Book summary sexology
Chapter 1 – Sexuality in perspective
Word sex used in different ways, sometimes refers to being male or female, other times
refers to sexual behavior or reproduction meaning becomes clear from context.
To reduce use the word gender.
- Gender binary: idea that there are only two genders, male and female.
Until at least 100 year ago religion provided most information for people about sexuality.
Ancient Greeks openly acknowledged hetero- and homosexuality.
Fifteenth-century Christians believed wet dreams resulted from intercourse with spiritual
creatures (incubi/succubi) guilty of sodomy and witchcraft.
Muslims believed sexual intercourse to be one of the finest pleasures of life but ways that
laws of Koran carried out varies.
Scientific study of sex began in 19th century, but religious notions continue to influence ideas
about sexuality.
Important physicians and biologists:
- Anton van Leeuwenhoek: discovered sperm swimming in human semen.
- Oskar Hertwig: first observed actual fertilization of egg by sperm in sea urchins (but
ovum not directly observed until 20th century).
- Sigmund Freud: founder of psychiatry and psychoanalysis research and theories
caused for tension.
- Henry Havelock Ellis: physician, compiled a collection of information on sexuality
objective and tolerant scholar. Believed that women are sexual creatures, sexual
deviations from the norm are harmless, and society should accept them (forerunner
of modern sex research).
- Richard von Krafft-Ebing: collected more than 200 case histories of pathological
individuals (Psychopathia Sexualis). Worked neither objective or tolerant, but coined
terms sadism, masochism, pedophilia, heterosexuality and homosexuality.
- German Magnus Hirschfield: founded first sex institute and first large-scale sex
survey. Introduced term transvestite.
- Alfred Kinsey: caused major breakthrough in scientific understanding of sex by
making massive surveys of human sexual behavior.
- Masters and Johnson: came with the investigations of sexual disorders and the
physiological response.
- Margaret Mead and Bronislaw Malinowski: collected data on sexual behaviors in
other cultures.
The scientific study of sex is highly interdisciplinary it is a joint effort by biologists,
psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and physicians.
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,Cultivation theory: focuses on notion that people begin to think that what they see in the
media really represents the mainstream of what happens in real life in our culture.
Framing theory: media draws attention to certain topics and not to others, suggesting how
we should think about or frame issues.
Social cognitive theory: the media influences our behavior, thoughts and affect through
processes such as modeling, imitation, and identification.
Selectivity: principle that people select and pay attention only to certain media and their
messages, not to others.
Reinforcing spiral theory: one’s social identities and ideologies predict one’s media use, and,
in turn, media use affects identity and beliefs.
Differential susceptibility model: not everyone reacts the same to the same media exposure.
Individualistic cultures: cultures that stress independence and autonomy and the individual
rights of people.
Collectivistic cultures: cultures that emphasize interdependence and connections among
people; the group is more important than the individual.
Honor cultures: cultures that stress ‘face’ individuals’ reputation and the respect or honor
that people show toward others.
Ethnocentrism: tendency to regard one’s own ethnic group and culture as superior to others
and to believe that its customs and wat of life are the standards by which other cultures
should be judged.
Incest taboos: a societal, nearly universal, regulation prohibiting sexual interaction between
blood relatives.
Few societies encourage people to engage in sexual intercourse at particular times. Instead,
most groups have restrictions that forbid intercourse at certain times or in certain situations.
Attitudes toward masturbation vary widely across cultures. Some societies tolerate or even
encourage it, whereas others condemn the practice at any age could lead to punishment.
Extramarital sex complex and conflicting for most cultures ranks second only to incest.
Most common restriction is to allow extramarital sex for husbands but not for wives.
Wide variation in attitudes toward same-gender sexual behavior, but there are two general
rules that emerge:
1. No matter how a particular society treats homosexuality, the behavior always occurs
in at least some individuals (same-gender sexuality is found universally in all
societies).
2. Same-gender sexual behavior is never the predominant form of sexual behavior for
adults in any of the societies studied.
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,Physical attractiveness important in all societies, but what is considered attractive varies
widely general rule: a poor complexion considered unattractive in the majority of human
societies.
Chapter 2 – Theoretical Perspective on Sexuality
Sociobiology: the application of evolutionary biology to understanding the social behavior of
animals including humans.
Evolution: a theory that all living things have acquired their present forms through gradual
changes in their genetic endowment over successive generations. Evolution occurs via
natural selection a process in nature resulting in greater rates of survival of those plants
and animals that are best adapted to their environment.
Obstacles to reproductive success:
- Infant vulnerability: greatly reduced if the mother provides continuing physical care,
including breast feeding. Further reduced if the father provides resources and
security from attack for mother and infant.
- Maternal death.
Mechanism that facilitate conditions: pair-bond between mother and father &
attachment between infant and parent.
Parental investment: refers to behaviors or other resources invested in the offspring by the
parent that increase the offspring’s chance of survival.
Fathers invest most money on genetic children of current union and least money to
stepchildren from past relationship. However, they spend an equal amount on their
genetic children and the stepchildren of their current relationship, to cement pair-
bond with their current partner.
Sexual selection: selection that creates differences between males and females that consists
of two processes:
1. Intrasexual competition: competition among members of one gender for mating
access to members of the other gender.
2. Intersexual competition: preferential choice by members of one gender for certain
members of the other gender (partner selection).
Criticism of sociobiology:
- Object to biological determinism that sociobiology implies.
- Resting on an outmoded version of evolutionary theory that modern biologists
consider naive.
- Sociobiologists assume that the central function of sex is reproduction; this may have
been true historically but not true today.
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, Evolutionary psychology: the study of psychological mechanisms that have been shaped by
evolution.
Women and men face different adaptive problems in short-term, or casual, mating and in
long-term mating and reproduction leads to different sexual strategies.
Criticism evolutionary psychology:
- Other studies found that men and women are very similar in their stated mating
preferences (prefer long-term strategies and few or no short-term partners).
- It assumes that every characteristic that we observe must have some adaptive
significance, but in fact some human traits may be simply ‘design flaws’.
Cannot study evolutionary psychology directly.
- Question data used to support much of the research theories claim that processes
and behaviors are result of human evolution (universal), but most data is from WEIRD
societies.
Gender-neutral evolutionary theory: alternative to sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.
It is not adaptive for humans to display fixed behaviors determined by evolution, and
neither should there be fixed gender differences In behavior Instead, it is most
adaptive for individuals to be flexible in their behaviors, that is what evolution has
selected for (flexibility and adaptability).
Evidence of theory is based on mathematical modeling and proofs that show that individuals
who can and change mating behaviors in adaptive ways depending on the environment have
the best reproductive fitness.
Theory too new to be able to evaluate it thoroughly.
Psychoanalytic theory: it contains a basic assumption that part of human personality is
unconscious.
- Two major forces motivating human behavior: sex drive/ energy (libido) and death
instinct (Thanatos).
- Human personality is divided into three major parts:
Id: basic part of personality present at birth. It is the reservoir of psychic
energy, including libido, and operates on the pleasure principle.
Ego: operates on the reality principle, and tries to keep the id in line.
Functions to make a person have realistic, rational interactions with others.
Superego: is the conscience. Contains the values and ideals of society that
we learn, and it operates on idealism/ morality principle. Inhibit impulses of
the id and persuade the ego to strive for moral goals rather than just realistic
ones.
- Erogenous zones: areas of the body that are particularly sensitive to sexual
stimulation.
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