1 of 154
Sexology
“Understanding Human Sexuality”
14th Edition
Chapter 1 - Sexuality in Perspective 2
Chapter 2 - Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality 9
Chapter 3 - Sex Research 18
Chapter 4 - Sexual Anatomy 28
Chapter 5 - Sex Hormones, Sexual Differentiation and the Menstrual Cycle 38
Chapter 8 - Sexual Arousal 48
Chapter 9 - Sexuality and the Life Cycle: Childhood and Adolescence 63
Chapter 10 - Sexuality and the Life Cycle: Adulthood 74
Chapter 12 - Gender and Sexuality 87
Chapter 13 - Sexual Orientation: Gay, Straight or Bi? 98
Chapter 14 - Variations in Sexual Behavior 110
Chapter 15 - Sexual Coercion 120
Chapter 17 - Sexual Disorders and Therapy 129
Chapter 19 - Ethics, Religion, and Sexuality 143
, 2 of 154
Chapter 1 - Sexuality in Perspective
- starts with two quotations that describe sex in different ways
- Why study sex?
- Most of us at various times experience problems with our sexual functioning
- Or wish that we could function better
- Improvement
Sex and Gender
- the word sex is used ambiguously
- Can refer to being male or female, or sexual behavior or reproduction
- Gender = being male, female or some other gender such as trans
- Gender binary = conceptualising gender as having only two categories: male and female
- In this book:
- Sex = sexual anatomy and sexual behavior
- Gender = being male or female or some other gender
- gender and sex influence each other, but are conceptually different
- Gender roles have strong influence on how people behave sexually
- What defines sex?
- Many Americans define only penis-in-vagina intercourse as sex
- Less agreement about whether oral-genital sex counts as sex
- Always depends on the perspective
- biologist perspective: sexual behavior as any behavior that increases the likelihood of gametic
union
- Emphasises the reproductive function
- medical advances allow us to separate reproduction from sex
- Most Americans now not only use sex for reproduction but also recreation
- many definitions assume that sex is heterosexual
- For men, anal intercourse was most likely also seen as sex
- For women it was oral genital sex
- Alfred Kinsey: sex = behavior that leads to orgasm
- Insufficient definition
- sexual behavior = behavior that produces arousal and increases chances of orgasm
The History of Understanding Sexuality: Religion and Science
Religion
, 3 of 154
- at least up until 100 years ago, religion provide most of the information that people had about
sexuality
- Ancient greeks: openly acknowledged both hetero and homo sexuality
- Thought that humans were double creatures with twice the normal number of limbs and
organs; some were double male, some double female and some were half male and half female
- Heterosexuals: splitting of half male half female
- Homosexuals: double male/female
- 15th century Christians: wet dreams (nocturnal emission): results from intercourse with tiny
spiritual creatures called incubi and succubi
- Person who has wet dreams is considered guilty of sodomy
- Muslims have believed that sexual intercourse is one of the finest pleasures of life
- People of different religions hold different understandings of human sexuality
Science
- scientific study of sex began in the 19th century, although of course, religious notions continue to
influence our ideas about sexuality
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
- Discovered sperm swimming in human semen
- Oskar Hertwig (1849-1922)
- First observed the actual fertilisation of the egg by sperm in sea urchins
- major advance: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- Founder of psychiatry and psychoanalysis
- Important to recognises Freud’s cultural context: Victorian Era -> norms about sexuality were
extraordinarily rigid and oppressive, ‘devious and insincere world’
- Great discrepancy between victorian values and the actual behaviour of citizens
- Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)
- Contributor to early scientific study of sex
- Physician in Victorian England
- Compiled vast amounts of information on sexuality
- “Studies in the Psychology of Sex”
- Objective and tolerant scholar: viewed men and women as equally sexual and saw sexual
deviations from norms as harmless and acceptable
- Forerunner of modern sex research
- Richard von Kraft-Ebing (1840-1902)
- Pathological sexuality
- 200 case studies of sexually pathological individuals
- Neither objective nor tolerant
- But lasting impact: sadism, machoism, pedophilia
- Coined terms: hetero and homo sexuality
- Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)
- First sex research institute
, 4 of 154
- First large scale sex surgery, obtaining data from 10000 people
- Established first journal devoted to the study of sex and gave marriages counselling
- Special interest in homosexuality (he was homosexual and transvestite(also coined term))
- 20th century: massive surveys, breakthrough
- Alfred Kinsey, Master and Johnson
- Mead and Malinowski: data on sexuality in other cultures
- Sexology as an interdisciplinary study
The Media
- mass media now same influence as religion in previous centuries
- 11 hours a day with some form of mass media
- Television viewing as main leisure activity
- 20% of TV-scenes entail sexual talk or sexual behavior, 25% joke about sexual organs
- More detailed numbers
- Little talk about risks etc.
- More influenced by mass media than by scientific findings
- Cultivation Theory = in communications theory, the view that exposure to there mass media
makes people think that what they see there represents the mainstream of what really occurs
- Study of Jersey Shore -> correlated with perceived and owns sexual permissiveness
- Framing Theory = the theory that the media draw attention to certain topics and not to others,
suggesting how we should think about or frame the issue
- Bill Clinton vs. John F. Kennedy example
- Social Cognitive Theory = in communications theory, the idea that media provide role models
whom we imitate
- How media influences our behavior, emotions and thoughts
- selectivity = in media theories, the principle that people select and pay attention only to certain
media and ignore others
- People can only be affected by media to which they are exposed
- We do not select media randomly, but according to our pre-existing beliefs
- Reinforcing Spiral Theory = a theory that one’s social identities and ideologies predict one’s
media use and, in turn, media use affects our identity and beliefs
- Differential Susceptibility Model = some people are more susceptible to certain types of media
than others
- internet is powerful mass media influence
- Exposure to sex on internet is growing rapidly
- Potential for both negative and positive consequences on sexual health
- Many children solicited on internet, but education about it improves and prevents worst
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sexuality
- humans are a cultural species
Sexology
“Understanding Human Sexuality”
14th Edition
Chapter 1 - Sexuality in Perspective 2
Chapter 2 - Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality 9
Chapter 3 - Sex Research 18
Chapter 4 - Sexual Anatomy 28
Chapter 5 - Sex Hormones, Sexual Differentiation and the Menstrual Cycle 38
Chapter 8 - Sexual Arousal 48
Chapter 9 - Sexuality and the Life Cycle: Childhood and Adolescence 63
Chapter 10 - Sexuality and the Life Cycle: Adulthood 74
Chapter 12 - Gender and Sexuality 87
Chapter 13 - Sexual Orientation: Gay, Straight or Bi? 98
Chapter 14 - Variations in Sexual Behavior 110
Chapter 15 - Sexual Coercion 120
Chapter 17 - Sexual Disorders and Therapy 129
Chapter 19 - Ethics, Religion, and Sexuality 143
, 2 of 154
Chapter 1 - Sexuality in Perspective
- starts with two quotations that describe sex in different ways
- Why study sex?
- Most of us at various times experience problems with our sexual functioning
- Or wish that we could function better
- Improvement
Sex and Gender
- the word sex is used ambiguously
- Can refer to being male or female, or sexual behavior or reproduction
- Gender = being male, female or some other gender such as trans
- Gender binary = conceptualising gender as having only two categories: male and female
- In this book:
- Sex = sexual anatomy and sexual behavior
- Gender = being male or female or some other gender
- gender and sex influence each other, but are conceptually different
- Gender roles have strong influence on how people behave sexually
- What defines sex?
- Many Americans define only penis-in-vagina intercourse as sex
- Less agreement about whether oral-genital sex counts as sex
- Always depends on the perspective
- biologist perspective: sexual behavior as any behavior that increases the likelihood of gametic
union
- Emphasises the reproductive function
- medical advances allow us to separate reproduction from sex
- Most Americans now not only use sex for reproduction but also recreation
- many definitions assume that sex is heterosexual
- For men, anal intercourse was most likely also seen as sex
- For women it was oral genital sex
- Alfred Kinsey: sex = behavior that leads to orgasm
- Insufficient definition
- sexual behavior = behavior that produces arousal and increases chances of orgasm
The History of Understanding Sexuality: Religion and Science
Religion
, 3 of 154
- at least up until 100 years ago, religion provide most of the information that people had about
sexuality
- Ancient greeks: openly acknowledged both hetero and homo sexuality
- Thought that humans were double creatures with twice the normal number of limbs and
organs; some were double male, some double female and some were half male and half female
- Heterosexuals: splitting of half male half female
- Homosexuals: double male/female
- 15th century Christians: wet dreams (nocturnal emission): results from intercourse with tiny
spiritual creatures called incubi and succubi
- Person who has wet dreams is considered guilty of sodomy
- Muslims have believed that sexual intercourse is one of the finest pleasures of life
- People of different religions hold different understandings of human sexuality
Science
- scientific study of sex began in the 19th century, although of course, religious notions continue to
influence our ideas about sexuality
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
- Discovered sperm swimming in human semen
- Oskar Hertwig (1849-1922)
- First observed the actual fertilisation of the egg by sperm in sea urchins
- major advance: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- Founder of psychiatry and psychoanalysis
- Important to recognises Freud’s cultural context: Victorian Era -> norms about sexuality were
extraordinarily rigid and oppressive, ‘devious and insincere world’
- Great discrepancy between victorian values and the actual behaviour of citizens
- Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)
- Contributor to early scientific study of sex
- Physician in Victorian England
- Compiled vast amounts of information on sexuality
- “Studies in the Psychology of Sex”
- Objective and tolerant scholar: viewed men and women as equally sexual and saw sexual
deviations from norms as harmless and acceptable
- Forerunner of modern sex research
- Richard von Kraft-Ebing (1840-1902)
- Pathological sexuality
- 200 case studies of sexually pathological individuals
- Neither objective nor tolerant
- But lasting impact: sadism, machoism, pedophilia
- Coined terms: hetero and homo sexuality
- Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)
- First sex research institute
, 4 of 154
- First large scale sex surgery, obtaining data from 10000 people
- Established first journal devoted to the study of sex and gave marriages counselling
- Special interest in homosexuality (he was homosexual and transvestite(also coined term))
- 20th century: massive surveys, breakthrough
- Alfred Kinsey, Master and Johnson
- Mead and Malinowski: data on sexuality in other cultures
- Sexology as an interdisciplinary study
The Media
- mass media now same influence as religion in previous centuries
- 11 hours a day with some form of mass media
- Television viewing as main leisure activity
- 20% of TV-scenes entail sexual talk or sexual behavior, 25% joke about sexual organs
- More detailed numbers
- Little talk about risks etc.
- More influenced by mass media than by scientific findings
- Cultivation Theory = in communications theory, the view that exposure to there mass media
makes people think that what they see there represents the mainstream of what really occurs
- Study of Jersey Shore -> correlated with perceived and owns sexual permissiveness
- Framing Theory = the theory that the media draw attention to certain topics and not to others,
suggesting how we should think about or frame the issue
- Bill Clinton vs. John F. Kennedy example
- Social Cognitive Theory = in communications theory, the idea that media provide role models
whom we imitate
- How media influences our behavior, emotions and thoughts
- selectivity = in media theories, the principle that people select and pay attention only to certain
media and ignore others
- People can only be affected by media to which they are exposed
- We do not select media randomly, but according to our pre-existing beliefs
- Reinforcing Spiral Theory = a theory that one’s social identities and ideologies predict one’s
media use and, in turn, media use affects our identity and beliefs
- Differential Susceptibility Model = some people are more susceptible to certain types of media
than others
- internet is powerful mass media influence
- Exposure to sex on internet is growing rapidly
- Potential for both negative and positive consequences on sexual health
- Many children solicited on internet, but education about it improves and prevents worst
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sexuality
- humans are a cultural species
