1. Chapter 13
Sexuality

2. Chapter Outline Sex and Culture Sexuality and Sociological Theory
Sexual Politics: Diversity and Inequality
Sex and Social Issues
Sex and Social Change

3. Sex and Culture
Sexual relationships develop within a social context that establishes:
What sexual relationships mean
How they are conducted
What social supports are given to sexual relationships
Sexuality is socially defined and patterned.

4. Social and Cultural Basis of Sexuality
Human sexual attitudes and behavior vary in different cultural contexts.
Sexual attitudes and behavior change over time.
Sexual identity is learned.

5. Social and Cultural Basis of Sexuality
Social institutions channel and direct human sexuality.
Sex is influenced by economic forces in society.
Public policies regulate sexual and reproductive behaviors.

6. The Influence of Freud
According to Freud, sexual expression originates in childhood and develops over the lifecycle.
Freud thought that sexual energy was the force behind all human endeavors, generating the tension that leads artistic and intellectual expression.

7. Havelock Ellis
Associated lesbianism with insanity, arguing that professional women emerging during the 1920s and 1930s were prone to this “disease.”
Ellis regarded anything but heterosexual, monogamous sexuality as “sexual deviance.”
Ellis’s ideas show how social stereotypes about homosexuality can pervade even seemingly scientific studies of sexuality.

8. The Kinsey Reports
The first major national surveys of sexual behavior published in the 1940s and 1950s.
Kinsey’s research was based on a national sample of 11,000 interviews, but all the research subjects were White, relatively well-educated, and middle-class.
All the interviewers and staff members were White, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant men.

9. The Kinsey Reports
Even with bias in the sample, the Kinsey reports were the first comprehensive, nationally based studies of sexual practices.
Kinsey was first to report that 33% of women and 71% of men engaged in premarital sex despite public belief to the contrary.
Surveys show these figures have grown to 70% of women and at least 80% of men.
Kinsey reported that 37% of men had experienced homosexual contact resulting in orgasm at some point in their lives.

10. The Masters and Johnson Studies
Still the most extensive and thorough study of human sexual response.
The Masters and Johnson study is flawed by a nonrepresentative sample.
The sample included 510 married couples and 57 single people.
They chose only people who thought were “respectable”—White, middle-class, well-educated men and women.

11. The Masters and Johnson Studies
They used prostitutes as research subjects, believing they were the only women who would participate.
The prostitutes became collaborators as much as research subjects by demonstrating methods for sexual stimulation and techniques for controlling sexual tensions.
Masters and Johnson defined sex as a natural function, and asserted that both women and men have a right to sexual pleasure.

12. Sex Among Teenagers

13. Sexual Practices of Americans
Findings from the most recent survey on sexual practices of U.S. public, conducted in the early 1990s:
Young people are becoming sexually active earlier.
The proportion of young people who are sexually active has increased, especially among young women.
Having only one sexual partner in one’s lifetime is rare.

14. Sexual Practices of Americans
A significant number of people have extramarital affairs.
A significant number of people are lesbian or gay.
For those who are sexually active, sex is relatively frequent.

15. Polling Question
If you are in a current relationship, how comfortable are you about communicating directly about sex?
A.) Very comfortable
B.) Somewhat comfortable
C.) Unsure
D.) Somewhat uncomfortable
E.) Very uncomfortable

16. Theories of Sexuality Sexual identity Functionalism
Learned through socialization into roles
Conflict Theory
Enforced through the power of dominant groups and institutions
Symbolic Interaction
Emerges through social relationships

17. Theories of Sexuality Sexual norms Functionalism
Support consensus in society
Conflict Theory
Defined by most powerful groups in society
Symbolic Interaction
Defined through symbolic systems, such as the media

18. Theories of Sexuality Sex and social institutions Functionalism
Sexual norms contribute to stability of social institutions
Conflict Theory
Dominant sexual orientations receive more benefits
Symbolic Interaction
Change as social beliefs define new possibilities

19. Sexual Politics
Sexual politics refers to the link between sexuality and power.
Sociologists have shown that certain institutional contexts are more prone to sexual violence:
A highly masculine subculture
Exclusive in their membership
Organized in a hierarchical fashion around norms of privacy,secrecy, and silence

20. Influence of Race, Class, and Gender
Sexual behavior follows gendered patterns that stem from definitions of masculinity and femininity in the culture.
Because sex is associated with power, sexual politics are tied to race and class relations in society.

21. Homophobia The fear and hatred of homosexuality.
Produces myths about gay people such as:
Gays have a desire to seduce straight people.
Gay and lesbian parents will have negative effects on their children.
They are mostly White men with large discretionary incomes who work primarily in artistic areas and personal service jobs.

22. Polling Question
Homosexual sexual relations should be taught as acceptable and normal.
A.) Strongly agree
B.) Agree somewhat
C.) Unsure
D.) Disagree somewhat
E.) Strongly disagree

23. A Global Perspective on Sexuality
Sexuality is expressed differently across cultural contexts.
Cross-cultural studies of sexuality show that different sexual norms develop differently within cultural meaning systems.

24. International Sex Trade
As the world has become globally connected, an international sex trade has flourished.
Linked to economic development, poverty, tourism, and the subordinate status of women.
Children may also be exploited as prostitutes.
“Sex capitals” where prostitution openly flourishes, such as Thailand, Amsterdam, and other locales, are an integral part of the world tourism industry.

25. The International Sex Trade

26. Sex and Social Issues: Birth Control
The Supreme Court, Griswold v. Connecticut, defined the use of birth control as a right, not a crime for married people.
The Supreme Court decision, Eisenstadt v. Baird extended the same right to unmarried people.

27. Contraceptive Use Worldwide

28. Sex and Social Issues: Abortion
Of the U.S. public, 40% think abortion should be legal in any or most circumstances.
Another 40% think it should be legal in a few circumstances.
17% think it should be illegal in all circumstances.

29. Attitudes Toward Abortion

30. Deaths from Abortion: Pre- and Post-Roe v.Wade

31. Sex and Social Issues: Pornography
There is little social consensus about the acceptability and effects of pornography.
Views on pornography include:
Those who think it is solidly protected by the First Amendment
Those who want it strictly controlled
Those who think it should be totally banned for moral reasons
Those who think it must be banned because it harms women

32. Sex and Social Issues: Teen Pregnancy
Each year about 1 million teenage girls (ages 15–19) have babies in the U.S.
The U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy among developed nations. though levels of teen sexual activity around the world are comparable.
1 in 5 teen women who have sex become pregnant in a given year.

33. Teen Pregnancy: An International Perspective

34. Sexual Activity: A Cross-National Perspective

35. Contraceptive Use Among Teens

36. Reasons for First Sexual Intercourse

37. Reasons for First Sexual Intercourse

38. The Sexual Revolution and Sexual Relations
The sexual revolution refers to widespread changes in roles of men and women and acceptance of sexuality as a normal part of social development.
Technological changes, such as the development of the pill, have created new sexual freedoms.
Now, sexuality is being influenced by the growth of cyberspace and its impact on personal and sexual interactions.

39. Quick Quiz

40. 1. Which of the following statements about sexual attitudes and behaviors is incorrect?
a. Sexual identity is learned.
b. Sexual attitudes and behaviors change over time.
c. Sexual attitudes and behaviors are not gender specific.
d. Sexual attitudes and behaviors vary in different cultural contexts.

41. Answer: c
The statement, sexual attitudes and behaviors are not gender specific, is incorrect.

42. 2. The use of women as sex workers in a global context where sex itself is a commodity is referred to as:
a. global sex market
b. compulsory sexuality
c. international sex trade
d. a global double standard

43. Answer: c
The use of women as sex workers in a global context where sex itself is a commodity is referred to as international sex trade.

44. 3. According to biological determinism, sexual identity is:
a. emerges through social experience
b. fixed at birth
c. formed as we develop gender identities
d. socially constructed

45. Answer: b
According to biological determinism, sexual identity is fixed at birth.

46. 4. Through the publication of his reports, ________ laid the foundation for some of the sexual liberation movements that followed.
a. Sigmund Freud
b. Havelock Ellis
c. Alfred Kinsey
d. Johnson Masters

47. Answer: c
Through the publication of his reports, Alfred Kinsey laid the foundation for some of the sexual liberation movements that followed.