Chapter 13
Sexuality
Chapter Outline
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Sex and Culture
Sexuality and Sociological Theory
Sexual Politics: Diversity and Inequality
Sex and Social Issues
Sex and Social Change
Sex and Culture
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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.
Social and Cultural Basis of
Sexuality
1.
2.
3.
Human sexual attitudes and
behavior vary in different cultural
contexts.
Sexual attitudes and behavior
change over time.
Sexual identity is learned.
Social and Cultural Basis of
Sexuality
4.
5.
6.
Social institutions channel and
direct human sexuality.
Sex is influenced by economic
forces in society.
Public policies regulate sexual and
reproductive behaviors.
The Influence of Freud
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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.
Havelock Ellis
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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.
The Kinsey Reports
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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 welleducated, and middle-class.
All the interviewers and staff members were
White, heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant
men.
The Kinsey Reports
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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.
The Masters and Johnson
Studies
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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, welleducated men and women.
The Masters and Johnson
Studies
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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.
Sex Among Teenagers
Sexual Practices of
Americans
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Findings from the most recent survey on
sexual practices of U.S. public, conducted in
the early 1990s:
1. Young people are becoming sexually active
earlier.
2. The proportion of young people who are
sexually active has increased, especially
among young women.
3. Having only one sexual partner in one’s
lifetime is rare.
Sexual Practices of
Americans
4.
5.
6.
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.
Polling Question
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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
Theories of Sexuality
Sexual identity
Functionalism Learned through
socialization into roles
Conflict Theory Enforced through the power
of dominant groups and
institutions
Symbolic
Emerges through social
Interaction
relationships
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
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
Change as social beliefs
Interaction
define new possibilities
Sexual Politics
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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
Influence of Race, Class, and
Gender
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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.
Homophobia
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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.
Polling Question
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Homosexual sexual relations should be
taught as acceptable and normal.
A.) Strongly agree
B.) Agree somewhat
C.) Unsure
D.) Disagree somewhat
E.) Strongly disagree
A Global Perspective on
Sexuality
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Sexuality is expressed differently across
cultural contexts.
Cross-cultural studies of sexuality show
that different sexual norms develop
differently within cultural meaning
systems.
International Sex Trade
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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.
The International Sex Trade
Sex and Social Issues: Birth
Control
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1965 - The Supreme Court, Griswold v.
Connecticut, defined the use of birth
control as a right, not a crime for married
people.
1972 - The Supreme Court decision,
Eisenstadt v. Baird extended the same
right to unmarried people.
Contraceptive Use
Worldwide
Sex and Social Issues:
Abortion
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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.
Attitudes Toward Abortion
Deaths from Abortion: Preand Post-Roe v.Wade
Sex and Social Issues:
Pornography
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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
Sex and Social Issues: Teen
Pregnancy
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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.
Teen Pregnancy: An
International Perspective
Sexual Activity: A CrossNational Perspective
Contraceptive Use Among
Teens
Reasons for First Sexual
Intercourse
Reasons for First Sexual
Intercourse
The Sexual Revolution and
Sexual Relations
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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.
Quick Quiz
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.
Answer: c
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The statement, sexual attitudes and
behaviors are not gender specific, is
incorrect.
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
Answer: c
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The use of women as sex workers in a
global context where sex itself is a
commodity is referred to as international
sex trade.
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
Answer: b
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According to biological determinism,
sexual identity is fixed at birth.
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
Answer: c
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Through the publication of his reports,
Alfred Kinsey laid the foundation for
some of the sexual liberation movements
that followed.