Human Sexuality Flashcards
Normal: Subjective
Is it normal to you?
Normal: Statistically
Reponse rate %
DSMIV
Normal:Idealistically
what you expect- your requirements
Normal: Culturally
your background/religious/ ethnicity
Normal: Clinically
Physical attributes during sex
A plea for Eros
-This is my call for eros, a plea that we not forget ambiguity and mystery, that in matters of the heart, we acknowledge an abiding uncertainty.”
Antioch Ruling
The Antioch Ruling, a law enacted at Antioch College in Ohio requiring students to gain consent at each stage of a sexual encounter (first laughed at)
What is Socialbiology?
#1 goal of species: to reproduce. the application of evolutionary theory to social behavior -natural selection important in mating
Antioch Ruling
The Antioch Ruling, a law enacted at Antioch College in Ohio requiring students to gain consent at each stage of a sexual encounter (first laughed at)
What is Socialbiology?
- # 1 goal of species: to reproduce.
- the application of evolutionary theory to social behavior
- natural selection important in mating
- women develop menstrual synchrony so men hunt
Average male sperm count
1,000 sperm per second
Five types of normal
Subjectively,statistically,idealistically- culturally, clinically
roots of “sex:
latin for “to cut”, “to divide”
Lilith
Adam’s 1st wife, possibly Satanic. There was a quarrel and Lilith left Eden for the regions of the air. God sent angels to tell Lilith to get back to Eden or 100 of her offspring would die every day. Lilith refused to go, and swore vengeance against all children because hers had been killed.
In ancient texts, Lilith is depicted as a spirit who roams at night seducing men and killing children, especially newborns.
DSM
Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association: A book of symptoms and diagnoses
Stud vs. Slut
it makes no sense for a man to spend time caring for another man’s offspring
Sex strike theory
Reproductive conflict lies at the heart of human social relations.
Among early humans, women, incapacitated by pregnancy and infants, needed the men to go hunt. Women could therefore - Live in “subservient polygyny” or in groups that would be cared for by one faithful male.
So, the theory goes, women developed menstrual synchrony and eschewed sex during menstruation - so the men would go get some food.
The women wanted food and the men wanted sex
Psychoanalytic Theory
Sex is central
It will all prove to be physical (!)
Even children are sexual
Developmental stages: oral, anal, phallic (Oedipus & Electra), latency, genital
Defenses
Our conscious awareness is only the “tip of the iceberg”
Id - Ego - Superego
Superego: The conscience.
Ego: The “I”: mediates between Id and Reality.
Id: the irrational, the primitive: all desire & need, the stuff of dreams & nightmares. No manners.
Behaviorism (skinner)
Behaviors are learned and can be unlearned (e.g. by aversion)
Operant conditioning: we learn behaviors through reinforcement and punishment
Positive reinforcement: increases odds that the behavior will be repeated
Negative reinforcement: removal of an unpleasant stimulus (step off the hot coals)
Random intermittent schedule of positive reinforcement: Guaranteed to keep you hooked. (how they pay the light bills in Vegas
Cognitive Theory
Cognition: information processing. Includes attention, information gathering, memory, and motivation.
Thoughts & perceptions lead to interpretations & emotions, and all these factors influence behavior. Erroneous beliefs can lead to problems.
Data - Interpretation - Emotions
“Cognitive dissonance:” the mental gymnastics we go through to make ourselves cool with what we are doing
Biggest sex organ: the one between your ears.
Prehistoric Sex
How long?
Taboos?
350,000 years of “settling down”
agrarian, nomadic at first
Cave life: the “family” is born
Many religious & cultural rules about sexuality are aimed at PRESERVATION OF FAMILY.
1st Taboo: Incest
Almost all cultures have rules against it
2nd Taboo: Menstruation
Blood a powerful substance & symbol
Menstrual blood, not understood, seems especially powerful
Judeo-Christian Sex
Emphasis on family: Sex in marriage fulfills God’s law: “Be fruitful and multiply”
OK to enjoy marital sex; strengthens marital bond
Masturbation, homosexuality not OK: these are non-procreative acts
Onanism: technical term for masturbation
Polygamy: OK for men, but rare; not OK for women
Status of women (in many cultures):
Care for home, children, vineyard, finances;
May be divorced at husband’s whim (rare);
May be stoned to death for adultery;
(Men who commit adultery are prosecuted for property violation)
Women as Property
“Frequency Recommendations” for marital sex:
No occupation - Sex every day Laborers - Twice a week Ass-Drivers - Once a week Camel Drivers - Once a month Sailors - Every six months
Ancient Greeks (500-300 BC)
Family important, but male sexuality not limited to marriage.
Well-developed body is much admired;
adolescent male = perfection
slender women = more attractive
“Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body”
Sex to be enjoyed; off-color jokes in theater
Gods are wildly sexual
Both genders considered Bisexual
Male-Male sex is deemed Normal, even idealized; Male-male relationships do not jeopardize family unit.
Pederasty
Prostitution ok, hierarchy
Status of Women:
About the same as slaves
Women as property
Subject to male authority (1st father, then husband)
No formal education
Stayed at home (even more than Roman women)
May be divorced w/o cause, but could initiate divorce only in extreme conditions
Ancient Romans (BC AD)
Restrictions on how women showed off their wealth
Fellation
Fellare- to suck
Fornication
Fornix,arch or vault
Cunnilingus
Cunnus, vulva, linger to lick
Early Christ
Collapse of Rome left an absence of state-imposed law and order as well as a general loss of literacy.
Society was ripe for a system of rules and order. Literacy existed mostly among monks.
Christ didn’t have much to say about sex.
Early Christian policy-makers sought to reduce the level of decadence in Greece & Rome.
Restrict sex to marital bed
Temptations of flesh distract you from God
St. Paul (1st Century A.D.); Celibacy is the ideal, the only route to true grace. But, “It is better to marry than burn with desire.” Brides must be virgins.
Procreation the #1 reason for sex.
Men: love your wife with restraint, not passion.
Masturbation, prostitution sinful.
Divorce is outlawed.
St. Augustine (late 4th Century) “Man…fell into sin through the woman who was made out of him before sin existed.”
Lust was Adam and Eve’s sin, the true Original Sin. Lust led to shame.
Through Original Sin (transmitted via semen) we inherit the shame.
Non-procreative sex is a sin.
Augustine admitted that he prayed constantly to God, “Give me chastity - but not yet
Middle Ages (476-1450 AD)
R.C. Church dominates in the West.
Eve is the bane of human existence. But in Eastern Europe, MARY is flourishing;
Crusaders “brought Mary home” and so improved her standing and that of all women (“courtly love”).
Protestant Reformation (1480’s-1560’s)
Martin Luther: Priests should be able to marry and have children; Marriage & sex are human nature.
John Calvin: Sex is good for other things besides procreation (like bonding).
New England
Early New England: Pilgrims seek “Godly communities” based on centrality of family.
3:4 female:male ratio
Neighbors living close by one another.
Protestant, not Roman Catholic “celibacy ideal”
Marriage: To channel lust, strengthen family.
“Proper sexual expression”
Not OK: Sex outside marriage (unless you were engaged: 10-30% of brides pregnant);
Non-procreative sex acts.
A little further south, in the Chesapeake region, settlements were different; climate was different; and there was a 1:4 female:male ratio.
How do you think the sexual culture might have been different from New England?
Pilgrims shocked by Native American sexuality!
Native American traditions vary by tribe & region
Nudity, sexuality not equated with sin or shame
Generally accepted among Native Americans:
Premarital intercourse (women could choose their partners)
Children’s sexual explorations
Polygamy
Same-sex sexuality, “cross-dressing”
People are not property
Missionaries called this “Impurity and immorality, even gross sensuality and unnatural vice.”
Indentured Servants
How to become one: sentenced to the americas
No legal rights; cannot marry
Illegitimate pregnancies went up significantly
If pregnant, you could be
Whipped
Fined
Have another year added to your period of servitude
Slaves
if you impregnate a slave, you get more slaves
No legal restrictions; what would guide your behavior toward “your” slaves?
No legal rights; slaves not allowed to read, etc.
anti-miscegination laws
laws prohibiting interracial marriages, latin (miscere “mix”, genus “race).
Loving v. Virginia
black woman and white man married in 1958, police invaded their home, court case went to Supreme Court-won in 1967.
China
consider the Tao, “the Way,” “The Sacred Path of Nature” - a predominant Chinese philosophy for over 2,000 years
Close partnership between Humans and Nature.
I’Ching (The Book of Changes) named
Yin - the passive (female) force, and
Yang - the active (male) force
Yin and Yang mesh to propel the Ch’i (vital essence, breath of life) along the Supreme Path.
Everyone needs yin and yang in balance.
Yin and yang have physical manifestations:
yin essence = vaginal lubrication
yang essence = semen
Through sexual intercourse, yin and yang interact.
Ideal: For man to prolong intercourse as long as possible, to absorb more yin essence.
He must also, without fail, rouse her to orgasm.
“Man and woman should move according to their cosmic orientation…the man should thrust from above and the woman receive below.”
The ancient Chinese also taught delayed ejaculation techniques, to help prolong intercourse.
Same techniques as you’ll find in current best sellers on “male multiple orgasm.”
Chinese sex manuals have been around since at least the second century B.C.
Sex acts measured by their yin-yang merits: anal intercourse, fellatio OK if no yang essence is lost; cunnilingus OK; masturbation OK for women (no end of yin), but wasteful for men (loss of yang). Nocturnal emission a big problem, caused by a succubus in the form of a beautiful woman.
india
Ancient Hindus of India: sexual pleasure as a spiritual ideal, a spiritual duty
From 5th Century on, temples displayed gods, nymphs, & mortals in pursuit of sexual pleasure
The famous Kama Sutra seems to have been around since between 300-500 A.D.
Sexual fulfillment could improve your karma.
Since about 1000 A.D., Indian society has become more restrictive about sexuality.
The west
Hysteria - hyster is Greek for Uterus Freud's talking cure cliterodectomies vulva massage, water jet method orgasms -> treat female hysteria vibrators -> 1902 salesmen blowfish catalog
Dildo Diaries
Molly Ivins, Made in Austin
Sodomy and Dildos out - lawed in Texas?
In Texas, rape is vaginal and penal, not anal
Corpora Cavernosa: Female
cavernous bodies: during sexual arousal, nitric oxide levels go up
