Human Sexuality in a Changing World, 10th Edition Class Notes

Preview (31 of 545 Pages)

100%

Purchase to unlock

Loading page image...

Instructor’sResourceManualForHuman Sexuality in a Changing World10thEditionSpencer A. Rathus,The College of New JerseyJeffrey S. Nevid,St. John’s UniversityLois Fichner-Rathus,The College of New JerseyPrepared byKathleen HughesStellmach

Loading page image...

Table of Contents (SME/author to provide)Chapter 1What Is Human Sexuality?1Chapter 2Female Sexual Anatomy and Physiology26Chapter 3Male Sexual Anatomy and Physiology39Chapter 4Gender: Identity, Roles and Differences49Chapter 5Sexual Orientation62Chapter 6Attraction and Love79Chapter 7Sexual Response and Sexual Behavior91Chapter 8Relationships and Communication113Chapter 9Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth122Chapter 10Contraception and Abortion140Chapter 11Sexuality Through the Lifespan158Chapter 12Sexual Problems and Solutions184Chapter 13Sexually Transmitted Infections203Chapter 14Atypical Sexual Variations223Chapter 15Sexual Coercion236Chapter 16Selling Sex252

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20181Chapter 1: What Is Human Sexuality?Table of Contents1.Learning Objectives22.Chapter Outline23.Chapter Summary224.Lecture Launchers245.Online Discussion Starters276.Student Activities277.Web Resources408.Journal Articles41

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20182Chapter 1: What Is Human Sexuality?Learning ObjectivesLO 1.1Define the science of human sexuality.LO 1.2Define the value systems people use in making sexual decisions.LO 1.3Explain how you can become a critical thinker.LO 1.4Discuss various ways of looking at human sexuality.LO 1.5Explain the steps in the scientific method.LO 1.6Explain what is meant by populations and samples.LO 1.7Describe methods of observation, including the case-study method, the survey,naturalistic observation, ethnographic observation, participant observation, and laboratoryobservation.LO 1.8Describe the correlational method.LO 1.9Explain how experiments seek to determine cause and effect.LO 1.10Describe the ethical concerns that govern the ways in which professionals interact withresearch participants and clients in treatment.Chapter Outline•The Science of Human SexualityoDefine the science of human sexuality.▪One use of the term sex refers to our anatomic sex, femaleor male. Thewords sex or sexual are also used to refer to anatomic structures calledsexorgans or sexual organs, which play roles in reproduction and sexualpleasure. Wemay also speak of sex when referring to physical activitiesinvolving our sex organsfor purposes of reproduction or pleasure, as inhaving sex. Sex also relates to erotic feelings,experiences, or desires, suchas sexual fantasies and thoughts, sexual urges, orfeelings of sexualattraction.Theuse of “sex differences” is probably more correct when weare talking about differencesbetween anatomic males and anatomicfemales.The term human sexuality refers to the ways in which peopleexperience andexpress themselves as sexual beings.▪The Study of Human Sexuality•The study of human sexuality draws on the scientific expertise ofanthropologists,biologists, medical researchers, sociologists, andpsychologists.Biologists inform us about the physiologicalmechanisms of sexual arousal and response. Medical scienceteaches us aboutSTIs and the biological bases of reproduction andsexual dysfunctions. Psychologistsexamine how our sexualbehavior and attitudes are shaped by perception, learning,thought,motivation and emotion, and personality. Sociologists examinerelationshipsbetween sexual behavior and religion, race, and socialclass. Anthropologists focus oncross-cultural similarities anddifferences in sexual behavior.•Sexuality and Values

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20183oDefine the value systems people use in making sexual decisions.▪Our society is pluralistic. It embraces a wide rangeof sexual attitudes andvalues.People’s sexual attitudes, experiences, and behaviorsare shaped toa large extentby cultural traditions andbeliefs. They influence how,where, and with whomwe become sexually involved.▪Value Systems for Making Sexual Decisions•Our value systems—our sexual standards—have many sources:parents, peers, religioustraining, ethnic subcultures, the largerculture, and our own appraisal of theseinfluences. Value systemsinclude legalism, situational ethics, ethical relativism, hedonism,asceticism, utilitarianism, and rationalism.The legalistic approachformulates ethical behavior on the basis of a codeof moral lawsderived from an external source, such as a religion.•Thinking Critically about Human SexualityoExplain how you become a critical thinker.▪Newspapers, TV shows, popular books and magazines, and the Internetcontain one feature after another about sex.Critical thinkers never saythat something is truebecause anauthority figure says it is true. Theydemand evidence.Critical thinking means being skeptical of things thatare presented in print, uttered by authority figures or celebrities, or passedalongby friends. Another aspect of critical thinking is analysis andprobing of claimsand arguments. Critical thinking means scrutinizingdefinitions of terms andevaluating the premises of arguments and theirlogic. Critical thinkers maintainopen minds. They suspend their beliefsuntil they have obtained and evaluated theevidence.•Perspectives on Human SexualityoDiscuss the various ways of looking at human sexuality.▪The Historical Perspective•History places sexual attitudes and behavior in context. It informsus as to whethersexual behavior reflects trends that have been withus through the millennia or thecustoms of a particular culture andera. History shows little evidence of universalsexual trends.Attitudes and behaviors vary extensively from one time and placetoanother. Historyalso shows how religion has been a majorinfluence on sexual values and behavior.•Prehistoric Sexuality: From FemaleIdols to PhallicWorshipoInformation about life among our Stone Age ancestors isdrawn largely from cavedrawings, stone artifacts, and thecustoms of modern-day preliterate peoples whoseexistencehas changed little over the millennia.By and large, menhunted for game, and women tended to remain close tohome.Women nurtured children and gathered edible plantsand nuts, crabs, and othermarine life that wandered alongthe shore or swam in shallow waters.Primitive statues andcavedrawingsportray women with large, pendulousbreasts, rounded hips, and prominent sexorgans.Stone Age

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20184peoplemay have been unaware of the male’s contributionto reproduction.As the glacial sheets of the last Ice Ageretreated (about 11,000 bce) and the climatewarmed,human societies turned agrarian. Hunters and gatherersbecame farmers andherders. Villages sprang up aroundfields. Men tended livestock. Women farmed. Aspeoplegrew aware of the male role in reproduction, phallicworship (worship of thepenis) sprang into being.Knowledge of paternity is believed to have developedaround9000 bce, resulting from observation of livestock.The penis became glorified in art as a plough, ax, or sword.Phallic symbolsplayed roles in religious ceremonies inancient Egypt. The incest taboo may have been the firsthuman taboo. All human societies apparentlyhave someform of incest taboo, but societies have varied in terms ofits strictness.•The Ancient HebrewsoThe ancient Hebrews viewed sex, at least in marriage, asasatisfying experience intended to fulfill the divinecommand to “be fruitful and multiply.”Male–male andfemale–female sexual behaviorwere strongly condemnedbecause they threatened the perpetuation of the family.Although the ancient Hebrews believed that sex helpedstrengthen maritalbonds and solidify the family.Accordingto the Book of Proverbs, a good wife rises before dawn totend to herfamily’s needs, brings home food, instructs theservants, tends the vineyards, makesthe clothes, keeps theledger, helps the needy, and works well into the night. Evenso, awife was considered the property of her husband andcould be divorced on a whim. Awife might have to shareher husband with secondary wives and concubines, but shecould be stoned to death for adultery—a fate still practicedin some Islamic cultures.Men who consorted with thewives of other men were considered to have violated theproperty rights of those men and might have to pay“damages.”•The Ancient GreeksoThe classical or goldenage of Greece lasted from about500 bce to 300 bce.Within this relatively short span livedthe philosophersSocrates, Plato, and Aristotle; theplaywrightsAristophanes, Aeschylus, and Sophocles; thenaturalscientist Archimedes; and the lawgiver Solon.Likethe Hebrews, the Greeks valued family life,but Greek menalso admired the well-developedmale body and enjoyednude wrestling in the arena.Erotic encounters and off-colorjokes characterizedthe plays of Aristophanes and other

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20185playwrights.The Greeks viewed their gods as voraciousseekersof sexual variety.Three aspects of Greek sexualityare of particularinterest to our study of sexual practices inthe ancientworld: male–male sexual behavior, pederasty,andprostitution. The Greeks viewed people as bisexual.Male–male sex was deemed normal and toleratedso longas it did not threaten the institution of thefamily. Pederastymeans love of boys. Sex between men and prepubescentboys wasillegal, but families were generally pleased iftheir adolescent sons attracted sociallyprominent mentors.Prostitution flourished at every level of society in ancientGreece. Prostitutesranged from refined courtesans toconcubines, who were usually slaves.The women ofAthens were subject to the authority of their male next-of-kinbefore marriage and to their husbands afterward.•The World of Ancient RomeoMuch is made of the sexual excesses of the Romanemperors and ruling families. Sexual excesses were foundmore often among the upper classes of palace societythanamong average Romans.Romans disapproved of male–male sexual behavior as a threat to the integrity oftheRoman family, which was viewed as the core of strength ofthe empire. AlthoughRoman women were more likely thantheir Greek counterparts to share their husbands’sociallives, they still were the property of their husbands.Western society traces the roots of many of its sexual termsto Roman culture, asindicatedby their Latin roots. Fellatio,derives from the Latin fellare, meaning“to suck.”Cunnilingus derives from cunnus, meaning “vulva,” andlingere, “tolick.” Fornication derives from fornix, an archor vault.•ChristianityoChristianity emerged within the Roman Empire during thecenturiesfollowing the death of Jesus. Early Christianviews on sexuality were largelyshaped by Saint Paul andthe church fathers in the first century and by SaintAugustinein the latter part of the fourth century. Adulteryand fornication were rampant amongthe upper classes ofRome at the time, and early Christian leaders began toassociatesexuality with sin. In replacing the pagan valuesof Rome, the early Christians sought to restrict sextomarriage. They saw temptations of the flesh as distractionsfrom spiritual devotion.Paul preached that celibacy wascloser to the Christian ideal than marriage. He recognizedthat not everyone could achieve celibacy, however, so hesaid that it was “better tomarry than to burn” (with passion,

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20186that is).Christians, like the Hebrews before them,demanded virginity of brides.Prostitution was condemned.Christians taught that men should love their wiveswithrestraint, not passion, because the goal was procreation andnot pleasure—thespirit should rule the flesh. Divorce wasoutlawed. Unhappiness with one’s spousemight reflectsinful restlessness. Dissolving a marriage might alsojeopardizethe social structure that supported the church.Masturbation, male–male sexualbehavior, female–femalesexual behavior, oral–genital contact, anal intercourse—allwere viewed as abominations.Lust made any sexualexpression, even in marriage, inherently evil. Only throughcelibacy, according to Augustine, could men and womenattain a state of grace.There have been two conflictingconcepts of woman in Christianity: One is ofwoman asEve, the temptress; the other is of woman as Mary, Motherof God, virtuousand pure. Contemporary Western imagesof women still show the schism between thegood girl andthe bad girl—the Madonna and the whore.During theProtestant Reformation, Martin Luther (1483–1546) andother Christianreformers such as John Calvin (1509–1564)split off from the Roman Catholic Churchand formed theirown sects, which led to the development of the modernProtestantdenominations. Luther believed that priestsshould be allowed to marry and rear children.To Luther,marriage was as much a part of human nature as eating ordrinking.Calvin rejected the Roman church’s position thatmarital sex was permissible only forprocreation. Hebelieved that sex strengthened the marriage bond andhelped relievethe stresses of everyday life.Early Europeansettlers brought to North America the religious teachingsthathad dominated Western thought and culture forcenturies.•IslamoIslam, the dominant religion in the Middle East, acrossNorth Africa and into parts ofSouthern Asia, was foundedby the Prophet Muhammad. The Islamic tradition treasuresmarriage and sexual fulfillmentin marriage. Premarital sexand adultery invite shame and social condemnation—and,as noted, in some fundamentalist Islamic states, the deathpenalty, by stoning.Muhammad decreed that marriagerepresents the road to virtue. Islamic traditionpermits asexual double standard, however. Men under mostcircumstances may takeup to four wives butwomen arepermitted only one husband. Public social interactionsbetween men andwomen are severely restricted in more

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20187conservative Islamic societies. Women are expectedtokeep their heads and faces veiled in public and to avoid allcontact with menother than their husbands.•IndiaoHindu sexual practiceswere codified in a sex manual, theKama Sutra, which illustrates sexual positions,some ofwhich would challenge a contortionist. It also holds recipesfor alleged aphrodisiacs.This manual is believed to havebeen written sometime between the third andfifth centuriesce, when Christianity was ascending in the West.In itsgraphic representations of sexual positions and practices,the Kama Sutrareflected the Hindu belief thatsex was areligious duty, not a source of shame or guilt.Hindu deitieswere often portrayed as engaging in same-sex as well asmale–femalesexual activities. In the Hindu doctrine ofkarma (the passage of souls from one placeto another),sexual fulfillment was regarded as one way to becomereincarnated at ahigher level of existence. Indian societygrew more restrictive toward sexuality afterabout 1000 ce.•The Far EastoIn the cultures of the Far East, sexuality was akin tospirituality. Tothe Taoist masters of China, who influencedChinese culture for millennia, sex was asacred duty—aform of worship that led toward harmony with nature andimmortality. In ancient China, the man was expected toextend intercourse as long as possibleto absorb more of hiswife’s natural essence, or yin. Yin wouldenhance his ownmasculineessence, or yang. Moreover, he was to help bringhis partner to orgasm so as toincrease the flow of energythat he might absorb.Taoists believed that it was wastefulfor a man to “spill his seed.” Masturbation,acceptable forwomen, was ruled out for men. Sexual practices such asanal intercourseand oral–genital contact (fellatio andcunnilingus) were permissible, so longas the man did notsquander yang through wasteful ejaculation. Same-sexactivitywas not prohibited by Taoist holy writings, butsome Taoists frowned on exclusive homosexuality. Thegood Chinese wife, like her Western counterparts, waslimitedto domestic roles.•The Victorian PeriodoThe middle and later parts of the nineteenth century inWestern civilization are generally called the Victorianperiod, after Queen Victoria ofEngland, who assumed thethrone in 1837 and ruled until her death in 1901. Her namehas become virtually synonymous with sexual repression.

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20188Many women viewed sex asa marital duty to be performedfor procreation or to satisfy their husbands’ cravings.Women were assumed not to experience sexual desires orpleasures. But the behavior of Victorians was not asrepressed as advertised.Women’s diaries of the time alsocontain accounts of passionatelove affairs.Prostitutionflourished during the Victorian era.Same-sex sexualbehavior was considered indecent in Victorian society.•Beginnings of theScientificStudy ofSexualityoThe English physicianHavelock Ellis (1859–1939)published a veritable encyclopedia of sexualitybetween1897 and 1910, Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Ellisdrewinformation from case histories, anthropologicalfindings, and medical knowledge. He argued that sexualdesires in women were natural and healthy. Hewrote thatmany sexual problems had psychological rather thanphysical causes. Gaymale and lesbian sexual orientationswere natural variations in sexual orientation, notaberrations. The German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902) described casehistories of people withsexual deviations in his book, Psychopathia Sexualis(1886).Krafft-Ebingviewed deviations as mental diseasesthat could be studied and perhaps treated bymedicalscience.At about the same time, the Viennese physicianSigmund Freud (1856–1939) wasdeveloping his influentialtheory of personality. Freud believed that the sex drive wasour principal motivating force.Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956),an Indiana University zoologist, conducted the firstlarge-scale studies of sexual behavior in the 1930s and 1940s.Kinsey conducteddetailed interviews with nearly 12,000people across the United States attempts toprovide acomprehensive picture of American sexual behavior. Theresults of his surveyswere published in two volumes,Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Kinsey et al.,1948)and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Kinsey et al.,1953). Kinsey and his colleagues made sex research ascientifically respectable field of study and helped lay thegroundwork for discussingsexual behavior openly.•The Sexual RevolutionoThe period of the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s is oftenreferred to as the sexual revolution.Our society was on thethresholdof major social upheaval, not only in sexualbehavior but also in science, politics,fashion, music, art,and cinema. The sexual revolution gained momentum froma timely interplay of scientific,social, political, andeconomic forces. The war (in Vietnam), the bomb (fear of

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 20189thenuclear bomb), the pill (the introduction of the birthcontrol pill), and the mass media(especially television)were four such forces. Popular books encouraged people toexplore their sexuality. Film scenes of lovemaking becameso commonplace that the movie ratingsystem wasintroduced to alert parents.During the sexual revolution,sexually explicit questionnaires proliferated inpopularmagazines, interviewers posed sexually explicit questionsby telephone andin person, and some pioneers, includingWilliam H. Masters and Virginia Johnson, observedpeopleengaging in sexual activity in the laboratory. In the 1960s,Masters andJohnson were condemned by many asdestroying the moral fabric ofthe nation—acomplaintsimilar to those leveled earlier against Kinsey.•RecentTrendsoMore teenagers are sexually active today, and at youngerages,than they were a couple of generations ago. Twoother features of the sexual evolutionhave becomepermanent parts of our social fabric: the liberation offemale sexualityand widespread willingness to discuss sexopenly. Countless pornography Web sitespopulate theInternet and can be accessed by children.▪The Biological Perspective•The biological perspective focuses on the roles of hormones, thenervous system, the sexorgans, genetics, and other biologicalfactors in human sexuality. Study of the biology of sex informs usabout the mechanisms of reproduction aswell as of themechanisms of sexual arousal and response. We learn that orgasmis aspinal reflex as well as a psychological event.Genes lead tothe timely development female and male sexual anatomy andphysiology and, apparently, to stereotypical mating behavior inmost species. Our physical traits, and perhapsour matingstrategies, are determined or at least influenced by genes that weinheritfrom our parents.▪The Evolutionary Perspective•Species vary not only in their physical characteristics but also intheir social behavior,including their mating behavior. The Englishnaturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882)showed that current speciesof animals and plants evolved from other life formsthrough naturalselection, or “survival of the fittest.” In each species, individualsvary, and some are better adapted to their environments thanothers.Better-adaptedmembers are more likely to survive toreproduce and transmit their traits to succeedinggenerations. Theyare not necessarily the strongest or fleetest of foot, althoughthesetraits are adaptive for some species and enhance their reproductivesuccess. New variations in species can also be introduced through

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201810random genetic changescalled mutations. Although mutationsoccur randomly, they are subject to natural selection.Adaptivemutations enhance reproductive success.▪EvolutionaryViews ofMale-FemaleDifferences inMatingStrategies•With humans, natural selection may not only have led to thedevelopmentof our sex organs, but also to sexual and matingstrategies that promote the survivalof our species. Morespecifically, researchers into evolutionary processes suggestthatthere may be a genetic basis to certain aspects of social behavior,including sexualbehavior,among humans and some other animals.Some evolutionary psychologists argue that men arenaturallymore promiscuous than women because they are the genetic heirsof ancestorswhose reproductive success was related to the numberof women they could impregnate.Women, by contrast, canproduce only a few offspring in theirlifetimes. Thus, evolutionarytheory suggests, woman may have to be more selectivewithrespect to their mating partners. Women’s reproductive success isenhanced by matingwith the fittest males—not with any Tom,Dick, or Harry who happens by. Thus themale’s “roving eye” andthe female’s selectivity may be embedded in their genes.▪The Cross-Species Perspective•In an endeavor to discover what kinds of sexual behaviors are“natural,” scientistshave looked to the sexual behavior of otheranimal species. A surprising variety ofsexual behaviors existamong nonhumans. There are animal examples, or analogues,ofhuman male–male sexual behavior, female–female sexualbehavior, oral–genitalcontact, and oral–oral behavior (i.e.,kissing). Foreplay is also well known in the animalworld. Mostmammals use only a rear-entry position to mate, but someanimals,such as apes, use a variety of positions.Cross-species researchreveals an interesting pattern. Sexual behavior among“higher”mammals, such as primates, is less directly controlled by instinctthan it isamong the “lower” species, such as birds, fish, or lowermammals. Experience andlearning play more important roles insexuality as we climb the evolutionary ladder.▪Sociological Perspectives•Sociology tends to study the influences of groups of sexualbehavior. Thus sociologistsconsider the behavior of humans bysocioeconomic status level of education, sex(male or female), raceand ethnicity, and age. They look at the roles of families, religion,urbanization, social movements, and nations. Sociologicalperspectives, like thehistorical perspective, provide insight into theways in which cultural institutions andbeliefs affect sexualbehavior and people’s sense of morality.Societies differin their attitudes toward childhood masturbation.Individuals inthesesocieties tend to accept dominant beliefs or, if they challenge

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201811them, to beostracized.The members of all human societies shareanatomic structures and physiologicalcapacities for sexualpleasure, however. The same hormones flow through their arteries.Yet their sexual practices, and the pleasure they reap or fail toattain, may set themapart. If human sexuality were determinedexclusively by biology, we might not findsuch diversity.▪Psychological Perspectives•Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalytic TheoryoSigmund Freud, a Viennesephysician, formulated a grandtheory of personality termed psychoanalysis in the latterpart of the nineteenth century. Freud believed that we areall born with biologicallybased sex drives that must bechanneled through socially approved outlets if familyandsocial life are to carry on without undue conflict.Freudproposed that the mind operates on conscious andunconscious levels. Theconscious level corresponds to ourstate of present awareness. The unconscious mind referstothe darker reaches of the mind that lie outside our directawareness. The ego shieldsthe conscious mind fromawareness of our baser sexual and aggressive urges bymeans ofdefense mechanisms such as repression, ormotivated forgetting of traumatic experiences.Oneavenue of expression is the dream, through whichsexualimpulses may be perceived in disguised, or symbolic, form.The therapistsand scholars who follow in the Freudiantradition are quite interested in analyzingdreams,butthisview has not been supported by researchevidence.Freudintroduced us to new and controversial ideas aboutourselves as sexual beings.One of Freud’s mostcontroversial beliefs was that children normally harboreroticinterests. He theorized that it was normal forchildren to progress through stagesof development inwhich the erotic interest shifts from one erogenous zone toanotherfrom the mouth or oral cavity to the anal cavity.According to his theoryof psychosexual development,children undergo five stages of development: oral,anal,phallic, latency, and genital, which are named according tothe main erogenouszones of each stage.Freud believedthat it was normal for children to develop erotic feelingstowardthe parent of the other sex during the phallic stage.These incestuous urges lead toconflict with the parent ofthe same sex.•Learning TheoriesoEven within the same society, family and personalexperiences can shape unique sexual attitudes andbehaviors.Behaviorists such as John B. Watson (1878–

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 2018121958) and B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)emphasized theimportance of rewards and punishments in the learningprocess.Children left to explore their bodies withoutparental condemnation will learn whatfeels good and tendto repeat it. Observational learning refers to acquiringknowledge and skills by observingothers. Observationallearning includes seeing models in films and on television,hearing about them, and reading about them. According tosocial–cognitive theory,children acquire the gender rolesdeemed appropriate for people of their anatomicsexthrough reinforcement of what society considers to begender-appropriate behaviorand through observing thegender-role behavior of their parents, their peers, andothermodels.•Cognitive TheoriesoCognitive psychologists emphasize the importance ofcognitiveactivity (problem solving, decision making,expectations, attitudes and beliefs,and so on). Theyrecognize that the beliefs and attitudes taught to childrencan serveas cognitive anchors for a lifetime.▪Feminist Theory•The Greek philosopher Aristotle is said to have described a femaleas a deformedmale. Feminism and feminist theory are born ofprotest against ideas such as those ofAristotle’s—ideas thatremain with us today in many if not most parts of the world.Definitions of feminism and of feminist theory are controversial,but it is clear enough that feminist theory focuses on thesubordination of women tomen; analyzing the relationshipsbetween sexism, heterosexism (prejudice or discriminationagainsthomosexuals by heterosexuals), racism, and class oppression; andexploringmeans of resistance—onindividual and societal levels.Among other things, feminist theory challenges:▪Traditional views of men as breadwinners andwomen ashomemakers▪Traditional views of men as political policymakers,especially because thosepolicies affect women andchildren▪Traditional views of men as sexual “aggressors”and women as sexual“gatekeepers”▪Traditional gender roles that view men as objectiveand rational, and women asemotional and irrationalSome feminists challenge the concepts of femininity andmasculinity becausetheir existence tends to suggest that there issome sort of biological or “actual” basisto the distinction. Theyargue, instead, that femininity andmasculinity might be purelysocial constructions that have the effect of giving womensecond-

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201813class citizenship—or, in many historiceras and parts of the world,no citizenshipwhatsoever.▪Queer Theory•The word queer was initially used as an insult to describehomosexuals. After approximatelytwo centuries, the term becamegradually replaced by the word gay. However,homosexuals havereappropriated the word queer as a sign of pride, as shown by thetitle of the former TV show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Asone result of this reappropriation,a widely cited theory of thepsychology and sociology of gender roles andsexual orientation istermed queer theory.Queer theory challenges heteronormativity—the assumptions that heterosexualityis normal and superior tohomosexuality.Queertheory also challenges the assumption thatpeople are naturally divided into heterosexualsand homosexuals.According to queer theory, the concepts of heterosexuality andhomosexualityare social constructs that ignore commonlyexperienced mismatches among people’sanatomic sex, society’sgender roles, and individuals’ sexualdesires.Queer theory assertsthat human sexuality has always beenmore varied than those inpower—particularly male heterosexuals—are willing toadmit.▪Multiple Perspectives on Human Sexuality•Each perspective—historical, biological,cross-species,sociological, psychological, feminist, and queer—has something toteach us. First, human sexuality appears to reflect a combination ofbiological,psychological, and social factors that interact incomplex ways. Second, there arefew universal patterns of sexualbehavior, and views on what is right and wrongshow greatdiversity. Third, although our own cultural values and beliefs maybedeeply meaningful to us, they may not indicate what is normal,natural, or moralin terms of sexual behavior. The complexity ofhuman sexuality—a complexity thatcauses it to remain somewhatmysterious even toscientists—adds to the wonderand richness ofour sexual experience.•Research Methods in Human SexualityoExplain the steps in the scientific method.▪Scientists who study sex take an empirical approach. They base theirknowledge onresearch evidence, rather than on intuition, faith, orsuperstition. Criticalthinking andthe scientific approach share thehallmark of skepticism. Scientists question prevailingassumptions andtheories about sexual behavior. They are willing to dispute the assertionsof authority figures such as political and religious leaders—even otherscientists.Scientists are involved in the continuousquest for truth, butthey do not see themselves as experiencing revelations ordefining finaltruths.The scientific method is a systematic way of gathering scientificevidenceandtestingassumptions.It has a number of elements:

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201814•1. Formulating a research question. Scientists formulate researchquestions on the basis of their observations of, or theories about,events or behavior.They then seek answers to such questions byconducting empirical research.•2. Framing the research question in the form of a hypothesis.Experiments areusually undertaken with a hypothesis in mind—aprecise prediction that is testedthrough research.•3. Testing the hypothesis. Scientists then test hypotheses throughcarefullycontrolledobservation and experimentation.•4. Drawing conclusions. Scientists then draw conclusions orinferences about thecorrectness of their hypotheses, based on theiranalyses of the results of theirstudies. If the results of well-designed research studies fail to bear out certainhypotheses,scientists can revise the theories that served as the frameworks forthe hypotheses. Research findings often lead scientists to modifytheir theories,and in turn, generate new hypotheses.▪Goals of the Science of Human Sexuality•The goals of the science ofhuman sexuality are congruent withthose of other sciences: to describe, explain,predict, and controlthe events (in this case, the sexual behaviors) that are of interest.Scientists attempt to be clear, unbiased, and precise in theirdescriptions of eventsand behavior.Researchers attempt to relatetheir observations to other factors, orvariables, thatcan helpexplain them. Thevariables that are commonly used to explainsexual behavior are biological (age,health), psychological(anxieties, skills), and sociological (educational level,socioeconomicstatus, ethnicity).The concept of “controlling”human behavior does not mean coercing people todo the biddingof others. Rather, it means drawing from scientific knowledge tohelppeople create their own goals and marshal their resources tomeet them. Reputablescientists are held to ethical and professionalstandards that safeguard the rights ofparticipants in research.oExplain what is meant by populations and samples.▪Researchers seek to learn about populations—complete groups of people,animals, orevents.Because of the difficulty in studying all members of apopulation, scientists selectindividuals from the population and studythem. The individuals who participatein research are said to compose asample. However, that sample must represent thetarget population.▪Sampling Methods: Does Size Matter?•Researchers use random samples, when possible, because everymember of thetarget population has an equal chance ofparticipating. In a stratified random sample,known subgroups of apopulation are represented in proportion to their numbers inthepopulation.Random samples can be hard to come by, especiallywhen it comes to askingpeople about their sexual attitudes orbehavior. Volunteers tend todiffer from people who refuse to

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201815participateby being more open abouttheir sexuality.The refusalof people who have been randomly selected to participate in asurveycan ruin the representativeness of the sample, yetresearchers cannot coerce people toparticipate in research.Therefore, researchers must use samples of volunteers, ratherthantrue random samples. A low response rate to a voluntary survey isanindicationthat the responses do not represent the people forwhom the survey was distributed.Some samples, such as theKinsey sample, are “samples of convenience.” Theyconsist ofindividuals who happen to be available to the researcher and do notrepresent the population at large. Convenience samples oftenconsist of European American, middle-class college students whovolunteer for studies conducted at theirschools. They may noteven be representative of students in general.oDescribe methods of observation including the case-study method, the survey,naturalistic observation, ethnographic observation, participant observation, andlaboratory observation.▪The Case-Study Method•A case study is a carefully drawn, in-depth biographyof anindividual or a small group. The focus is on understanding one orseveralindividuals as fully as possible by unraveling the interplayof various factors in theirbackgrounds. In most case studies, theresearcher comes to know the individual orgroup throughinterviews or other extended contacts. Researchers also conductcase studies by interviewing people who have knowntheindividuals being studied, or by examining public records. Somecase studieshave been carried out on people who are dead. Reportsof innovative treatments for sexual dysfunctions often appear asdetailedcase studies. A clinician may report the background of theclient in depth, describethe treatment and the apparent outcomes,and suggest factors that might havecontributedto the treatment’ssuccess or failure. Case studies or multiple case studies(reportsconcerning a few people) that hold promise may be subjected toexperimentalstudies involving treatment and control groups.Despite the richness of material that may be derived from casestudies, they arenot as rigorous a research design as anexperiment. People often have gaps in memory,especiallyconcerning childhood events. There is also thepotential ofobserver bias; that is, clinicians and interviewersmayunintentionally guide people into saying what theyexpect to hear.▪The Survey Method•Researchers may survey respondentsby interviewing oradministering questionnaires tothousands of people fromparticular population groups tolearn about their sexual behaviorand attitudes. Face-to-faceinterviews such as those used by AlfredKinsey andhis colleagues (1948, 1953) give the interviewer the

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201816opportunityto probe—to follow up on answers that seem to leadtoward useful information. A skilled interviewer may beable toestablish a sense of trust or rapport that encouragesself-disclosure.Many surveys have something to contributeto our understandingof human sexuality, but none perfectly represents theAmericanpopulation at large. People who agree to be polled on politicalmattersmay resist participation in surveys about their sexualbehavior. Even the best surveyssuffer from volunteer bias.▪The Kinsey Reports•Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues (1948, 1953) interviewed5,300males and 5,940 females in the United States between 1938 and1949. Theyposed questions about sexual experiences, includingmasturbation, oral sex, andintercourse before and in marriage.Kinsey did not try to obtain a random sample.He believed that ahigh refusal rate would wreck his chances ofrepresenting thegeneral population. Instead, he used group sampling. He recruitedparticipants from the organizations and community groups towhich theybelonged, such as college fraternities and sororities. Hecontacted representativesof groups in diversecommunities andtried to persuade them to secure the cooperationof fellow groupmembers. If he showed these individuals that they wouldnot besubjected to embarrassment or discomfort, Kinsey hoped that theywouldpersuade other members to participate. In some cases heobtained the full participationof a group.Yet, people of color,people in rural areas, older people, poor people, andCatholics andJews were underrepresented in Kinsey’sresearch. It isthusunlikely that Kinsey’s results accurately mirrored the U.S.population at the time.But some relationships Kinsey uncovered,such as the positive link between level ofeducation andparticipation in oral sex, are probably generalizable.▪The National Survey of Adolescents and Young Adults•This studytried to obtain a nationally representative sample of 13-to 24-year-oldsby selecting telephone numbers at random andconducting telephone interviewswith 1,854 young people either inEnglish or Spanish. They purposefully oversampledpeople inethnic minority groups—African Americans, Latin Americans, andAsianAmericans—because most studies do not generate enoughinformation about them.Parents provided permission to interviewminors (respondents younger than age 18).The response rate was55%.Note some of the study’s major findings:oAbout one adolescent in three reported being pressured intosex.oSixty percent of the sample agreed with the statement that“Waiting tohave sex isa nice idea but nobody really does.”oOne adolescent in three has engaged in oral sex, often toavoid intercourse.

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201817oSeventy percent of sexually active young adults and 40% ofsexually active adolescentsreported that they or theirpartner had taken a pregnancy test.oFour out of five adolescents reported that adolescents tendto drink or use drugsbefore sex.oAlthough 90% of adolescents say that using condoms is asign of respect andcaring for one’s partner, about half werereluctant to discuss condoms with theirpartners, fearing,that raising the subject would be embarrassing orsuggestthat one is suspicious of one’s partner.▪The National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG)•The National Surveys of FamilyGrowth are conducted by theCDC as a means of assessing sexual behavior“relevanttodemographic and public health concerns”Onesurvey was runprimarily in 2002, and results were published over the followingyears.It involved face-to-face interviews in the homes of12,571people, including 4,928 men and 7,643 women aged 15 to 44. Amore recentsurvey, published in 2011, reported the results ofinterviews with 22,682 face-to-faceinterviews of people aged 15to 44, 12,279 with women and 10,403 with menover the yearsfrom 2006 to 2010.In the 2002 study, the intervieweesrespondedto questions about their sexual behavior on laptop computers,toensure their privacy and encourage honesty. The researchers whopublishedin 2011 drew their sample from 110 locales across theUnited States and sampledrandomlywithin those locales. All inall, the National Health and Social LifeSurvey (NHSLS) andNSFG may be the only surveys since Kinsey’s day to offer areasonably accurate—if not perfect—snapshot of the sexualbehavior of the generalpopulation of the United States.There havebeen some interesting findings about male–male and female–femalesexual behavior. In the study published in 2005, 5.7% ofthe males had had oral sexwith another male, and 3.7% had hadanal sex with another male. In the study publishedin 2012, thefigure was 5.5% for oral sex, and 5.7% reported oral or anal sexwith another male—not exactly comparable. There was morecomparability amongfemales: in the 2005 study, 11% said yeswhen asked “Have you ever had any sexualexperience of any kindwith another female?” That figure rose to 17.4% in the studyreported in 2012. Either female–female sexual activity has beenincreasing or therewere differences in sampling or data collectionand analysis between 2005 and 2012.▪Magazine Surveys•Readership surveys have also been conducted by popularmagazines, such as Psychology Today, Glamour, Ladies’ HomeJournal, andCosmopolitan.Although these surveys may obtainlarge numbers of respondents, their samplingtechniques raise

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201818questions. Each sample represents, at best, the readers of themagazinein which the questionnaire appears.▪Limitations of the Survey Method•One limitation of surveys involves the fact thatthey are self-reports of behavior and attitudes. Self-reports are subject toinaccuraciesor biases because of factors such as faulty memoryand tendencies to distort or concealinformation resulting fromembarrassment, shame, or guilt; or attempts to present afavorableimage. People may not recall the age at which they first engaged inpetting,or masturbated to orgasm. People may have difficultyrecalling or calculating thefrequency of certain behaviors, such asthe weekly frequency of marital intercourse.Survey data may alsobe drawn from haphazard or nonrepresentative samples andnotrepresent the target population.Participants in surveys of sexualbehavior may feel pressured to answer questionsin the direction ofsocial desirability. Some try to ingratiate themselves with theirinterviewersby offering what they believe to be socially desirableanswers. Even thoughinterviewers may insist that participants willremain anonymous, respondents mayfear their identities could beexposed someday.Some respondents exaggerate the bizarreness oftheir behavioror attitudes to draw attention tothemselves or tofoul up study results.Because many people refuse to participate insurveys, samples are biased by largenumbers of volunteers.Volunteers tend to be more sexually permissive and liberal-mindedthan nonvolunteers.▪The Naturalistic-Observation Method•In naturalistic observation, alsocalled the field study, scientistsdirectly observe the behavior of animals and humanswhere ithappens. Scientists try to observe their subjects unobtrusively; thatis, they try not to influencethe behavior of the individuals theystudy. Naturalistic observers sometimes findthemselves in ethicaldilemmas. They have allowed sick or injured animals to die, ratherthan intervene, when medical assistance could have saved them.They have allowedsubstance abuse and illicit sexual behavior togo unreported to authorities. The ethicaltrade-off is thatunobtrusive observation may yield data that will benefit largenumbersof people—the greatest good for the greatest number.▪The Ethnographic-Observation Method•Ethnographic observation providesdata concerning sexualbehaviors and customs that occur among various ethnicgroups—those that vary widely across cultures and those that are limited toone or fewcultures. Anthropologists are the specialists whotypically engage in ethnographic research.They have lived amongsocieties of people in the four corners of the earth in ordertoobserve and study human diversity. Margaret Mead (1935)reported on the social andsexual customs of various peoples of

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201819New Guinea. Bronislaw Malinowski (1929) studiedthe TrobriandIslanders, among others. Even so, ethnographic observation has itslimitsin the study of sexual behavior. Sexual activities are mostcommonly performed awayfrom the watchful gaze of others,especially visitors from other cultures.Ethnographersmay thushave to rely on methods such as interviewing.The ethnographerwho studies a particular culture or subgroup within a culturetriesto do so unobtrusively. Falling prey to social desirability, somepeople may“straighten out their act” while the ethnographer ispresent. Other people may try toimpressthe ethnographer byacting in ways that are more aggressive or sexually provocativethan usual. In either case, people supply distorted information.▪The Participant-Observation Method•In participant observation, investigatorslearn about people’sbehavior by directly interacting with them.Participant observationhas been used in studies of male–malesexual behavior and mate-swapping.In some cases, researchers have engaged in coitus withparticipants during “swinging parties,” which raises questions as towhat is permissible“for the sake of science.”▪The Laboratory-Observation Method•Rather than study individuals intheir natural settings, laboratoryobservation brings them into the laboratory, wheretheir behaviorcan be more carefully monitored. In Human Sexual Response(1966),William Masters and Virginia Johnson were among thefirst to report direct laboratoryobservations of individuals andcouples engaged in sex acts. In all, 694 people(312 men and 382women) participated in the research. The women ranged fromages18 to 78; the men were from 21 to 80 years old. There were 276married couples,106 single women, and 36 single men. Themarried couples engaged in intercourseand manual and oralstimulation of the genitals. The unmarried people participatedinstudies that did not require intercourse, such as measurement offemale sexualarousal in response to insertion ofa penis-shapedprobe, and male ejaculation duringmasturbation.Direct laboratoryobservation of biological processes was not invented by Mastersand Johnson, but they were confronting a society that was stillunprepared to speakopenly of sex.Masters and Johnson wereaccusedof immorality and voyeurism. Nevertheless, their methodsoffered the first reliable setof data on what happens to the bodyduring sexual response. Their instruments—thepenile strain gaugeand the vaginal plethysmograph—permitted them to directlymeasure vasocongestion (blood flow to the genitals), myotonia(muscle tension), andother physiological responses. Oneconfounding factor inMastersandJohnson’s research is thatpeople whoparticipate in laboratory observation know that theyare being observed and that theirresponses are being measured.

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201820Researchers have since developed more sophisticatedphysiological methods ofmeasuring sexual arousal and response.▪What Does a Woman Want? Using Objective and Subjective Measures toFind Out•Research using a varietyof methods suggests that men’s sexualresponses are more predictable, and thatwhat goes on in men’sbodies is more likely to correlate with what they are thinking..Meredith Chivers and her colleaguesshowed erotic videos to menand women, both heterosexual and homosexual; the videosshowedmale–female sex, male–male sex, female–female sex, a manmasturbating, a woman masturbating, a muscled man walking nudeon a beach, and a well-tonednude woman doing calisthenics. Thesubjects watched on recliners while Chiversmeasured their arousalobjectively and subjectively. The objective measures weremadepossible by plethysmographs connected to the viewers’ genitals.Men wore anapparatus on the penis that gauged its swelling (thatis, erection). Women inserted atampon-shaped probe in the vaginathat bounced light off the vaginal walls, providinga gauge ofgenital blood flow. In men, genital engorgement with bloodproduceserection. In women, it spurs lubrication—the seeping ofmoisture through the vaginalwalls. The participants could ratetheir subjective feelings of arousal with a keypad.Self-labeledheterosexual (“straight”) men achieved erection while watchingmale–female or female–female sex, and while gazing at themasturbating and the exercisingwomen. They were generallyunresponsive when they watched a man masturbatingor male–male sex. Gay males showed the opposite pattern of sexual arousal.For bothstraight and gay males, the subjective ratings matched thenumbers provided by the plethysmograph.The men’s subjectiverating were congruent with their body’s responses.Not so with thewomen. Regardless of whether the women labeled themselvesasheterosexual or lesbian, they responded with genital arousal whenthey viewedmale–male sex, female–female sex, and male–femalesex. Their genitals weremore responsive to the exercising womanthan the nude man. However, their self-reportedarousal did notparticularly match their body’s responses.Chivers suggests thatwomen are genitally aroused by a wider range of stimulithan menbecause these differences might reflect innate,evolutionary forces.In the Chivers studies, both heterosexual and lesbian womenshowed greatersexual arousal in response to stimuli depictingfemale targets than to stimuli showingmale targets. One possibilityis that the women observers identify with the depictedfemaletargets, imagining themselves in the place of the women receivingpleasure,whereas the men are more likely to attend to the physicalattributes of the actors.Sexologist Lisa Diamond suggests that the

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201821response of women to a wider range ofsexual stimuli allows forquite a bit of plasticity in sexual response.oDescribe the correlational method.▪The correlationalmethod describes the relationship between variables innumerical terms, and as positiveor negative.A correlation is a statisticalmeasure of the relationship between two variables. Incorrelational studies,two or more variables are related, or linked to, one another bystatisticalmeans. The strength and direction (positive or negative) of the relationshipbetween any two variables is expressed with a statistic called a correlationoExplain how experiments seek to determine cause and effect.▪The best method for studying cause and effect is the experiment.Experiments permitscientists to draw conclusions about cause-and-effectrelationships because the experimenterdirectly manipulates the variablesof interest and observes their effects.In an experiment on the effects ofalcohol on sexual arousala groupof participants would receive anintervention, called a treatment, such as a dose ofalcohol.Theparticipants would then be carefully observed to learn whether thistreatmentmade a difference in their behavior—in this case, their sexualarousal.In an experiment, the variables (treatments) that are hypothesizedto have acausal effect are manipulated or controlled by the researcher.The measured results are called dependent variables because changesintheir values are believed to depend on the independent variable orvariables.Dependentvariables are outcomes; they are observed andmeasured by the researchers, but notmanipulated.▪Experimental and Control Groups•True experiments randomly assign subjectsto experimental andcontrol groups. Subjects in experimental groups receive thetreatment. Subjects in control groups do not. All other conditionsare held constantfor both groups. By using random assignmentand holding other conditions constant,researchers can bereasonably confident that the independent variable (treatment), andnot extraneous factors (such as the temperature of the room inwhich the treatment wasadministered or differences betweensubjects in the experimental and control groups),brought about theresults.Although scientists agree that the experimental methodprovides the best evidenceof cause and effect, experimenterscannot manipulate many variablesdirectly. Societal prohibitionsand ethical standards precludeexperimenters from exposingchildren or adolescents to erotic materials.•Ethics in Research on Human SexualityoDescribe the ethical concerns that govern the ways in which professionals interactwith research participants and clients in treatment.▪Sex researchers are required to protect the people being studied. Peoplecannot be subjectedto physical or psychological harm and mustparticipate of their own freewill. In colleges, universities, hospitals, andresearch institutions, ethics review committeeshelp researchers weigh the

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201822potential harm of proposed studies in light of ethicalguidelines. If thecommittee finds fault with a proposal, it may advise the researcherhow tomodify the research design to comply with ethical standards and withholdapproval until the proposal has been modified. What kinds of ethicalissues are raisedconcerning sex research?•Exposing participants to harm. Individuals may be harmed if theyare exposed topain or placed in stressful situations. Nor wouldresearchers expose children toerotic materials to determine theireffects.•Confidentiality. Sex researchers keep the identities and responsesof participantsconfidential to protect them from possible harm orembarrassment.•Informed consent. The principle of informed consent requires thatpeople freelyagree to participate after being given enoughinformation about the proceduresand purposes of the research, andits risks and benefits, to make an informed decision.Once thestudy has begun, participants must be free to withdraw at any timewithout penalty.•The use of deception. Ethical conflicts may emerge whenexperiments require thatparticipants not know all about theexperiment’s purposes and methods.Chapter SummaryThe chapter begins by discussing the need for studying human sexuality as opposed tolearning about it just by experience. The breadth of information provided will permit the studentto understand the psychological, biological, and sociological aspects of this fascinating behavior.Sexual behavior is defined as physical activities that involve the body in the expression of eroticor affectionate feelings.The study of human sexuality is interdisciplinary. While information regarding sexualbehavior may come from many sources, individuals must consider their personal values inmaking sexual choices. The authors then describe different value systems used in making variouschoices.The importance and basic principles of critical thinking are presented.The authors then present the historical, biological, evolutionary, cross-species,psychological, sociological, feminist, and queer theory perspectives on human sexuality. Thehistorical approach provides an understanding how the societal context determines values,beliefs, and accepted behaviors. It also implies that our ancestors have shaped our own valuesand beliefs. Issues such as bisexuality, homosexuality, pederasty, and gender roles are describedin light of the social and political context of these different societies. The section ends with abrief introduction to the pioneers of the scientific study of human sexuality. The biologicalperspective informs us of the mechanics of reproduction, including the nervous, endocrine, andcirculatory systems, as well as genetic influences. The evolutionary perspective, which states thatcurrent behaviors are driven by evolutionary forces, is explained. From this perspective, sexualbehavior is interwoven with reproductive success. Males tend to be more promiscuous becausetheir reproductive success is related to the number of women they can impregnate. Women’sreproductive success, since they can produce only a few offspring in their lifetime, is related tomating with the fittest males. The cross-species perspective provides the opportunity to take a

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201823critical look at certain “myths” related to what is considered “natural” in sexual behavior. It alsopoints out to the fact that as we climb the “evolutionary ladder,” psychosocial factors startacquiring a greater relevance in determining the occurrence and “quality” of the response.Psychological perspectives include psychoanalysis, which focuses on the hypothesized innerconflicts between sexual drives and social constraints, and learning theories that emphasize thereciprocal determinism of person, behavior, and environment. The sociological perspectiveasserts that social factors such as socioeconomic status and gender will affect our sexual values,beliefs, and behaviors. The focus of feminist theory is often on forms of prejudice, such assexism or racism, due to majority versus minority relationships. Feminist theory alsoconcentrates on ways to resist oppression. Finally, queer theory challenges the dichotomousassumptions about sexuality and gender, noting that there is more variability in our sexualinterests and gender identities.The second half of the chapter states the need for an empirical approach to the study ofhuman sexuality. This systematic way of gathering evidence is provided by the scientificmethod. The different steps in the method are then described: formulating a question,formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and drawing conclusions. The goals ofscience—description, explanation, prediction,and control—are then presented as they apply tothe study of human sexual behavior. The authors caution not to confuse description withinference and then introduce the concepts of variables, correlation, and theories. Ethical issuesare discussed in light of the concept of control.The use of operational definitionsisessential to the scientific method andisrelevant inour ability to compare and generalize from one study to another. The different definitions ofsexual arousal are used to illustrate the point.Because of the impracticality of studying all the members of a population of interest (atarget population), researchers try to select a representative sample. Probability sampling(random and stratified random) and convenience samples are the methods most frequently used.The issue of volunteer bias is discussed.Different observation methods, their advantages and limitations are described. The case-study method, an in-depth observation of individuals or small groups, is frequently used in thereport of innovative treatment approaches. Survey methods employ interviews or questionnairesto gather data. The most relevant surveys on sex research are introduced to discuss issues ofsampling. The section ends with a discussion on the limitations of survey methods. Naturalisticobservations (field studies) are described and their ethical implications are pointed out. Theethnographic approach is limited because of the usually private nature of sexual behavior. Theparticipant-observation method requires a direct interaction between the researchers and theparticipants of the study; a controversial study on “spouse swapping” was conducted using thismethod. The laboratory-observation method is illustrated in reference to the work of Masters andJohnson, who observe participants as they engage in different sexual activities.A correlation describes the association between variables. Although useful in predictingbehavior, correlations do not provide proof of causal relationships. This can be achieved onlythrough the experimental approach. The different aspects of the experimental method(independent and dependent variables, experimental and control groups, and random assignment)and its limitations (artificiality and practical and ethical concerns) are presented.The chapter concludes with a discussion of ethical issues in research. Benefits exceedingharm, confidentiality, informed concern, and the use of deception are discussed.

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201824Lecture LaunchersLecture Launcher 1.1: Introductory Topics ActivityandCreating a Good Learning SpaceThis is a good activity to do on the first day of class.Ask students to get a piece of paper and pen/pencil and make a list of sexual topics that theythink might be covered during the entire course. Each student makes their own list.•Ask them to shout out their topics. You can list each topic on the board or have studentswrite them up. Note the degree to which students use the word “sex” or “sexual” (e.g., dothey say “dysfunctions” or “sexual dysfunctions”). Note any topics that students might beforgetting—or topics/words that they might be avoiding.•There might be laughter in the beginning of this activity, although this will taper off andby the end there shouldn’t be much laughter.•After you have a good list, ask students to openly indicate what emotions might arisewhen discussing these topics. List these emotions on the board in a new color. Considerhaving students tie each emotion to a topic (e.g., “A person might experience anxietywhen discussing which topic?”).•As a group, analyze the emotions listed. Some common themes are that most of thefeelings are “negative.” Discuss the meaning behind this. Also, note that two people canhave different emotional responses to the same topic.•Explain to class how this can make teaching a class in human sexuality challenging. Askthem to make a list of rules that everyone in class can follow to create a good learningspace (e.g., what can be done to make the class a safe place where people can makecomments and ask questions openly).An alternative to this lecture launcher is to ask students to get in teams and to brainstorm termsthat relate to sexuality. They can list terms for anatomy, activities, names that people are called,etc. State that you know that some of the words may be considered profanity and that is fine.Some words may be nicknames or slang. Just as with the list above, there will likely bediscomfort and laughter. Once the teams have completed writing down their terms, ask theteams to take turns sharing the words that they generated. Each group should cross out a term ifanother team listed it. At the end of the exercise, you want to see what terms were unique to theteams and see if any teams used or accurate terms for anatomy. Ask why people tend to useslang instead of the technical terms.Lecture Launcher 1.2: Value Clarification ExerciseThis is another activity that is good for the first day of class.Psychologists use value clarification exercises to assist people with goal setting and decision-making. Specifically, the more clear students are about what values and roles are core totheir identity,the more they can evaluate the decisions they make about sexuality.Present the following list (or have students generate their own) to identify their top fivevalues and roles:•Being a good student•Loyalty•Respectability

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201825•Discipline•Being a good parent, friend, daughter, son, etc.•Responsibility•Social consciousness•Being a good Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc.•Success•Independence•Vitality•Integrity•Being a good community member/responsible citizen•Health consciousness•SpiritualityOnce students have identified their top five values and/or roles, use the following discussionquestions:•How do these values and roles impact the sexual decisions you make?•What values are compatible with your sexual decisions? What values conflict? Howdo you understand the discrepancies?•What changes would you have to make to align your sexual decisions with your corevalues?•How may your beliefs have to adjust to be consistent with your behavior?Lecture Launcher 1.3: Critical Thinking ActivityHave your students use their critical thinking skills to evaluate the following statements:“Rap music causes adolescents to engage in sexual activity.”“Young adults are having sex more often today than 10 years ago.”“Having a threesome is a common sexual fantasy among males.”“You can have oral sex without losing your virginity.”Questions to ask:•What value assumptions held by the author underlie this argument?•What fallacies in reasoning have you found?•Who is making this statement?•What assumptions are being made in each statement?•What evidence would be needed to support this statement?•How is “sex” being defined?•What ambiguous terms do you find? What terms need to be further defined?•Does each statement reflect an oversimplification or overgeneralization?Lecture Launcher 1.4: Discussion on Changing Sexual AttitudesDiscuss how various aspects of sexuality have changed over time. What important changes haveoccurred in your students’ lifetimes (i.e., the past 20 years) and what are some of the factors thatmight have led to these changes? Some questions to consider:•Over the past 20 years, is there more or less sex portrayed on television? In themovies? Give examples.

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201826•How have society’s views on sexuality changed with regard to age? Gender?Orientation?•What events have led to changes in the way issues related to sexuality are viewed?Why did these events cause these changes?Lecture Launcher 1.5: Discussion of the Evolutionary Psychology Perspective•Map out differences in male and female reproductive strategy for both long-term matingand for short-term mating encounters.•Discuss the study by Townshend and Levy* on the effects of status and attractiveness onfemale willingness to engage in romantic relationships as an example.•Discuss sociobiological explanations for the following phenomena:oThe different acceptance of promiscuity in males and in femalesoThe acceptability of relationships in which the man is much older than thewoman, but not the other way aroundoWomen wearing makeupLecture Launcher 1.6: Populations and SamplesConsider your classroom population.•How closely does your classroom form a representative sample of the population of theUnited States?•In what ways does your classroom population conform to a stratified sample?•If a survey of sexual attitudes were given to your class, how would these results compareto a more representative sample?•How closely does your college or university form a representative sample of thepopulation of the United States?•Revisit the aforementioned questions with respect to the college or university.Lecture Launcher 1.7: Discussion of Different Methods of ObservationStudents are given a particular question about sexual behavior,for instance, the incidence ofhomosexuality in the United States. Split the class into groups. Each group will discuss how theywould investigate the question by using one of the following observational methods:•Case studies•Surveys•Participant-observant method•Laboratory-observation methodEach group is to present to the rest of the class the design of their study and discuss theadvantages and disadvantages of each method of observation. In your discussion, remindstudents to consider such aspects as veracity, volunteer bias, sample size or representation,assumptions and definition of terms, control groups,andobserver effect.One problem with determining the veracity when interviewing subjects is that many people tellresearchers what they think he or she wants to hear.As an alternative, have students focus on the research of Katherine Frank. What are the strengthsand weaknesses to Katherine Frank’s method of studying strip clubs? What biases might be

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201827operating in this research? How might her questions to participants be different if she had abackground in clinical psychology as opposed to anthropology? Challenge students to design thesame study using other methods of observation.Lecture Launcher 1.8: Analysis of Sexual ResearchCompare and discuss the research method used by Sigmund Freud, Masters and Johnson, AlfredKinsey, and Margaret Mead. Analyze the pros and cons of each method of investigation. Foreach researcher, redesign their research using another method of observation. Discuss how thismight have altered their results. What were their respective views on human sexuality? Whatwere their contributions to our understanding of sexuality? How were their findings differentfrom previous views on sex? How do they compare to societal views on sex today?In addition to or instead of this discussion, this activity can also be used to analyze the work ofmore recent sex researchers. What are the pros and cons of the National Health and Social LifeSurvey as well as the National Survey of Family Growth projects?Online Discussion TopicsDiscussion Starter 1.1:Sexual AttitudesAsk your students to reflect on their own values, attitudes, and experiences related to sex.Discussion questions:•What are the top three things in your life that have most influenced your viewpoints(some things to consider: religion, friends, family, age, hometown, TV and movies, etc.)?•How would you describe your values and attitudes toward sexuality?•Do you have any prejudices regarding sexuality? Why do you feel you have these?•What do you think of how the media portrays sexuality? What do you think of themessages religious or government institutions send about sexuality?•Would you be able to stay friends with someone who held very different values related tosexuality? Why or why not?Discussion Starter 1.2: Value DiscussionWhat are examples of ways that these values and roles can impact sexual decisions? What aresome examples of common conflicts that people may experience between their apparent valuesand sexual attitudes and behavior? How do you understand the discrepancies? What do peopleexperience when their behavior is in conflict with their purported values? What makes it difficultto align values to behavior?Student ActivitiesStudent Activity 1.1: How Much Do You Know About Sex?Distribute copies of this 18-item questionnaire used by the Roper Organization and the KinseyInstitute in a nationwide survey of “sexual literacy.” The questionnaire, scoring key, and nationalcomparisons are included below.The Kinsey Institute/Roper Organization National Sex Knowledge Test

Loading page image...

UpdatedApril 201828How much do you know about sex? A recent survey conducted by the Kinsey Institute andthe Roper Organization gave Americans poor marks in general. This nationwide survey, whichpolled a crosssection of 1,974 adults on 18 questions concerning sex and reproduction,represented the first national effort to assess the sexual knowledge of people in the United States(Reinisch, 1990)1. The questions tapped knowledge about such topics as sexual physiology,contraceptives, American sexual practices, and reproductive biology. The answers to questionsabout sexual practices were based on research conducted by the Kinsey Institute over the pasttwo generations.How did Americans fare on the national sex test? Less than half (45%) of the respondentsreceived “passing grades” of 10 or more correct (out of 18). Fewer than one in five were able toanswer 12 correctly.To be fair, some of the questions test familiarity with the results of sex surveys rather thangeneral knowledge about human sexuality. Some questions, for example, asked for thepercentage of Americans who have had extramarital affairs, homosexual encounters, or engagedin anal intercourse. Other questions asked about the average age of first intercourse and thelength of the average man’s erect penis. Still, our society needs to do a better job educating thepublic about sex. We need to know more if we are to deal effectively with social problems likepreventing teenage pregnancy and AIDS.You may evaluate your own knowledge by completing the 18-item Kinsey Institute/RoperOrganization National Sex Knowledge Test. Then you can compare your results to those of thenationwide sample.An alternative activity would be to ask students to analyze the questionnaire critically andreplace those items that are considered “unfair” with new ones that would really measureknowledge of human sexuality. The same activity can be repeated at the end of the semester todetermine whether students change these items.

Preview Mode

This document has 545 pages. Sign in to access the full document!

Report

Study Now!

Document Details

Related Documents

8-2 Short Paper Future Directions of Health Psycho

Psychopathology and Diagnostic Reasoning

Discussion 3

Competency Statement 3

The Role of Psychiatric Nurses in the Management o

The Role of Psychiatric Nurses in Managing Substan

COUN 6726 WK8 Discussion

Journal Forensic Psychotherapist

ATI RN Comprehensive Predictor 2025 with Critical

Understanding the Barnum Effect in Personality Tra

Company

Explore

Study Tools