street walkers”
A “victimless crime?”
Police stage only occasional crackdowns.
The sex trade subjects many women to kidnapping, emotional abuse, & violence
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28. Prostitution in Global Perspective
Sources: Peters Atlas of the World (1990) and Mackay (2000).
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29. Sexual Violence and Abuse
Rape
A violent act that uses sex to hurt, humiliate, or control another person
Date rape (or acquaintance rape)
Forcible sexual violence against women by men they know
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30. Sexual Violence and Abuse
Accounts for 2/3rds of all rape
Myths about rape
Rape always involves strangers
Women provoke their attackers
Rape is simply sex
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31. Theoretical Analysis Structural-functional analysis
Need to regulate sexual behavior
Latent function
Symbolic-interaction analysis
The social construction of sexuality
Sexual practices vary from culture to culture
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32. Theoretical Analysis Social-conflict analysis
Highlights dimensions of inequality
Shows how sexuality reflects patterns of social inequality and helps perpetuate them.
Queer theory–Research findings that challenge the heterosexual bias in US society
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34. The Abortion Controversy
Roe v.Wade (1973)
Established legal access to abortion
Pro-choice
Support a woman’s right to choose abortion
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35. The Abortion Controversy
Pro-life
Oppose abortion as morally wrong
Circumstances of the pregnancy
Makes a big difference in how people see this issue
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36. When Should the Law Allow a Woman to Choose Abortion?
The extent of public support for legal abortion depends on how the issue is presented.
Source: NORC (2011:397–399).
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