Transcript lecture_ch08 - rivier.instructure.com.

Chapter 8
Sexuality
Sex: A Biological Issue

Sex refers to the biological distinctions between
females and males
 Primary sex characteristics refer to differences
in genitalia
 Secondary sex characteristics refer to the
physically distinctive characteristics that occur
as we mature
 The term “sex” also refers to sexual activity,
including intercourse that leads to sexual
gratification and possibly reproduction.
Sex: A Cultural Issue


Sociologists point out that sexual activity is
also guided by human culture
Cultural norms define who can have sex
with whom
 age
 marital status
 sex of partners
Sexual Attitudes in the
United States


How people think about sex, as well as sexual
practices themselves, has changed over the
course of this nation’s history
During the colonial era, the European settlers’
lack of effective birth control methods resulted in
most communities holding strict norms that
treated sexuality simply as a matter of
reproduction
Sexual Attitudes in the
United States

Landmarks in the nation’s changing view
of sexuality include:
 Advances in technology giving people
control over reproduction
 Post WW II research of Alfred Kinsey
that concluded that Americans were not
as conventional about sex as many had
believed
Sexual Attitudes in the
United States
The “sexual revolution” that
embraced a culture of freedom
following the introduction of the birth
control pill in 1960
 The feminist movement’s challenge of
men’s power that took a stand
against a number of practices
associated with sex, including
pornography, rape, and incest

The Sexual Counterrevolution


By the 1970’s, conservatives called for
return to traditional “family values”
Did not succeed in turning back the clock
Sexual Orientation


Sexual orientation refers to an
individual’s romantic, emotional, and
sexual attraction to another person
Sexual orientation can include partners of
the same sex (homosexuality), the other
sex (heterosexuality), either sex
(bisexuality), or neither sex (asexuality)
What Gives Us a Sexual Orientation?

Cultural Factors
 Sexual orientation has much to do with
one’s society
 Once definitions of heterosexual and
homosexual became accepted, people
with homosexual experiences were set
apart
What Gives Us a Sexual Orientation?

Biological Factors
 Sexual orientation appears to be fixed at
birth
 Both genes and hormones play a part in
determining sexual orientation
 Simon LeVay- the key is in the brain
Homosexuality and Public Policy

Prior to the 1970s, homosexuality was
widely regarded as wrong
 This created a hostile atmosphere that
resulted in most lesbians and gay men
staying “in the closet”
 In 1973, the American Psychiatric
Association declared that it no longer
considered homosexuality to be a
mental disorder
Homosexuality and Public Policy


Recently, public attitudes have become
more accepting of homosexuality
Lawrence et al v. Texas


Struck down law preventing sodomy between
same-sex couples
However, mixed public attitudes have
produced conflicting policies on sexual
activity
Gay Marriage



In 1996, Congress passed the Defense of
Marriage Act
 Allows states to ignore same-sex marriage
performed in another state
Some corporations and other countries offer
benefits to domestic partners
In 2004, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts
ruled that gay men and lesbian women had the
right to marry
The Gay Rights Movement



Originated in a few large cities in the mid
1950s.
The “Stonewall Riot” on June 27, 1969 was
a defining moment in the growth of the
movement
Soon after, the term “homophobia” was
used to demonstrate that the problem was
people who would not accept others
simply because of their sexual orientation
Pornography

Pornography refers to words or images that
cause sexual arousal
 “Soft-core” pornography shows or
describes nudity and suggests sexual
activity
 “Hard-core” pornography contains
explicit descriptions or images of sexual
acts
 The real issue: At what point does
sexual material run afoul of the law and
become obscenity?
Is Pornography a Social Problem?


Conservatives treat sex as a moral issue
 Pornography is a social problem
because it undermines morality
Liberals are divided over whether
pornography is a social problem
 Some liberals contend that what
people choose to read or view is their
own business
 Others object to pornography as
demeaning to women
Pornography and Violence

In 1985, the U.S. Attorney General’s
Commission on Pornography was formed to
investigate how people react to sexual
materials
 It concluded that while exposure to
pornography causes sexual arousal and
increases sexual activity, it does not
cause violent behavior
 It warned that viewing pornography
containing violence makes people more
accepting of violent acts
Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment refers to unwanted
comments, gestures, or physical contact
of a sexual nature
 The rise of the women’s movement in
the 1960s was primarily responsible
for the definition of such behavior as a
social problem
 In 1976, a federal court declared that
sexual harassment amounted to illegal
sexual discrimination (Williams v.
Saxbe)
Sexual Harassment

The Equal Employment Opportunities
Commission (EEOC) identifies two types of
sexual harassment –
 quid pro quo (one thing for another)
 subtle forms of behavior not intended to
be harassing
Prostitution



Prostitution is the selling of sexual
services
Prostitution, as well as soliciting the
services of a prostitute, is against the law
everywhere in the United States, except in
parts of Nevada
In a global perspective, prostitution is
most common in low-income nations
Prostitution


Prostitutes are a diverse category, with
better or worse working conditions
depending on their physical attractiveness,
age, and level of education
Although prostitution is against the law
almost everywhere in the United States,
law enforcement is selective
Prostitution


Worldwide, “sex tourism” is on the rise,
with the fastest increases in Africa and
Eastern Europe.
In the areas where “sex tourism” occurs,
as many as 100 million children live on the
streets and sell sex to survive
Prostitution


Enforcement of prostitution is selective
According to COYOTE (Call Off Your Old
Tired Ethics), a sex worker’s rights
organization founded in 1973, 90 percent
of women arrested for prostitution are
street walkers from low social class
backgrounds. Very few are high status call
girls
Teenage Pregnancy

In the US, almost 1 million teenage girls
become pregnant each year
 About 2/3 decide to keep their babies
and 1/3 have abortions
 Recently, the pregnancy rate for girls in
their early teens has been rising
 Teenage girls at highest risk for
pregnancy are from poor families
Teenage Pregnancy

The costs of teenage pregnancy.
 For men and women both young and poor,
parenthood can be financially devastating
 The babies are affected the most
 Infants born to teens have lower birth
rates and a higher risk of physical and
developmental problems
 Most have no fathers and grow up at
high risk of becoming single parents
themselves
Teenage Pregnancy


A possible solution to the problem of
teenage pregnancy is sex education in
schools
Programs of sex education explain to
young people
 how their bodies grow and change
 how reproduction occurs
 how to avoid pregnancy by using birth
control or abstaining form sex
altogether
Abortion

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
Abortion is the deliberate termination of a
pregnancy
Abortion is perhaps the most divisive issue
involving sexuality in the United States
today
Each year, 860,000 abortions are
performed in the US, which is one for
every three live births
Abortion

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In the U.S., from the colonial era until the
mid-19th century, early-term abortion was
legal
By the early decades of the 20th century,
laws banning abortion had been enacted in
every state
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court struck
down all laws that banned abortion (Roe v.
Wade)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
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Diseases spread by sexual contact
There are more than fifty kinds of sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs)
Rates of infection for most STDs including gonorrhea, syphilis, and genital
herpes - began to rise during the sexual
revolution of the 1960s
Sexually Transmitted Diseases

The most serious of all STDs is Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
 In the U.S., the recent trend in AIDS deaths is
downward.
 Officials recorded 16,371 deaths in 2002
 There were 26,464 new cases of AIDS
recorded in the U.S. in 2002
 In some regions of the world, AIDS is fast
becoming a medical catastrophe
Sexually Transmitted Diseases

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While HIV is infectious, it is not contagious
Specific behavior that puts people at risk
for HIV infection include:
 anal sex
 sharing needles when using drugs, and
 any drug use (including alcohol)
because it impairs one’s judgment)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases


The US government was slow to respond
to the AIDS crisis
Once the epidemic spread into the
heterosexual population, officials gave the
problem serious attention
Structural-Functional Analysis:
Controlling Sexuality

A structural-functional perspective on
sexuality emphasizes the importance of
cultural norms guiding sexuality
 Societies observe incest taboos
 Traditional norms favor legitimate
offspring
Symbolic-Interaction Analysis:
Defining Sexuality

Highlights the variable meanings people
attach to sexuality
 The meaning of virginity
 Learning sexual roles
 People socially construct sexuality just
as they create the rest of the reality
they experience
Social-Conflict Analysis:
Sex and Power

The social-conflict paradigm highlights
social inequality
 Women as sexual objects
 Queer theory
A
body of theory and research that
challenges the heterosexual
Conservatives: The Value of
Traditional Morality

Conservatives support conventional norms
that claim sexuality belongs within the
traditional bonds of marriage
 Premarital sex and extramarital sex are
social problems
 They condemn prostitution and
pornography because they violate
traditional standards of decency and
because they threaten marriages
Conservatives:
The Value of Traditional Morality

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Conservatives oppose abortion on demand
because it gives one person the power to
end the life of another who is innocent and
helpless
Overall, the conservative answer to sexual
social problems is strong social institutions
Liberals:
Sex and Individual Choice

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All people should have considerable choice
in how they express their sexuality
 Their attitude is one of tolerance
 The limits of liberal tolerance come
when someone is threatened with harm
Liberals support making abortion available
to all – and leaving the decision on any
individual case up to the woman involved
Radicals:
Going to the Root of the Problem

A common element in all of the issues
cited in this chapter is social inequality
 These social problems come about
because one category of people has
power over another