1. Chapter 7
Sexuality

2. Sex: A Biological Issue
Sex refers to the biological distinctions between females and males
Primary sex characteristics refer to differences in genitalia
Secondary sex characteristics
Refer to the physically distinctive characteristics that occur as we mature
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3. Sex: A Cultural Issue
Sociologists point out that sexual activity is also guided by human culture
Cultural norms define who can have sex with whom
age
marital status
sex of partners
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4. Sexual Attitudes in the United States
How people think about sex, as well as sexual practices themselves:
Changed over this nation’s history
During the colonial era, the European settlers’ lack of effective birth control
Resulted in most communities holding norms that treated sexuality as reproduction
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5. Sexual Attitudes in the United States
The “sexual revolution” that embraced a culture of freedom
Following intro of the birth control pill in 1960
The feminist movement’s challenge of men’s power that took a stand against:
A number of practices associated with sex, including pornography, rape, and incest
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6. The Continuing Sexual Revolution: Older People
Men & women who began the sexual revolution in the ‘60s are in their 60s-70s
And are carrying the movement into old age
More older people than ever before are having sex
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8. The Sexual Counterrevolution
By the 1970s, conservatives called for return to traditional “family values”
Did not succeed in turning back the clock
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9. Sexual Orientation
An individual’s romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction to another person
Can include partners of:
The same sex (homosexuality), the other sex (heterosexuality)
Either sex (bisexuality), or neither sex (asexuality)
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11. What Gives Us a Sexual Orientation?
Cultural Factors
Sexual orientation has much to do with one’s society
Once definitions of heterosexual and homosexual became accepted:
People with homosexual experiences were set apart
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12. What Gives Us a Sexual Orientation?
Biological Factors
Sexual orientation appears to be fixed at birth
Both genes and hormones play a part in determining sexual orientation
Simon LeVay: the key is in the brain
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13. Homosexuality and Public Policy
In 1960, homosexuality was widely regarded as wrong
Created a hostile atmosphere; result: most lesbians and gay men staying “in the closet”
In 1973, American Psychiatric Association:
Declared that it no longer considered homosexuality to be a mental disorder
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14. Homosexuality and Public Policy
Recently, public attitudes have become more accepting of homosexuality
Lawrence et al v. Texas
Struck down law preventing sodomy between same-sex couples
Mixed public attitudes have produced conflicting policies on sexual activity
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15. Gay Marriage 2004: Supreme Court of Massachusetts
Ruled that gay men and lesbian women had the right to marry
Since then, other states enacted laws permitting same-sex marriage
Some corporations and other countries offer benefits to domestic partners
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16. The Gay Rights Movement
Gained public attention in the 1950s
The “Stonewall Riot” on June 27, 1969
Defining moment in the growth of the movement
“Homophobia” was used to demonstrate that the problem was people who would:
Not accept others because of their orientation
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18. Pornography Words/images that cause sexual arousal
“Soft-core” pornography shows or describes nudity and suggests sexual activity
“Hard-core” pornography contains explicit descriptions or images of sexual acts
At what point does sexual material run afoul of the law and become obscenity?
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19. Is Pornography a Social Problem?
Conservatives treat sex as a moral issue
Pornography is a social problem because it undermines morality
Liberals are divided
Some contend that what people choose to read or view is their own business
Others object; demeaning to women
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20. Pornography and Violence
1985: US Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography was formed
Investigate how people react to sexual materials
While exposure to pornography causes sexual arousal and increases sexual activity;
Does not cause violent behavior
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21. Sexual Harassment
Unwanted comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature
The rise of the women’s movement in the ‘60s
Was primarily responsible for the definition of such behavior as a social problem
1976: a federal court declared that sexual harassment amounted to discrimination
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22. Sexual Harassment
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission identifies two types:
quid pro quo (one thing for another)
subtle forms of behavior not intended to be harassing
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23. Prostitution The selling of sexual services
Prostitution, as well as soliciting the services of a prostitute, is against the law
Everywhere in the United States, except in parts of Nevada
In a global perspective, prostitution is most common in low-income nations
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24. Prostitution
Prostitutes are a diverse category, with better or worse working conditions
Depending on their physical attractiveness, age, and level of education
Although prostitution is against the law almost everywhere in the United States
Law enforcement is selective
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25. Prostitution Enforcement of prostitution is selective
According to COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics):
A sex worker’s rights organization founded in 1973:
90% of women arrested for prostitution are street walkers from low social class backgrounds
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26. Prostitution Worldwide, “sex tourism” is on the rise
With the fastest increases in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Thailand as the “center”
The number of prostitutes may be as high as 220,000
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27. Teenage Pregnancy
In the U.S., about 750,000 teenage girls become pregnant each year
About 58% decide to keep their babies, 27% have abortions, and 15% miscarry
Pregnancy rate for teens has been declining
Teenage girls at highest risk for pregnancy are from poor families
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30. Teenage Pregnancy The costs of teenage pregnancy
For men and women both young and poor, parenthood can be financially devastating
The babies are affected the most
Infants born to teens have lower birth rates & high-er risk of physical and developmental problems
Most have no fathers and grow up at high risk of becoming single parents themselves
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31. Teenage Pregnancy
A possible solution to the problem is sex education in schools
Programs of sex education explain to young people how:
their bodies grow and change; reproduction occurs; to avoid pregnancy
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32. Abortion Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy
Perhaps the most controversial issue involving sexuality in the U.S. today
Each year, 1.2 million abortions are performed in the U.S.
Which is 1 for every 3 live births
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34. Abortion
In the U.S., from colonial era until mid-19th century, early-term abortion was legal
By the early decades of the 20th century:
Laws banning abortion had been enacted in every state
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all laws that banned abortion
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35. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Diseases spread by sexual contact
There are more than 50 kinds of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
Rates of infection for most STDs, including gonorrhea, syphilis, and genital herpes -
Began to rise during the sexual revolution of the 1960s
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36. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The most serious of all STDs is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
U.S.’s recent trend in AIDS deaths is down
Officials recorded 16,088 deaths in 2008
34,247 new cases of AIDS in the U.S. in 2009
In some regions of the world, AIDS is fast becoming a medical catastrophe
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38. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
While HIV is infectious, it is not contagious
Specific behavior that puts people at risk for HIV infection include:
anal sex
sharing needles when using drugs
any drug use (including alcohol) because it impairs one’s judgment)
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40. Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The U.S. government was slow to respond to the AIDS crisis
Once the epidemic spread into the heterosexual population:
Officials gave the problem serious attention
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41. Structural-Functional Analysis: Controlling Sexuality
Emphasizes the importance of cultural norms guiding sexuality
Societies observe incest taboos
Traditional norms favor legitimate offspring
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42. Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Defining Sexuality
Highlights the variable meanings people attach to sexuality
The meaning of virginity
Learning sexual roles
People socially construct sexuality just as they create the rest of the reality they experience
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43. Social-Conflict Analysis: Sex and Power
The social-conflict paradigm highlights social inequality
Women as sexual objects
Queer theory
A body of theory and research that challenges the heterosexual
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44. Conservatives: The Value of Traditional Morality
Support conventional norms that claim sexuality belongs within marriage
Premarital sex and extramarital sex are social problems
Condemn prostitution & pornography because they violate traditional standards of decency
And because they threaten marriages
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45. Conservatives: The Value of Traditional Morality
Oppose abortion on demand because:
It gives one person the power to end the life of another who is innocent and helpless
Overall, the conservative answer to sexual social problems is strong social institutions
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46. Liberals: Sex and Individual Choice
All people should have considerable choice in how they express their sexuality
Their attitude is one of tolerance
The limits of liberal tolerance come when someone is threatened with harm
Support abortion available to all –leaving the decision up to the woman involved
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47. Radicals: Going to the Root of the Problem
A common element in all of the issues cited in this chapter is social inequality
These problems come about because one category of people has power over another
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