TAKEN SEXUALITY
TASK 1. WHAT IS SEXUALITY?
1. WHAT IS SEXUALITY?
CHAPTER 10 BOOK
Sexuality= a person's identity in relation to the gender or genders to which they are typically attracted;
sexual orientation.
Components of sexuality
- Arousability
- Desire
- Attraction
- stimuli
Fantasy is a common mode of sexual arousal
,Fantasy= An imagined experience sexual or otherwise.
Sexual fantasy= imagined sexual experiences during waking hours—is a route by which internal mental
processes promote sexual arousal.
people who place a positive value on fantasy are more sexually assertive (asking for sex, requesting
contraceptive use, and refusing unwanted seks) than those who feel bad about such fantasies
Arousal occurs in response to a partner
Being with an actual or potential sex partner in real life is a potent trigger to arousal, especially if that
person is judged sexually attractive.
brain regions involved in sexual arousal:
- the cerebral cortex the anterior cingulate cortex lights up when people who are in love simply
view a photo of their beloved (also when given euphoria-inducing drugs such as cocaine) Thus, it
seems to be involved in the processing of “happy” states.
sexual arousal appears to operate in a more specific manner in men than in women
men: aroused (psychologically and genitally) by erotic images that are appropriate to their sexual
orientation; that is, straight men are aroused by images of women, and gay men are aroused by images of
men.
women: aroused about equally by erotic images of women and men, although bisexual and lesbian
women usually experience more arousal to images of women than of men.
1. HOW DO DIFFERENT GENDERS EXPERIENCE SEXUALITY? (FLUIDITY IN WOMEN)
Book
Asexual women and men do not experience sexual attraction
Sexual orientation= defined as the predisposition to experience sexual attraction to one sex or the other,
or to both or neither most dramatic example of an internal trait influencing sexual attraction.
Asexual= For reasons unknown, a small number of people experience no (or very little) sexual attraction
over their entire lifetime. These asexual men and women may still expe- rience romantic attraction in the
sense of desiring psychological intimacy with a specific partner, but they do not desire to express that
intimacy in physical sex.
Lays in the interpersonal aspect of sexual desire. There are some indications that asexuality may have a
biological basis
Demisexual= Some individuals do not usually experience sexual attraction, but may do so toward persons
with whom they have established a romantic relationship.
,Women
Men
, Gender differences
2. WHAT ARE THE BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES ON SEXUALITY?
Peter J, & Valkenburg PM. (2016). Adolescents and Pornography: A Review of 20 Years of Research.
Journal ofSex Research, 53, 509-31:
Theories researchers used:
the media practice model (e.g., Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Peter & Valkenburg, 2006a; Vandenbosch
& Eggermont, 2013b),
the sexual behavior sequence (Chen et al., 2013; Peter & Valkenburg, 2008a, 2009a; To et al.,
2012),
social cognitive theory (Peter & Valkenburg, 2011b, 2011c; Ybarra, Mitchell, Hamburger, Diener-
West, & Leaf, 2011),
the theory of reasoned action (Hardy, Steelman, Coyne, & Ridge, 2013),
social bonding theory,
uses and gratification theory (Mesch, 2009; Mesch & Maman, 2009),
the hedonic-valence model (Peter & Valkenburg, 2008a),