Unit 1 - Historical Perspectives Flashcards
What is the biggest factor shaping ideas about sexuality?
Religion
What are 3 biases when examining other periods and cultures?
- Class
- Sexism
- Education
Define “ethnocentrism”
The belief that the behaviour of our own ethnic groups IS THE NORM
- This heavily influences our opinions about sexuality
Summarize views on sex in the PREHISTORIC PERIOD
- Worship women’s ability to bear children
- Celebrate fertility (imagery, artwork, artefacts, genitalia)
- Phallic worship once discovered semen was needed for pregnancy
Summarize views on sex in ANCIENT HEBREWS
- Procreation and pleasure
- Polygamy allowed (MEN ONLY)
- Wife = property
- Extramarital and homosexuality = condemned
Summarize views on sex in ANCIENT GREECE
- Exploration of orientations
- Cultural acceptance of: homosexuality, bisexuality, pederasty, prostitution
- Women = lower social status overall
Greek myth about sex
Humans = devil creatures.
So powerful that the Gods feared humans and split them up.
Gave idea that humans are always searching for the other half which might be male OR female
Summarize views on sex in ANCIENT ROME
- Bisexuality among ONLY men = common (frowned upon for women)
- Orgies!!! for days!!! (thnx Caligula)
- Women = property, low status
Summarize views on sex for MUSLIMS
- Sex = finest pleasure (teachings of Muhammad)
- Premarital, polygamy, celibacy = frowned
DOUBLE STANDARD:
- men can have many wives, women only have 1 husband
Define pederasty
Greek men take adolescent men as lover/pupil, training for sex
Summarize views on sex for TAOISTS
Semen = life force energy (men should not spill their seed)
- First sex manual
- Masturbation = only for women
Summarize views on sex for HINDUS
- Sex = virtuous and natural, celebrated within marriage
- Seen as religious duty
- Restrictive after 1,000AD
(colonialism made Hinduism more conservative)
Summarize views on sex for EARLY CHRISTIANS (400AD)
- Procreation ONLY (not passion) (procreation of the christ)
- Virginity = important
- Masturbation, oral/genital contact, prostitution = negative
What was outlined in St. Augustine’s Confessions? (397-400AD)
RESTRICTIVE IDEAS
- Struggle/regrets about living life of sin (sexual relationships)
- Suggested missionary = only acceptable way to engage in sex
Summarize views on sex in the MIDDLE AGES (500-1500AD)
Ideas re: witchcraft
- Wet dreams (nocturnal emissions) = sex with tiny spirits
- Sexual dysfunction = witchcraft
Summarize views on sex during the PROTESTANT REFORMATION (1517-1648)
MLK splits from Roman Catholic Church
- Believed in divorce, marriage for priests, importance of sex
- Extramarital = still sinful
Summarize views on sex for the VICTORIAN ERA
EXTREME REPRESSION
- Procreation only
- Men advised by physicians to not have sex often
- Chastity belts era
What were Dr. Clelia Mosher’s research findings from the Victorian Era
Challenged many stereotypes
- Research found that women enjoyed sex (goes against what was thought during this era)
Important events during the sexual revolution?
Social upheaval in science, music, art, fashion
- Introduction of THE PILL
- Gay rights / activism
What plays a similar role to religion today?
Media
Types of influences in media (3)
- Cultivation
- People begin to think that what they see in the media represents how things happen IRL - Agenda setting
- Algorithms, news reports, and social media select what we see and ignore
- Sets message for what is and isn’t important - Social learning
- Characters we see represent models for how we should act
CONCLUSIONS
- All societies regulate sex
- Different societies accept different behaviours/attitudes (nothing stagnant)
- Differences across regions (groups are not homogenous)
Importance of Freud (1856-1939)
- Talking about sex during Victorian period (highly repressed)
- Psychodynamic theory: explores how earlier experiences inform current behaviour
Freud major contributions (3)
- Libido (life force energy)
- Psychosexual stages theory (oral, anal, phallic)
- Revolutionary ideas during time of sexual repression
Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) (nice guy)
- First major publication in sex (Studies in the Psychology of Sex)
- used to increase understanding - First to write compassionately about homosexuality
- Wrote about transgenderism (called sexo-aesthetic, then eonism)
- Ideas regarding transgenderism attributed to over-identification with the admired object (ie: women)
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) (german)
- Interest in sexual disorders
- German psychiatrist
- Non-procreative sex = perversion
4 categories of “sexual perversions”
- Paradoxia (sexual response at the wrong time in life)
- Anesthesia (insufficient sexual desire)
- Hyperesthesia (excessive)
- Paraesthesia (sexual desire for the wrong goal or object)
Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) first!
- Founder of the first sex research institute
- Administered the first large-scale sex survey
- First journal
- Marital counselling
Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956)
- 10% men r gay (not rly)
FAMOUS FOR LARGE SEX SURVEYS
Developed 7-point scale to look at sex on a spectrum (rejected 3 categorization hetero/bi/homo)
1 (same sex) – 7 (oppostite)
- survey results:
–extramarital sex = common
–women multiple orgasms
William Masters (1915-2001) and Virginia Johnson (1925-2013)
First to look at physiological sexual response in men and Women
- directly observed sexual acts
- established a lot of our framework for understanding sexuality from a physical standpoint
4-phase model of sexual response (EPOR)
- Excitement phase
- Plateau phase
- Orgasm
- Resolution phase
Biases in studying culture (2)
- Hawthorne
2.Ethnocentrism
Main method studying culture
Participant observation
Sexual frequency variations
Lowest = island off the coast of Ireland
Highest = Island in pacific
Kissing in Africa?
87% of cultures say = NOT COMMON
Why is genital mutilation practiced in Egyptian culture?
Prevent pleasure / sexuality
What is the second biggest taboo after incest across cultures?
Extramarital sex
Does same-sex sexual activity always occur in all cultures?
YES! But never predominant
Similarities between CA and US?
- 25% have had a threesome
- 50% have had a 1 night stand
- Women have a similar average number (9-10) of sexual partners (more than men)
Differences between CA and US?
CA:
- more sex outdoors
- women allowed topless (‘96)
US:
- teens 2x likely to get preggo
What affects sex norms? (4)
AGE
SES
ETHNICITY
GENDER (women = more liberal)
Avg number of partners in Canada (lifetime)
12
What were tiny sex creatures called in the Middle Ages?
incubi and succubi
Who was an objective scholar and believed women (like men) were sexual creatures?
NICE GUY henry havelock ellis
Who wrote psychopathia sexualis?
Richard von karfft-ebbing
- incl. 200 case studies of “pathological” individuals
What concepts did richard von create?
sadism, masochism, pedophilia
heterosexuality and homosexuality after translation of his book (1892)
What is a universal taboo?
Incest
How do Chinese Canadians express themselves sexually?
Typically a combination of mainstream and heritage acculturation
How is masturbation viewed cross-culturally?
Almost all human societies express some disapproval of adult masturbation, ranging from mild ridicule to severe punishment
Who practices masturbation?
MOST adults in MOST societies, SOME adults in ALL societies
How many cultures forbid extramarital sex?
74%
when permitted = regulated. most common to be tolerable for only MEN
Which countries have the most + viewpoint towards queerness?
Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden
Which countries have the most - viewpoint towards queerness?
Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Russia
How are humans unique sexually?
Environmental influences are more important in shaping sexual behaviour in primates (especially humans)
What happens if mice are reared alone?
Nada
Estrus meaning
Female mammals in heat
