Week 10 : Readings Flashcards
Textbook sexuality
Objective
- refer to cultural & historical variations in the norms used as the standard against which devience it judges
Textbook sexuality
Subjective
- refer to the processes of social construction
- social processes determine who is socially typed as devient through the process of description, evaluation & perscription
- variations across cultures & times
Textbook sexuality
Elite discourses
- ways of talking & thinking about sexuality that emerge from locations of power in society
- place limits on what kinds of ppl is acceptable to be in a sociohistorical moment
Textbook sexuality
differences in understandings of sex, gender & sexuality in Indigenous vs colonial cultures
- Indigenous percieve range of genders & sexualities as normal & acceptable
- homosexual relationships were acceptable
- ppl who lived outside the colonial binary were often given specialized roles in social structure & associated with power
- ‘two-spirited’
- sexuality itself was unlikely to be stigmatized
Textbook sexuality
Variability in sexuality across indigenous cultures was percieved as problematic…
- however, there was country wives where settlers would sleep with them
- binaries of sex, gender & sexuality were imposed in indigenous cultures through assimilation
- With overt attempts to regulate and control Indigenous sexuality, changes occurred in the sexual cultures of Indigenous societies
- Many adopted the binary and others became desexualized
Textbook Sexuality
Overview of the evolution of sexuality….
- sexuality = reproduction
- sexuality = emotional intimacy in marriage
- sexuality = personal fulfillment
Textbook Sexuality
17th century sexuality
- relations between indigenous women & white men
- ownership of black & indigenoous slaves
- in the US sexuality was chanelled into marriage for reproduction & sex outside marriage unacceptable
- sex controlled by the church, courts, family & community
- the behaviour was viewed as deviant, not the person
- premaritcal pregnancy woukd result in marriage being enforced
Textbook Sexuality
end of 18th century + 19th
- urbanization progressed & ppl were more independent from their extended family & community
- sex based on emotional intimacy in marriage
- medicalization (contracepion, self-control, etc.)
- sex hygeine movement emerged… equated social purity with sexual purity, directed at the lower classes
- racial ideologies infused sexual culture
Textbook Sexuality
20th century
- dominant meaning of sexuality focused on personal fulfillment regardless of marriage
- sexuality continues to be controlled in many areas, including CJS (sexual assault & consent) and the culture industry (sex industry, integration of sexuality into mainstream media)
Textbook Sexuality
Consent
- agreement to participate in a sexual act
- consent is not possible between children & adults (child is not capable of giving consent)
- consent is percieved differently across place & time
- research shows a gap/gray area between legal binaries of consent and young peoples situated experiences
Textbook Sexuality
Canadas age-of-consent laws
- sexual assault… under 16 someone cannot give consent
- sexual interference… sexual touching of a body of someone under 16
- invitation to sexual touching… requesting someone under 16 to sexually touch the accused
- 12-13 no more than 2 years over… 14-15 no more than 5 years older
- bestiality in the presence of a child
- sexual exploitation… sexually toughing someone under 18 if there is a relationship of trust, authority, dependency or exploitation
Textbook Sexuality
Nature of the sexual partner…
- not complete freedom in the choice of a sexual partner in North America
- Legally cant have sexual relations with… age-of-consent, family members, incest, bestiality, someone trust/authority
- buisiness regulation, cant have sexual relations with… profs & students, therapist & client
- informal level… first cousins, student & prof, LGBTQ+
Textbook Sexuality
Nature of the sexual act
- growing sexual freedom this past century has allowed a range of sex acts to be more acceptable
- our sexual culture has come to be infused with privacy
Textbook Sexuality
Exotic dancing - deviance dance
- Individual level… interactiosn w/dancers & customers, dancers create boundaries, looking-glass self, women more objectified than men dancers
- organizational level… rules of establishments allows dancers to control customers & raise income by supplying forbidden behaviour
- Institutional level… industry affected by competing interests, structure of capitalism & by cultural ideals of female beauty
- McDonaldization of society… efficieny (effient use of their time), predictability (product specification, standard of beauty in hiring), control (beauty enhanced & enforced) & calculability (dancers song selection & timing)
Textbook Sexuality
Porn - deviance dance
- functional definition… anything used by individual for sexual arousal
- genre definition… products created for the purpose of arousing the consumer
- labelling definition… focus on community standard, anything community memebrs deem obscene
- child pornography is considerably clearer
- foundations of public demayes over harm come from academic research that looks at effects of media on consumers
- consumption of porn is associated with more permissive sexual attitudes & more traditional gender role attitudes
Textbook Sexuality
Prostitution - deviance dance
- most debates are about social policy
- moral weakness frist placed on prostitutes but shifted to the men who seduced unsuspecting women… so they used relgious intervention
- ‘oppression paradigm’… prostitution = male violence against women
- prostitution is legal… but obtaining it isnt, so sex workers have been placed in unsafe work conditions, prevented from taking measure to improve thier safety
- scholars propose that both views (prostitution as victimization vs as work) fial to recognize intersectionality
Voices and Perspectives in Sex Work
Introduction
- Decriminalizing sex work improves safety, health, and autonomy for sex workers.
- UN emphasizes negative impact of criminalizing laws on women’s well-being.
Voices and Perspectives in Sex Work
PCEPA (Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act):
- Outlaws various aspects of sex work.
- Allocates $20 million fund for exiting sex work.
Voices and Perspectives in Sex Work
Issues with PCEPA:
- Leaves sex workers in a precarious situation.
- Critics argue laws perpetuate stigma and have little impact on safety.
Voices and Perspectives in Sex Work
Occupational Safety and Rights:
- Current laws hinder screening and service enforcement.
- Desire for recognition of sex work as a legitimate job.
Voices and Perspectives in Sex Work
Access to Services:
- Criminalization hinders access to protective and health services.
- Funding limits support from sex worker-led organizations.
- Advocacy for decriminalization and one-stop centers without discrimination.
Voices and Perspectives in sex work
Recommendations:
- Decriminalization for improved health, safety, and rights.
- Recognition of sex work as a legitimate job.
- Economic equality and living wage.
- Access to non-judgmental services.
- Involvement of sex workers in policy planning.