1. Sexuality and Pornography The Price of Pleasure: Pornography, Sexuality & Relationships Issues: sexualization of children and adolescents; the construction of sexual scripts and expectations; the way in which men and women relate to each other emotionally and sexually; the construction of femininity and masculinity; the objectification of women; violence against women.

2. Group Discussion  Does heterosexual pornography harm women? How? If it does, what should be done to prevent such harm?  Is pornography just fantasy or does it have repercussions in our lives?  Why do you think so little of pornography is targeted and marketed to women?  Do you consider pornography a form of sexual discrimination? Why or why not?  How does pornography construct masculine and feminine norms when it comes to relationships between men and women?

3. Sexual Orientation  Choice of sexual partner or to the group of people to whom one feels sexual attraction.  Refers to her social and emotional commitment to women.  We label peoples sexual choices as heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual according to whether they are sexually interested in members of the other gender, their own gender, or both genders.

4.  Naomi McCormick (1994).  “Men began to label women’s romantic friendships as sexually perverse only after feminists challenged the institution of marriage and competed with men economically”

5.  Many women may define their love relationship with other women on the basis of emotional bonds and attraction than on whether they had genital contact.  Some lesbians focus on identification with a lesbian community.  Some women reject sexual category labels and say they fall in love with person, not the gender.  Bisexual individuals are those who can be attracted to person of either gender.

6. Is Women’s Sexual Orientation Inborn? Discovered? Constructed?  Sexual orientation is a product of cultural, biological, social, emotional and experiential factors that are too intertwined to be examined separately.  Some lesbians report that their sexual orientation is an aspect of themselves that is beyond their control - something that they were born with, or that dates back to their earliest memories.  Others describe being lesbian as a choice, often made later in life and after considerable heterosexual experience.

7. Celia Kitzinger (1987) Celia Kitzinger (1987)  One viewpoint emphasized personal fulfillment and self acceptance - the idea that being a lesbian was right for the individual and that she was doing what she was meant to do.  Another viewpoint emphasized love.  A third group of women decided that their lesbian orientation was an inborn part of themselves- but as only one of many important aspects of who they are.  A fourth group expressed the viewpoint that they had chosen a lesbian identity because of their feminism.  A fifth group of women expressed their viewpoint that being lesbian was a weakness or a failure and not something that they have willingly chosen.

8. Lesbian Sexuality  1- Pleasure: In one study, heterosexual women reported that when they had sex with men, they reached orgasm 52% of the time and felt satisfied 63% of the time.  The lesbians on the other hand reported when they had sex with women, they had orgasm 75% of the time and felt satisfied 85% of the time.  Issues: 1- Heterosexual and homosexual couples need to learn what feels good and what works for them.  2- For women of any sexual orientation, female socializing towards repression, rather than expression of their sexual feelings is sometimes a barrier to learning and experiencing good sex.  3- Lesbians also live in a homophobic social environment.

9. 2- Danger:  Lesbian and gay people in many contexts face serious prejudice and threats of physical and verbal assault because of their sexual orientation.  2/3 of gay students on U.S college campuses report that they have been verbally insulted.  ¼ talk about threatened with physical violence and;  43 % talk about being physically abused because of their sexual orientation.  All had heard derogatory anti lesbian/antigay comments on campus.  Victims of crimes based on bias experienced significantly higher level of psychological distress than did victims of similar crimes not based on bias.

10. Communication Communication  Communication both creates and sustains gender: the way we communicate reflects social norms about gender and the ways we are as individuals have internalized these norms and made them part of our identity and instinctual habits.  Verbal communication uses words to get our message across.  Nonverbal communication- use facial expressions, tone of voice, gesture, posture, touch, eye contact etc. to get our messages across.

11. Verbal Communication  Conversational Dominance  Women tend to use communication to build connections with each others, to be inclusive, supportive, cooperative and responsive to others.  Men talk more than women do and try to hold the floor, even when they are not saying anything by using ‘filled pauses’ non words such as ‘um’ or ‘ah’ longer.  ‘Intrusive interruptions’: Interruptions aimed at taking away another’s speakers turn to speak.

12. Listening and Conversational Maintenance  Indicate attention in a variety of ways Ie. nodding, maintaining eye contact, using facial expression that say ‘I’m interested’ and ‘listening noises’ such as “I know what you mean” and ‘mm-hmm’  Women also tend to keep conversations longer by asking questions, responding to what others say and probing for more information.  Men tend to interrupt conversations more and give no response or give minimal response to other speakers.

13. Speech Style  Women tend to end their statements with ‘tag questions’ – i.e. Isn’t that right? In order to elicit signs of attention and agreement and to be generally more polite and tentative in their speech.  Women use different tones in their speech- they end their statements in question marks - the inflection is upwards toward the end of the statements, making it appear that they are asking a question rather than making a statement.  Women tend to finish their sentences with ‘I don’t know’ or what do you think?’ making their statements less assertive.

14. What do Men and Women Talk about?  Women enjoy discussing feelings, whereas men tend to discuss sports, politics, work or less personal topics. personal topics.  Communication patterns also depend on situation. Researchers report that in informal conversations among students recorded in public places on campus- both men and women spent the most time talking about work and money, a category that included jobs, studying and career goals. among students recorded in public places on campus- both men and women spent the most time talking about work and money, a category that included jobs, studying and career goals.  Yet men were still more likely than women to talk about sports and entertainment.  And women talked about men 4 times as much as men talked about women!

15. Nonverbal Communication  Includes the ways we look at each other, touch one another, how we carry ourselves, our gestures and the way we occupy and control space.  Gender is a very powerfully coded in nonverbal communication.  Non verbal communication indicates who has more power in a social interaction.

16. Gaze  Visual Dominance refers to the phenomenon where high powered people tend to look at their subordinates when speaking to them, and tend to look away when listening to them.  Expertise associated with visual dominance for both women and men, but when there was no difference in expertise, men showed greater visual dominance than women did.

17. Touch  In North America- people ‘touch downward’ in a status hierarchy.  People of high status are freer to touch their subordinates (such as putting a hand on shoulder, holding an arm etc.) than vice versa.  Men are more likely to touch women than women are touch men, which has to do with dominance.

18. Posture  Females adopt a more constricted stance, keeping legs together and their arms and hands close to their bodies.  Males spread out, occupy more space, sitting and standing with their legs apart.  Female clothing is more restrictive than males clothing for example  Females also learn from an early age that they are an object of scrutiny-that they are being watched and so learn how to stand in a way to protect themselves and their privacy.

20. Facial Expression  Women smile more than men.  When women do not smile, they are judged as less attractive, less happy and colder.  Many women smile even when they are not feeling happy or friendly because the outcome is so negative when they don’t.

21. Personal Space  ‘Comfort Zone’ - a space that others, (unless intimates) cannot breach without causing uneasiness.  Women set smaller personal space zones than men approaching others more closely than males do.  People of both sexes approach females more closely than they do males.

22. Women’s Friendships  Women’s friendships have often been trivialized and mocked.  The historical and psychological research on women’s friendship indicates that far from being fickle or trivial, women’s friendships tend to be deep, intimate and enduring.  Starting from childhood, girls talk and share stories with one another, whereas boys are more likely to spend their time in active play with each other.  Girls tend to develop fewer, more intimate friendships whereas boys are more likely to have large groups of friends with whom they ‘do’ rather than with whom they ‘talk to’.  The main focus of these friendships is intimacy which includes discussing private personal feelings and receiving help.  Encouragement, support and affirmation that women receive from female friends is linked for women of all ages and from diverse groups to positive feelings of well being, high self esteem and life satisfaction.