1. Studying Human Sexuality

2.  The sex information/advice genre seeks to:
 Inform—transmit information that is factual and accurate
 Entertain—attract audiences through hosts’ personalities
as well as high-interest or bizarre material
 Often includes moral judgments
 Use social science and psychiatry to give authority

3.  Popular media may summarize social science
research in an oversimplified or distorted manner
 Sensationalize findings
 Over generalize results of research
 Report statistics that agree with widely-held
preconceptions
 Popular media may not emphasize the importance
of replication

4.  Basic scientific principles require a commitment to
objectivity
 observation of reality while excluding researchers’
feelings or beliefs
 Subjectivity is to be avoided
 Difficult to achieve especially in the area of sexuality
 Sexuality can bring out powerful emotions and moral
ambivalence

5.  Do not tell us what motivates people
 Do not tell us how frequently people behave in a
given way
 Do not tell us how people feel
 Only tell us how we ourselves feel
 Value judgments cannot be empirically evaluated
 Value judgments imply how a person ought to
behave
 Value judgments only reveal the thoughts or
feelings of one person

6.  Objectivity describes reality
 Objective positions can be tested
 Cultural relativity requires that we examine
appropriateness within the cultural norms where it
exists
 Objective statements describe how people actually
behave
 Objective statements can be empirically evaluated

7.  Opinions are unsubstantiated beliefs or
conclusions according to an individual’s
personal thoughts
 Biases are personal leanings or inclinations
 Stereotypes are sets of overgeneralized
beliefs about an individual, a group, or an
idea, etc.

8.  A schema is a way of organizing
information which often underlies
stereotypes
 Sexual stereotyping is often used to
justify discrimination or social groups
 Women
 Poor people
 African Americans, Latino/as, Asian Americans
 Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender
people

9.  Stereotypes structure our knowledge by
shaping:
 What we see
 What we notice
 What we remember
 How we explain things

10.  Attitude: a predisposition a person has to act,
think, or feel in certain ways
 Behavior: the way a person acts
 Behavior does not predict attitude and vice versa
 Frequent discrepancies exist between the two on
individual and cultural levels which can result in
confusion

11.  Often occur in our consideration of different ethnic groups
 Transmitted from one generation to another
 Prevent understanding from a culturally relative position
 Fallacy: an error in reasoning that affects our understanding
of a subject
 Egocentric fallacy: the belief that our own personal
experience and values are generally held by others
 Ethnocentric fallacy: the belief that one’s own ethnic
group, nation, or culture’s values and customs are
innately superior to others’

12.  Scientific Method: the method by which a
hypothesis is formed from impartially
gathered data and tested empirically.
 Induction: drawing a general conclusion from
specific facts
 Seeks to describe the world rather than to
evaluate or judge it

13.  Ethical
 Concerns use of human beings as subjects of
research
 Methodological
 Concerns center on information-gathering
techniques and accuracy
 A representative sample of people is necessary
to draw accurate conclusions

14.  Informed consent
 Fulldisclosure of purpose, risk, benefits
 Agreement to participate may be withdrawn
 Protection from harm
 Emotional distress must be avoided
 Identity of subjects must be confidential

15.  Sample: a portion of a larger group of people
are observed or studied
 Inferences are made to the larger group
 Good samples are:
Random
Representative
Unbiased

16.  Depend on volunteers or clients
 Takes place at universities or colleges with
student volunteers
 Some ethnic groups are underrepresented
 Gay men, lesbian women, bisexual and
transgendered people may not be publicly
identified

17.  An in-depth examination of an individual or
group that comes to a specialist for
assistance with disorders and problems
 Limited by an emphasis on pathological
behavior
 Shaped by cultural definitions of what is
pathological

18.  Questionnaires
 Administered quickly
 Forced choice allows many formats
 Interviews
 Allow more information to be gathered
 Allow subjects to guide topics
 Sexual diaries
 Collect richer information
 May work well with some subjects but not all

19.  Subjects may report self behavior with bias
 Interviewers may collect information with a bias
 Subjects may be embarrassed in an interview
 Accuracy of subjects’ memory fades as time
passes
 Difficult for subjects to accurately estimate factors
such as how long sexual encounters last

20.  The researcher unobtrusively observes and
makes notes about people’s behavior
 Serious ethical issues in observing sexual
behavior without subjects’ knowledge or
consent
 Known observation generally affects
behavior

21.  The researcher participates in the behaviors
which she or he is studying
 Used frequently by anthropologists
 Is sex research controversial because it
compromises objectivity?

22.  The systematic manipulation variables to
examine the effect on behavior
 Independent variables: factors that can be
manipulated and changed by the experimenter
 Dependent variables: factors that are likely to be
affected by changes in the independent variable

23.  Examine effect of various amounts of alcohol
on sexual arousal
 Alcohol—independentvariable
 Plethysmograph measurement of arousal—
dependent variable
 Causal effect demonstrated

24.  In 19th century, Western sexuality began to be studied
from a scientific framework
 Fascinated with “pathologies” of sex: fetishism,
sadism, masturbation, homosexuality
 Since that time, a liberalizing trend in our thinking about
sexuality
 20th century researchers viewed sexuality more positively Three
themes evident in later 20th century sex researchers’ work:
 Belief that sexual expression is essential to an
individual’s well being
 Desire to broaden the range of legitimate sexual activity,
including homosexuality
 Belief that female sexuality is equal to male sexuality

25.  Psychopathia Sexualis (1886):
 A collection of the case histories of fetishists,
sadists, masochists, and homosexuals
 Invented term sado-masochism and transvestite
 Attributed variations in Victorian sexuality to
“hereditary taint,” “moral degeneracy,” and
masturbation
 Brought public attention to sexual behaviors that
had never been documented

26.  Dramatically impacted Western ideas
 Sexuality begins at birth with five-stage
development:
 Oral stage (birth to 1 year)
 Anal stage (age 1-3)
 Phallic stage (age 3-5)
 Latency stage (age 6-puberty)
 Genital stage (puberty onward)

27.  Oedipal Complex: Boy develops sexual desires for
mother and fears father
 Castration anxiety: Fears his father will cut off his
penis: castration anxiety
 Electra complex: Girl develops sexual desire for
father and fears mother
 Penis envy: Girls never acquire the “lost penis” and
therefore fail to develop an independent character
like that of boys
 By age 6, boys and girls resolve their complexes by
relinquishing their desires for their parents and
identifying with their same-sex parent

28.  Freud was pioneering in commitment to science
and explorations of the unconscious
 Over the past generation, his influence among
American sex researchers has dwindled
 Lack of empiricism
 Inadequate description of female development
 Questions of relevance to contemporary society
 In the field of sex research, his work is now
primarily of historical interest

29.  One of the first modern affirmers of sexuality
 Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897-1910)
 Pointed out the relativity of sexual values
 Appealed to case studies as well as studies in
animal behavior, anthropology, and history
 Challenged view that masturbation was
abnormal
 Documented existence of women’s sexual
desires
 Reevaluated homosexuality as a congenital
condition

30.  The Kinsey Reports
 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)
 Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)
 Statistical
documentation of American sexual behavior
 Showed a significant discrepancy between public
standards and actual standards of sexual behavior

31.  Sexual Diversity and Variation
 Extraordinary diversity in behaviors of subjects
 Many subjects (e.g. 50% of men 28% of
women) had sexual experiences with members
of the same-sex
 1 male participant had an ejaculated 1 time in
30 years vs. another who had 30 ejaculation on
average per week
 Reevaluation of Masturbation
 Important for women
 Harmless
 Pleasurable

32.  Same sex behavior
 Labels of “heterosexual” and
“homosexual” were inadequate ways of
understanding sexual behavior
 Devised the “Kinsey Scale”
 Rejection of normal/abnormal dichotomy
 Sexual differences are a matter of degree,
not kind
 Became an advocate of the tolerance
 Decline of society

33. Kinsey’s Scale from 0 to 6

34.  Statistical methodology: unrepresentative
sampling
 Emphasis on quantification of sexual
behavior
 Rejection of the psychological dimension
(reducing behavior to genital activity)

35.  Human Sexual Response (1966)
 Detailed the sexual response cycles of
hundreds of male and female research
subjects
 Combined clinical observation with direct
measurement of genital arousal using
electronic devices

36.  Similarity of male and female sexual
responses
 Women achieve orgasms via clitoral
stimulation
 Legitimized female masturbation

37.  Human Sexual Inadequacy (1970)
 Argued that sexual problems were not the result
of neuroses or personality disorders
 Rather, lack of information, poor communication,
or relationship conflict contributed
 Used behavioral therapy to treat sexual
problems with great success

38.  Several large, national, or multi-site sexuality
related studies have recently been conducted
 The National Health and Social Life Survey (1994)
 The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (biannual)
 The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (annual)
 The National Survey of Family Growth (periodic)
 College Alcohol Study (every few years)
 Community Intervention Trial for Youth Project

39.  Large scale national sexuality related
studies
 Smaller scale studies
 Difficulties due to political and social
climate
 Restricted funding

40.  Americans are largely monogamous
 On average, Americans have sex about once
a week
 Adultery is the exception, not the rule
 Most Americans rank vaginal intercourse as
most preferred activity followed by watching
partner undress and then oral sex

41.  Homosexuality less prevalent than originally
believed (2.8% males and 1.4% female)
 Orgasms appear to be the rule for men and
the exception for women (29%)
 Forced sex and the misperception of it
remain critical problems 22% of women
reported feeling forced vs 3% of males who
reported forcing acts
 3% of Americans claim never to have had
sex

42.  A majority of Americans report experiencing a great
deal of diverse sexual activity
 A small percentage of Americans report
experiencing homosexual activity
 American men report more partners then women
 A large group of Americans do not report using
condoms in the last year

43.  Almost half report having had sexual intercourse
 Few report having had sexual intercourse with four
or more partners
 Over half report using a condom during their last
sexual intercourse
 One fourth report of sexually active students report
using alcohol or drugs during most recent sexual
experience

44.  Majority report a new sex partner in the last year
 Half report experiencing oral sex within the last
month
 Half report experiencing vaginal sex within the last
month
 7% of men and 4.5% reported anal sex
 Students do not routinely use condoms
 Birth control pills and condoms are the most
commonly used contraceptive
 10.7 reported using the morning after pill

45.  Feminist scholarship
 Focus on gender issues
 Examines distribution of power in sexual
relationships
 Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
 Focuson personal experience
 Examines social and psychological components

46.  Gender is significant
 Female experience devalued
 Power is critical in relationships
 Different methodologies must be
incorporated
 Ethnic diversity must be addressed

47.  Ulriches- born Urnings, feminine
 Kertbeny- created hetero-homosexual, “manly”
 Hirschfeld-result of hormones, popularized term
homosexuality, 1st gay rights group
 Hooker- no difference in personality
 Foucault- society creates sexuality
 APA 1973 removal of homosexuality as disorder
 APA 1997 reparative therapy does not work

48.  Expanded definitions of sexuality
 Intervention based research
 Accepting and positive representation of
sexuality

49.  Global perspective
 Inclusion of other fields of scientific study

50.  Researchers have begun to recognize
differences among ethnic groups
 Related factors: socioeconomic status,
environment, methodology, researcher’s
stereotypes

51.  Sexual stereotypes
 Socioeconomic status
 Racism
 Black subcultures

52.  Sexual stereotypes
 Traditional cultures
 Catholicism
 Acculturation

53.  Increase in population
 Collectivist culture
 Immigration
 Sexual stereotypes