Marriage and Sex- Textbook Flashcards
Where is human sexuality rooted?
In our biological nature, but it is also a cultural construct.
What is homosexuality?
Sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex.
What is sexual orientation?
The biological and psychological makeup of an individual
What is sexual identity?
The identity a person takes based on his or her sexual preferences.
True or False: In may cultures, both in the past and in the present, homosexual behaviour is viewed as natural and is even expected?
True
What are three examples of cultures where homosexuality is accepted and practiced?
In ancient Greece and Rome, homosexuality was considered socially acceptable behaviour, as it is today in Papua New Guinea, where young men undergo initiation rites that include an element of homosexuality.
Describe homosexual behaviour between Sambia males in Papua New Guinea.
This same-sex behaviour lasted only until the male married and women and produced children. These partnerships were not for life.
- these rituals are referred to as “boy-inseminatio”
- semen was believed to give the boys strength and warrior prowess and to help them grow into masculine, adult males
What are the “two-spirited” people?
Sexual identities of some men and women are ambiguous, fitting into neither the female nor the male gender.
- Two-Spirits and a dream, legitimize their choice to become another gender.
- Fulfilled important social, religious, and economic roles.
- enjoyed a special status in their community
What are the 19th Century Chinese sisterhood in the province of Guangdong?
- involved thousands of women, who entered into sexual relations with other women and who vowed before their goddess never to marry a man
- served as support networks, whose members lived in cooperate houses.
- following the victory of the Red Army in 1949, the sisterhoods were banned and many of the women fled to other countries.
What is the difference between “permissive” cultures and “restrictive” cultures?
“Permissive” cultures tend to view same-sex relationships with more tolerance than “restrictive” cultures.
A 1951 study:___cultures, found that___% recognized male homosexual activity as normal and socially acceptable.
- 76
- 64
What are two major trends western social scientists have noticed with sex?
1) more people are entering into sexual relationships outside marriage
2) women are gaining greater control over their sexual lives
What is marriage?
The social institution under which a man and woman, or partners of the same gender, live as husband and wife by legal commitments and establish a claim to sexual access to each other.
What percent of societies prohibit all sexual involvement outside marriage?
about 5%
What are the 3 Nayar transaction?
1) tail-tying ceremony: shortly before a girl experienced her first menstrual cycle, joined the girl with a young man in an temporary union for a few ays. This transaction stablished the girl’s eligibility for sexual activity with mender household approved of, and she officially became an adult
2) Occurs when a woman enters into a continuing sexual liaison with an approved man. Man had to present her with gifts 3 times each year.. Clearly specified who had sexual rights to whom so as to avoid conflict .
3) When a women becomes pregnant, a man would formally acknowledge paternity. He did this by making gifts to the woman and the midwife. The child’s education and support were the responsibility of the child’s mother’s brothers, with whom the child and the mother lived. This transaction established the child’s legitimacy
What are affinal kin?
relatives by marriage.
Is anything about the Nayar culture comparable to the North American Family
no
What is a Nayar household composed of?
The group that forms the household does not include affinal kin, or individuals joined in a conjugal bond established y marriage. Among the Nayar, the household is composed wholly of what we often call “blood “ relatives, technically known as consanguineal kin.
What is a conjugal bond?
The bond between a man and a woman who are married.
What is consanguineal kin?
Relatives by birth – that is, “blood” relatives.
What is the incest taboo?
The prohibition of sexual relations between specified individuals,usually parent-child and inter sibling relations at a minimum.
True or False: It has been documented that human beings raised together have less sexual attraction for one another.
True
What is the instinct explanation?
Sometimes known as “familiarity breeds contempt,” this explanation suggests that long-term association with family members discourages sexual interest.
What is female circumcision?
The removal of all or part of a female’s genitalia for religious, traditional, or socioeconomic reasons
What is psychoanalytical explanation?
Incest taboos are an attempt by offspring to repress their sexual feelings toward their parents of the opposite gender.
What is the genetic explanation?
Inbreeding is forbidden because cultural groups recognize the potential for impaired offspring.
Is it true that inbreeding can increase desired characteristics?
yes
It is true that undesirable effects show up sooner with inbreeding?
yes
What would happen without genetic diversity (the incest taboo)?
A preference for a genetically different mate does tend qomaintaina higher level of genetic diversity within a population, and in evolution this generally works to a species’ advantage. Without genetic diversity, a species cannot adapt biologically to a changing environment when and if this becomes necessary.
What is the social explanation?
Sometimes known as the “peace in the family” theory , this explanation suggests that competition overrates would interfere with normal family factious, such as acquiring adequate food resources.
What type of marriage was preferred in Roma Egypt?
brother-sister marriages.
What is endogamy?
Marriage within a particular group or category of individuals
True or false: for millions of years our ancestors, living in small groups, practiced exogamy, that is, marriage outside the group.
True
Why did our ancestors practice exogamy?
In order to establish alliances and, perhaps, in recognition of the possible harmful effects of interbreeding.
In a sample of 129 societies,___had specific rules against parent-child or sibling incest. ___that number,___, had explicit rules to control activity with cousins, in-laws, or both.
- 57
- twice
- 114
