Human Sexuality Midterm Flashcards
What is human sexuality?
It can be defined as an umbrella term and anything that makes us sexual beings, it is a fundamental drive within us. It is natural and it is one of our biggest motivations in life.
The ways we experience and express ourselves as sexual beings (e.g., Erotic feelings, experiences, or desires)
Sex
Physical activities involving our sex organs
Internal sex organs
Biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women
Intersex
Is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.
Gender roles
Set of expectations that prescribes how females and males should think, act, and feel.
Influences on sexual behaviours
Biology
Psychological characteristics
Social influences
Cultural influences
Spiritual
considerations
All of these factors work together – how we respond to sexual stimuli is extremely influenced by biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors
Judgment and morality is also at play here. They tend to interact with these other factors/influences.
Biology’s Influence on Sexual Behaviours
One area of research looks at how sex hormones effects our sexual behaviour. Females are more receptive to sexual activity during ovulation. Both women and men are more aroused when women are ovulating
Psychological characteristics on Sexual Behaviours
Psychologists look at how our attitudes, perception and learning effect our sexual activities.
Social influences on Sexual Behaviour
-How we think about sex and sexuality. Social media molds the ideas about beauty, sexiness and overall what is attractive.
Cultural influences on Sexual Behaviour
Can also plat into social influences. Can effect how we think about sex and what is appropriate and what is not appropriate sexual behaviour.
Spiritual considerations
Religion has played a massive role in what we deem as appropriate and permitted
Sexual politics in Canada
Separation of religion and the state
Multi-culturalism
Pluralistic attitude- we are more open about sexual behaviours, more liberal
Diversity
Why is sex/sexuality/sexual health education important
When you are young and learn about sex education you can learn what is normal and what is not. You will also learn to be more open and comfortable to talk about sexual activity
Overall health, well-being and quality of life.
Make informed decisions about our body
Will limit sexual violence
Promote respect for human rights
Policy Implications
Ethics of divinity
Religious roots
Based on fundamental belief in a divine source for moral judgments of right and wrong
E.g.: sex should only occur within marriage
Ethics of community
Based on what is perceived as the greater good for the community
E.g: laws against SA based on the community ethic that no one should force someone else to engage in sex against his/her will
Ethics of autonomy
Places value on the rights and freedoms of the individual
People are allowed to fulfill their own sexual needs as long as it doesn’t impede on the rights of others
E.g: same sex relationships are acceptable because they cause no harm to others
Victorian Era Outlook on Sexuality
Prim and proper (on the surface)
Sex not discussed in public
Women viewed sex as a marital duty to be performed for procreation or to satisfy their husband’s desires
Believed that sex drained a man of his natural vitality; therefore, ejaculation was seen as wasting vital fluids
Presbyterian Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794-1851)
Preached against “wasting the seed” by either masturbation or marital intercourse
A diet of fatty foods, meat, and alcohol was thought to cause sexual urges
Recommended young men curb their sexual appetites by a diet of simple foods
Critical movements
The Sexual Revolution (Mid-1960s to mid-1970’s)
Feminism (1970’s)
Gay activism
Internet and communication technology
Internet and communication technology
Arguably has had the greatest impact on sexuality in the western world
Made it easier to explore and express sexuality
Feminism (1970’s)
Period of advancement toward equal rights for women
Women were as entitled as men to sexual pleasure and satisfaction
Gay activism
Developed in response to AIDS in the 1980s
Silence = Death
The Sexual Revolution (Mid-1960s to mid-1970’s)
Influenced many factors including the Vietnam war, fear of the nuclear bomb, birth control pill and television
Tied to social permissiveness and political liberalism
Negative Implications of the Internet On Sexuality
Porn addicitons and too accessible
Judgment and hateful
Chance of doxing
Sexual predators
Revenge porn
Fresh and fit
Andrew Tate
Misinformation
Evolutionary Theory on Sexuality
From an evolutionary perspective, what counts is producing lots of healthy, viable offspring who will carry on one’s genes…
It focuses on survival of the fittest and being able to pass on your genes to the next generation. This perspective is based in biology and argues that our social behaviour are all due to evolutionary forces.
Trade-off theory
Women may trade off attractiveness for resources in mate selection
Results from a study showed that men will put more emphasis on attractiveness and women will put more emphasis on resources
Women favour resources because they need them when pregnant and to support children
Women vs Men Biological Roles
Women: Limited number of eggs; Carry fetus for nine months; Responsible for child care after (e.g., breastfeeding)
Men: Millions of sperm; Role in reproduction is significantly less involved
What do different biological roles do to men’s and women’s mating strategies
Men- short-term, attracted to cues of fertility and physical qualities
Women- long-term, attracted to cues of resources and commitment
Evolutionary Theory: Gender
Adaptation during the evolution of humans produced psychological differences between males and females
Males tend to be more violent, competition, and risk
Females more devoted to parenting and nurturing
Parental Investment Theory
There are differences in the minimum obligatory parental investment between the sexes:
Males = mating effort and ejaculation; sperm abundant
Females = fertilization and gestation of 9 months; 2-4 years nursing; eggs finite
This leads to two predictions:
- The sex that invests more in offspring will be more selective in mating
- The sex that invests less in offspring will be more competitive for sexual access to the high-investing sex
Intrasexual competition
Between members of the same sex (male aggression)
Intersexual competition
Selection of preferred mates (female choice)
Criticism of Evolutionary Theory
Heterosexual view only
No biological explanation for why women look for resources
Not everyone wants to reproduce
Society has changed a lot and these theories may not apply easily now
Focus more on Western views
Perpetuates stereotypes
The central function of sex as reproduction
Contrasting evidence indicates a lot of men want long-term relationships and some women want short-term relationships
Psychoanalytic theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Born with biologically based sex drives that must be channelled through socially approved outlets
Developed stages that young children would have to go through and resolve a problem to move on to the next stage
Criticisms of Freud
Derived data almost exclusively from his work with patients who sought therapy from him
Feminists have also been critical of this theory – as a very male-centred theory e.g., penis envy (biologically inferior to men)
Most concepts cannot be evaluated scientifically to see whether they are accurate (he postulated that many of the most important forces in personality are unconscious)
Learning Theory
Learning theory in psychology refers to the frameworks and principles that explain how people acquire, modify, and retain behaviours, skills, and knowledge through experiences.
Including classical conditions and operant condition
Classical Conditioning w Sexuality Example
A type of learning in which an organism learns to connect or associate stimuli
US: Sexual intimacy with partner
UR: sexual arousal
Neutral stimulus: partners cologne
Conditioning = cologne + sexual intimacy = sexual arousal
Operant Conditioning
Learning based on consequences, where behaviors are influenced by rewards (reinforcement) or punishments
Sexual Scripts
Cognitive frameworks, often different for males and females, for understanding how a sexual experience is supposed to proceed and how sexual experiences are to be interpreted.
Cultural, interpersonal, and intrapsychic (individual differences in relationships) influences
Traditional Sexual Script for Men and Women
Men: providers, initiators, and protectors, always want to have sex, men view it as a physical act, rewarded for being sexual
Women: protect virginity, want emotional intimacy first as well as commitment, submissive, gatekeepers, can’t be too sexual
Sexual Script Theory vs. Evolution Theory
Evolution = currents patterns of sexual behaviour are embedded in our genes through years of natural selection
Sexual script = sexual life is influenced by social and cultural factors and differs from one historical era to another or from one culture to another
How do we measure sexual arousal?
Subjective: asking people questions, self-reported
Objective: getting physiological measurements
Expressed: body language
Limitations of survey related to sex
Very subjective
There needs to be definitions of what a sexual partner is, everyone has their definition
Some people may lie about certain answers if they feel shame about a topic
Faulty memories
False estimates
Volunteer bias
Objective (physiological arousal) examples
Penile strain gauge and vaginal photoplethysmography (measurement tools)
Laboratory observation method
Gender differences in sexual specificity
Women: more likely to demonstrate non-specific sexual arousal, sexual arousal is very similar across different stimuli
Men: more likely to demonstrate category specific sexual arousal, they have different sexual arousal levels based on what stimuli they are shown
- Women are aroused by a wider range of stimuli than are men
- Women have lower concordance between their physiological arousal and self-reported sexual arousal
Gender differences in sexual concordance
Women: women are more likely to demonstrate lower sexual arousal concordance, means what we say and how our bodies react are not the same
Men: more likely to demonstrate higher sexual arousal concordance, meaning what their bodies are showing and what they are saying are similar
- Women are aroused by a wider range of stimuli than are men
- Women have lower concordance between their physiological arousal and self-reported sexual arousal
What is the clitoris?
Female sex organ, consisting of a shaft and a glans
Becomes erect when aroused
Only body part that is only for pleasure
How is the clitoris and penis similar and different?
They develop from the same embryonic tissue and are similar in structure
Not similar in function
Reasons for Female Genital Mutilation in the USA
Masturbation was considered harmful or immoral. As a result, removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy) was sometimes performed as a “treatment” to suppress sexual desire and prevent orgasm.
The removal of the clitoral hood (a procedure known as clitoral hood reduction) was sometimes done to expose the clitoris more directly, theoretically making it easier for women to achieve orgasm.
Vagina
Internal passage leading from the opening at the vulva to the cervix of the uterus; contains the penis during sexual intercourse; is what babies pass through during childbirth
Vulva
External genital organs of the female containing the mons veneris, the labia majora, and the labia minora, clitoris, and vaginal opening
What did Freud say about orgasms
Vaginal: Freud considered vaginal orgasms, achieved through penetration and involving the internal genitalia, to be a marker of sexual maturity. He theorized that, as women developed psychologically and sexually, their sexual focus would shift from the clitoris to the vagina.
Clitoral: Freud associated clitoral orgasms with immature or adolescent sexual development. He believed that stimulation of the clitoris, a part of the external genitalia, led to these orgasms and viewed them as a stage typical of early sexual development.
Hypogonadism
Conditioned marked by abnormally low levels of testosterone; men show loss of sexual desire and activity
When given testosterone injections, their sex drives, fantasies, and activities return to former levels
Castration studies for Men
Men who are castrated show decrease in sexual fantasies/desire, as well as capacity to attain erection and ejaculate
Female Sexual Behaviour
In most mammals, females are sexually receptive during estrus (“in heat”) – period of fertility corresponding to ovulation and increases in estrogen
Human female is responsive during all phases of reproductive cycle – even during menstruation, when hormone levels are low
Subtle changes may still occur: body, face, smell, voice
Study found that men find women more attractive when they are ovulating
Female sexual behaviour and the Role of testosterone
Women who have had ovariectomies (no production of female sex hormones), still become sexually aroused
But…women whose ovaries and adrenal glands have been removed (no production of female or male hormones) lose sexual desire
Masters and Johnson’s Four-Phase Sexual Response Cycle
- Excitement
- Plateau
- Orgasmic phase
- Resolution
Kaplan’s three stage model
- Desire
- Excitement
- Orgasm
Basson’s intimacy model (female)
Nonsexual or neutral: A person starts in a baseline state where they are not thinking about or feeling sexual desire.
Sexual arousal for intimacy : ome people experience sexual arousal as a way to seek closeness and connection with a partner.
Sexual arousal for sexual reasons : Others experience arousal primarily for pleasure, release, or excitement
Response to sexual stimulation, which increases arousal and then sexual desire
Issues with Masters and Johnson’s Four-Phase Sexual Response Cycle
The cycle assumes that sexual response progresses in a linear fashion
Desire and arousal often stem from emotional or relational factors, which this model does not address.
The model places significant emphasis on orgasm as the “peak” or goal of sexual activity.
The model is based primarily on heterosexual, cisgender individuals and does not account for the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals or those with different gender identities
The Attraction-Similarity Hypothesis
People tend to develop romantic relationships with those whose level of attractiveness and other traits are similar to their own
Partners tend to resemble us in terms of race, ethnicity, age, etc
The longer partners are together, the more they start to resemble each other
Judgements of Attractiveness
Consensus judgement: These are evaluations of attractiveness that are generally agreed upon by a large group of people
Ex: certain facial features (e.g., symmetry, clear skin) or body proportions (e.g., the golden ratio) are often perceived as universally attractive due to evolutionary, cultural, or societal norms.
Person-specific judgement: These are evaluations of attractiveness that vary from person to person based on individual preferences, experiences, or personal connections
Ex: as someone becomes more familiar to an individual (e.g., through repeated interactions or emotional bonding), their attractiveness can increase, even if they don’t fit traditional standards of beauty
Beauty Standards By Culture
Based on cultural standards of beauty, we will alter ourselves, to be more beautiful
Relative body size often influences judgements of attractiveness, especially for women
Size preferences can be culturally determined
ABC(DE)’s of romantic relationships
- Attraction
- Building
- Continuation
- Deterioration
- Ending
Jealousy
Jealousy is present in all cultures, but is more common in cultures:
Is found in all genders and sexual orientations
Is aroused when we think our relationships are threatened by rivals
The cognition of jealousy in cheating
Jealousy increases when individuals attribute their partners infidelity to internal causes (e.g., clear personal choice)
When infidelity is attributed to external causes (e.g., alcohol use, social pressures), less jealousy is reported
The way we interpret infidelity is based off the causes that are behind the cheating.
Classifying Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation isn’t necessarily expressed in sexual behaviour
- Gay people have staright experiences and straight people have gay experiences
Sexual orientation should be defined by a combination of factors. Sexual orientation is more complex than just who we have sex with
Some people use a typology, classifying it using broad categories
Some people think of it as a continuum or a spectrum, sometimes making categories from the continua but there are still categories along the spectrum
Sexual orientation can be conceptualized based on several factors (Alderson, 2007)
Sexual attraction
Sexual fantasies
Sexual partners
Tendency to fall in love romantically
Self-identification
Sexual Norms
Participants’ perceptions of what most other people similar to themselves in gender/sex and sexuality consider to be okay/not okay in sexual situations (rather than their own attitudes or interests)
E.g: who is acceptable to partner with, how many partners are appropriate, what sexual behaviors are acceptable
What did they find through research about sexual norms?
The found that the norms for in person, porn and fantasy are very different . The norms of fantasy and in person had the smallest amount of overlap.
People perceive sexual fantasy as potentially separate and having their own context specific norms.
When people engage in each of these sexual contexts they do so through distinct normative lenses.
What is erotic plasticity?
In response to various social and cultural factors, people show different levels of sex drive and express sexual desires in different way depending on those factors.
What is the difference in erotic plasticity between men and women?
Women show greater variation in sexual behaviour over time
Women seem to be more responsive to cultural factors (e.g., permissiveness or restraint)
Men sexual behaviour is more consistent with their sexual attitudes than women
What are mens and women erotic plasticity in relation to masturbation?
Men fairly stable, women more variation
What are mens and women erotic plasticity in relation to dating experience?
Women changed sexual standards towards being more permissive as they accumulated dating experience . A man would do anything wether it be the first or fifth date, women are more limited to what they feel comfortable with doing.
What are mens and women erotic plasticity in relation to guilt to acceptance?
More women than men come to accept sexual behaviour that initially made them feel guilty
What are mens and women erotic plasticity in relation to swinging/group sex studies- ?
Women, but not men commenced same sec intercourse under those circumstances (60% vs 12%)
What are mens and women erotic plasticity in relation to level of education?
Higher levels of education associated with delays in starting sexual activity-more so for women. For women higher level of education the older they are when they lost their virginity, for men we do not see a relationship
What is the reason women have more plasticity in relation to sex than men?
Women became socially (sexually) malleable as an adaption to male power. Maybe it has been adaptive that women will change their sexual behaviour depending on what partner they are with since men are stronger and more dominant.
Issues with classifying sexual orientation?
What is meant by sexual orientation?
It is framed around binary ideas of sex and gender (and no other factors)
Why are sex/gender the only factors?
Sexual fluidity? What happens to our sexual orientation when our label changes or our behaviours change
Sexual Configuration Theory
- A way of mapping someone’s sexual life according to a range of factors
- Gender and sex (challenges binary)
- Partner number (challenges motonormativity)
- Level of sexual desire (challenges sexual normativity)
- Kink, sexual dynamics and other traits
What are some other important considerations when classifying someones sexual orientation?
Status: current partners
Orientation: sexual pulls or draws towards other people (or not) e.g., attraction
Identity: the way one defines one’s self , including to others
Past partners, current, and future
Eroticism and nurturance
What are the orgins of conversion therapy?
1899: Albert von Schrenck-Notzing’s bold claim to have turned a gay man straight
He thought with some therapy and a trip to the brothel they could be changed
Eugen Steinach = same sex orientation rooted in a man testicles, led to testicle transplantation
What are the therapies that they used to try someone straight?
Electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomies, hired prostitutes and heterosexual pornography, talk therapy, hypnosis, antidepressives, antipsychotics, role plays
Aversion therapy: chemical to induce vomiting (e.g., when looking at pictures of loved ones), electric shocks while watching porn
