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Lecture notes Youth & Sexuality
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LECTURES YOUTH & SEXUALITYLECTURE 1a Introduction & historical overview
Age group of youth:
- Children/teens 0-18
- Adolescents 12-25
- Young (almost-)adults 16-30
In this course mainly focused on adolescents.
What concepts are we talking about?
- Sex or sexuality
Acts of having
sex, intercourse,
kissing.
- Sex (‘sekse’) and
gender
Biological
characteristics
- Sexology
Scientific study
of sexuality.
Clinical sex therapy, treatment of sex dysfunctions
- Sexual health
Dealing with sexual risks (SRHR)
Sexual dysfunctions/ sexual violence/ healthy sex (pleasure-
based).
Definition of sex depends on how you define it. Some people say kissing
etc. is also sex.
WHO working definition of sexuality:
- “… a central aspect of being human throughout life encompasses
sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism,
pleasure, intimacy and reproduction.
- Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies,
desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and
relationships.
- While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them
are always experienced of expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the
interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political,
cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.”
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,The modern study of sexuality – an (ultrashort) overview
First scientific developments 1900-1940
- From religious-moral to medical-psychiatric
- First steps of moving away from LGBT as disease, immoral or a crime
Alfred Kinsey (US, 1894-1956), Pioneer of sex research
- Revolutionary: he moved the field from medical to multiple
disciplines (biology, sociology, etc.)
- Taxonomy of human sexual behaviours (including paedophilia):
describing the full spectrum of observable sexual behaviour, without
moral claims about right/wrong
- Introduced scale to ‘measure’ level of homosexuality
- Controversial in his time: revelations about masturbation, orgasm,
premarital sex, homosexuality, differences and similarities between
men and women, and more
John Money (New Zealand, 1921-2006), psychologist, sexologist
- Ground-breaking clinical empirical studies on gender identity
development among intersex children
- Introduced the term ‘gender’ (1955): all those things that a person
says or does to disclose himself or herself as having the status of
man or woman.
It includes, but is not restricted to, sexuality in the sense of
eroticism.
Masters & Johnson, sexual liberation 60s
- 1966: ‘discovery’ of the human sexual response cycle
2
, Stage 1: excitement
Stage 2: plateau
Stage 3: orgasm
Stage 4: resolution
- A natural physiological process, can be
blocked by psychological inhibitions
- Controversial methods: observing people
having sex (hiring prostitutes)
- Layed foundations for behavioural therapy
of sexual dysfunctions
Described stages and these layed
foundations
The 70’s
- Emergence of social-constructivist perspectives
Became a more social concept
- Dismissal of the Freudian ide of ‘sexual instinct’
- Growing attention for sexual violence, sexual equality (m/f)
- Sexuality = product of societal regulation, norms, meaning, and the
freedom/ right to express themselves
- Sexual behaviour = social behaviour
Sensitive for interpersonal and intra-psychological cultural
scripts
1974: removal of homosexuality from the DSM
- After heated debate, 58% of 10.000 APA psychiatrists voted that
homosexuality if no longer a ‘mental disorder’
- Increased awareness:
What is normal and what is abnormal?
What is sexual ‘deviance’ of ‘variation’?
1998-2005: ‘discovery’ of the full anatomy of the clitoris
Ellen Laan (1962-2021)
- Ground-breaking research into female sexual arousal
- Psychologist/sexologist/professor/founder of sexual wellbeing
Nederland
Some myths maintain sexual inequalities between heterosexual
cisgender men/women
1. Men are from Mars, women from Venus
Of 30 sexual behaviours, only 4 moderate differences
(masturbation frequency, use of pornography, number of sex
partners and attitudes about casual sex), and 80,26% overlap
2. Penis and vagina are important for reproduction and therefore for
sexual pleasure
Penis-in-vagina sex does not facilitate women’s orgasms
3
, Sexual inequality observations:
#1: orgasm gap
- We do know that lesbian women have a much higher percentage of
orgasm than heterosexual women.
#2: sexual pain
- About 10% of women always have pain during intercourse, in men
this is rare.
- Over 50% of young women in NL says they sometimes have pain.
It’s not normal to experience pain!
- The expectation of pain impairs arousal more pain
Creates a vicious cycle of pain and lower arousal
#3: sexual coercion & sexual violence
- Percentages vary in research, but in general, there is a large gap in
victimisation (and perpetration) of sexual violence between girls and
boys.
- Sex under 25 (2023):
#metoo 66% of girls vs. 29% of boys
Forced to have sex 20% of girls vs. 4% of boys
- For LGBT+ these numbers are often even higher
- Sexual violence is more common among women
Women’s expression of sexual behaviour is more susceptible to moral
disapproval by other than those of men stigma and safety
Sexual similarity observations
- Men and women are similar in the capacity to experience sexual
pleasure
Responsivity to sexual stimuli
Sexual desire
Sex drive/hormones (no, men aren’t always in the mood…)
But: in heterosexual relationships, men and women have different
opportunities for sexual pleasure
- Gendered scripts (penis-in-vagina sex does not facilitate women’s
orgasms)
- This impacts the expectation of pleasure, which in turn may impact
sexual response.
- The way our bodies are build (the vagina is more on the inside)
Toward sexual equality
- A prioritisation of pleasure for all health benefits
- Diversity / inclusion reduce impact of gendered scripts
- Discourse of similarity instead of differences
Focus more on similarities instead of differences
“Sex should not refer to a particular act, but to an experience: a sexually
pleasurable experience that is affectionately shared by equal individuals.”
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