DO NOW • What are the physiological and psychological factors that affect sexual motivation? Kinsey (2004) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppZwS ABxeYE Kinsey’s Studies • Confidential interviews with 18,000 people (in early 1950’s). • Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female • Scale of sexuality….0 to 6 where 0 is exclusively heterosexual and 6 homosexual and 7 is asexual. Click on Kinsey to see the movie trailer. We have discussed the energizing of sexual motivation but have yet to discuss its direction: Sexual Orientation An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one's own gender or the other gender. Percentage, brothers and cities How is Sexual Orientation Determined • NO evidence that sexuality is socially determined • Kids raised by gay parents no more likely to be gay than if raised by hetero parents. • Thus, it is likely biologically determined. The Brain • Simon LeVay • Discovered cluster of cells in hypothalamus that is larger in hetero men than in hetero women or homosexual men Prenatal Environment • Current research seems to point to the hormonal levels in the prenatal environment. • We have created homosexual male fruit flies and lesbian sheep!!! What is the trend for attitudes toward homosexual relationships? How do different countries view having children before marriage? We can have same drives, but different attitudes Births to Unwed Parents How does Britain compare to Japan? Facts about Adolescent Sexuality • 1900: 3% had sex by age 18 • 2007: 50% have sex by age 18 • 47% of high school seniors have had sex • 72% of teenage girls regretted having sex the first time • Teens get most sex information from peers and media rather than parents • Correlation between sexually active teens and alcohol using teens • Average hour-long TV show has 15 sexual acts, words, and innuendos • Higher intelligence correlated with delaying sex • Actively religious teens more often reserve sex for marital commitment • Father’s absence linked to sexual activity before age 16 • Teen volunteers have lower pregnancy rates • Only 1/3 of sexually active male teens use condoms regularly Fun Quote of the Day: “Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.” STDs/STIs • Condoms offer no protection against certain skin-to-skin STIs (most genital cancers) Herpes • If Pat has sex with 9 people, each of whom over the same period has sex with 9 people, who in turn have sex with 9 others, how many “phantom” sex partners (past partners of partners) will Pat have? • (511) Media Influence? • Does “sex” in the media make teens more sexually active? • If so, how? • Is there a difference in the way they affect male vs female teens? Sex Sells? •“Sex Sells” •by Lisa Wade, Mar 2, 2009, at 02:24 am That’s the refrain anyway. But whose sex is sold? And to who? If it was simply that sex sold, we’d see men and women equally sexually objectified in popular culture. Instead, we see, primarily, women sold to (presumably heterosexual) men. So what are we selling, exactly, if not “sex” We’re selling men’s sexual subjectivity and women as a sex object. That is, the idea that men’s desires are centrally important and meaningful, and women’s are not (because women are the object to men’s subjectivity). That women’s object status and men’s subjectivity is sold to women in women’s magazines (for example, Cosmo and Glamour always feature scantily clad women on the cover) in no way undermines the idea that men’s sexual subjectivity is being sold. It’s just that it’s being sold to all of us. What must one do to Minnie to make her an acceptable fashion icon? Starve her down to a stick figure, apparently. Contrast Effect • In one study, partners viewed pictures of idealized individuals (genetically rare, plastic surgery enhanced, photoshopped images), then rated their own partners less positively. • In even more disturbing study, men reported lower levels of LOVE and COMMITMENT to their current partners after viewing Playboy centerfolds Fashion Industry Modeling Industry Diet Industry • $60 Billion dollar industry (including diet books, diet drugs and weight-loss surgeries.) • 85% of customers are females • It has a failure rate in the 90s. Set-Point Theory • According to the set-point theory, there is a control system built into every person dictating how much fat he or she should carry – a kind of thermostat for body fat. • Some individuals have a high setting, others have a low one. • According to this theory, body fat percentage and bodyweight are matters of internal controls that are set differently in different people. Can dieting change the set point? • Dieting does nothing • Dieting research demonstrates that body has more than one way to defend its fat storage • Long-term caloric deprivation (starving) can signal the body to slow down its metabolism. • Body reacts as though famine has set in. • Within a day or two after semi-starvation begins, metabolic machinery shifts to more cautious state to conserve calories it already has. • Dieting becomes progressively less effective • Plateau is reached at which further weight loss seems impossible. How to change the set point • The ideal approach to weight control would be a safe method that lowers or raises the set point rather than simply resisting it. • No one knows for sure how to change the set point, but some theories exist. – regular exercise is the most promising as a sustained increase in physical activity seems to lower the setting Messing with Set-Point • Studies show that a person’s weight at the set point is optimal for efficient activity and a stable, optimistic mood. • When the set point is driven too low, depression and lethargy may set in as a way of slowing the person down and reducing the number of calories expended. Both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are more commonly seen in females with estimates of male-to-female ratio ranging from 1:6 to 1:10 Eating Disorders What causes eating disorders? – Genetics may influence susceptibility – Those with greatest body dissatisfaction – Western cultures idolize thin women » Cultural pressure transmitted by the “thin-ideal” exemplified in advertisements Women’s Body Images Key Point #1: Media portrayals of men and women are radically different. Key Point #2 • The people you see are fake. They are genetically rare, plastic surgery enhanced and extensively photoshopped. • Average model is size 0 or 00 she is 5’10’’ 110 lbs. • Average American woman is size 12 to 14 and is 5’4’’ 140 lbs. Key Point #3 • We mindlessly marinate in this Toxic Media environment. • Cultivation Theory- the longer you spend staring at the simulacra the more you just assume it is reality’s default setting. • Wake up.