Sexual Deviance and Drug Use

Sexual deviance

Sexual behavior judged to violate a society's norms.

Most stigmatized sexual pairs and objects

pairs: incest

objects: animals

How do societies classify sexual deviance?

By things like: setting, frequency, age, number of partners, pornography, and selling and buying sexual services

Inappropriate settings for sexual activity agreed upon by most societies

-public

-inside, but still public (restroom, library)

-graveyard

-church

What determines what settings are appropriate/ inappropriate for sexual activity?

Dependent on visibility, most accepted behind closed doors

Frequency of sexual acts

Too much or too little can lead to stigma: asexuals or celibacy are stigmatized

promescuity

Someone who has sex with many people; seen as more deviant

Gendered sexual norms

Among teens, harsher judgments of women than men for comparable sexual behavior.

Sex education debate amongst liberals and conservatives

-Conservatives favor Abstinence-only education

-Liberals favor comprehensive education, including contraception and STI prevention.

Extramarital sex

Sexual activity involving a married person and someone other than their spouse; adultery

Difference in women/men attitudes toward adultery

Women tend to associate an affair with love and attach too much significance, leading them to believe they no longer love their spouse.

Men attach much less significance to it and see it as a sexual escapade.

Why do men tend to commit adultery more than women?

patriarchal belief that men should prove their masculinity by "screwing around"

Other examples of extramarital sex

Polyamory, threesomes, swinging

Swinging

a form of consensual or ethical non-monogamy where committed couples or individuals engage in sexual activities with other people

Common reasons for swinging

Expressing liberation, sexual equality, can possibly improve marital relations

Conservative opposition to porn

believe it goes against traditional family values

Opposing feminist perspectives on pornography

Anti-porn feminists: believe its harmful to women because violent porn can instigate violence against women (rape culture)

Pro-porn feminists: support idea that women have a legal right to free expression through employment

5 types of phone sex callers

1. quick-sex caller; majority, little conversation

2. psychos; violent and angry, want to talk about beating/raping women

3. Lonely, lovelorn callers; keep calling same operator, less talk of sex and more about future/marriage

4. Sexually possessive callers: infatuated with same operator, jealous of sexual relation with other men

5. Likable callers; well-spoken, attractive-sounding, high-status

Nude Dancing

high-paying, highly stigmatized--> typically hidden, feel like it doesn't reflect true selves

Sexual harassment

Unwelcome act of a sexual nature.

What does sexual harassment reflect?

Men's attempt to preserve traditional dominance

Where is sexual harassment more prominent?

In male-dominated occupations, more educated women are more likely to be sexually harassed in countries where men are typically better educated

Sex work

the consensual exchange of sexual services for money

prostitution

huge industry across every culture; social reactions fluctuate wildly (accepted as part of medieval life, later societies condemn it)

Why did opinions on prostitution change in the 17-18th century?

Understanding of diseases was evolving; the introduction of the plague

Types of Prostitution

1. Street

2. Bar

3. On-call --> escort, cyber sex

Street-based sex work

Often the cheapest and least amount of time spent with customers, more susceptible to arrest; typically less educated and more likely to use drugs/ contract disease

Bar sex workers

More expensive and protected than street sellers; pool smaller

Brothel

A place where sex workers meet customers and share earnings with an operator.

On-Call Sex Workers

Expensive and most protected from arrest; spend most time with client; often need refferrals

Escort Services

type of on-call sex worker; the business takes the call and finds sex worker under them; money split 50/50

Cyber Sex Workers

type of on-call sex worker; have total economic and physical control over services; expensive and self-employed; secure because its all online and creeps can be reported or banned

Massage Parlors

legal and provides a front for prostitution; similar to a modern-day brothel but hidden

Circuit-travelers

2-3 sex workers using RV or some mobile type of brothel; harder to get caught and can travel to find clients

Most common motivation for sex work

Money; supporting family, paying for education, etc --> all typical reasons for occupation

Typical view held by those who work in prostitution

that they are morally superior to others because they are more honest; see clients as hypocrites for paying for services yet acting morally above them, making sex workers more inclined to exploit them

COYOTE

"Call off your tired ethics," sex worker union advocating for protection, recognition, and decriminalization of sex work; argue that it is not different than other kinds of work women do

Typical reasons for buying sex

-male dominance over sexual partner

-quick and easy sex

-"no-strings-attached" sex

-variety of sexual experience

5 types of laws globally for decriminalizing prostitution

1. Prohibitionism

2. Neo-abolitionism

3. Abolitionism

4. Legalization

5. Decriminalization

Prohibitionism

A policy model that criminalizes prostitution completely.

Neo-abolitionism

AKA the Nordic Model. A model that protects sellers from arrest while allowing clients to be penalized.

Abolitionism

A model permitting buying and selling sex privately while prohibiting pimping and public solicitation.

Legalization

A model permitting sex work subject to various regulations, such as registration or medical checks. Moves sex work from criminal law to civil law.

What kind of sex work is legal in Nevada?

Only brothel form, no street or escort form legal.

Full Decriminalization

Removing all regulations against prostitution, as long as peace not disturbed.

De Facto decriminalization

Still laws in place against prostitution, but not really inforced/informal rules that dont enforce it

Laissez-Faire: As long as sex work is kept quiet/ no complaints made, then law enforcement doesnt need to get involved

Zoning; specific zone where if prostitution occurs and is quiet, law enforcement doesnt get involved

Arguments against criminalization of sex work

1. Making sex work illegal keeps women in it, because they wouldnt be able to get jobs anywhere else

2. Enforcement is expensive

Functionalist theory of prostitution

Prostitution exists because:

-idea of sexual morality (meaningful vs. meaningless sex; certain sex acts as moral/immoral)

-prostitution encourages men to seek out prostitutes for "immoral" sex rather than pressuring respectable women

Social-psychological theory of sex work

What causes women to be sex workers: predisposing factors, attracting factors, precipitating factors

Predisposing factors

traumatic events causing psychological problems from parents (neglect, abuse)

Attracting Factors

expectation of earning a lot of money

Precipitating Factors

exemplified by social situations (runaways, unemployed, pressured into it)

First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP)

AKA “John School” alternative sentencing for individuals arrested for soliciting prostitution. Said that if you complete the course, pay the fine, and don’t get caught doing it again for 12 months after, then it can be removed from your record.

Psychoactive substance

A substance that changes how the brain functions --> generates someone intoxicated

Stimulants

"Uppers" like cocaine, caffeine, and nicotine as stimulants.

Depressants

"Downers" like heroin and morphine as depressants.

Hallucinogens

"Psychedelics" like LSD and MDMA as hallucinogens.

What classification is marijuana in?

Own category

Factors affecting drug effects

Dosage, potency, drug mixing, method of administration, and habituation

Habituation

drugs have greater effect on occasional users than chronic users

Most often used illegal drug in U.S.

Marijuana

Subjective vs. Objective Dimension on drug use

Subjective: what we believe about drug use

Objective: what we actually know about drugs and who is using them; measurable

What to ask when classifying drugs

1. Is it psychoactive?

2. Is it medical?

3. Is it illegal/legal?

4. How does the public define it?

Drug addiction cycle

3 Stages: preoccupation, compulsion, and relapse

Problem with criminalizing drug use

It created unanticipated consequences that can be worse than the use itself, like people getting around rules --> Al Capone, Speakeasies, Smuggling

Types of Drug Use

1. Legal Instrumental

2. Legal Recreational

3. Illegal Instrumental

4. Illegal Recreational

Legal instrumental drug use

Medical, prescribed, and over-the-counter drugs

Problem: many can be highly addictive/bad side effects

True or False: Perscription drugs kill more people that illicit drugs

True

Legal recreational drug use

Using a legal substance for its psychoactive effects; simply to get high

3 Most used legal recreational drugs

Alcohol, Nicotine, Caffeine

True or False? Nicotine Use is declining

True; but still mosy frequently used

Illegal instrumental drug use

Using a prescription drug illegally to pursue a specific practical goal (like adderall for studying, steroids and PEDS for performance)

True or False? Most illegal instrumental drug users don't believe they're abusing drugs

True; since its not addiction and its for a specific goal

Human Growth Hormones

Harder to detect than steroids, becoming more popular among athletes

Illegal recreational drug use

MOST CONDEMNED: Using an illegal drug for its psychoactive effects.

Fentanyl

Was legal instrumental, now illegal recreational; highly potent and capable of causing respiratory failure, cheaper than heroin and cocaine

Drug enslavement theory

The theory proposes that addiction drives some people to commit crimes to obtain drugs.

General deviance syndrome theory

The theory links drug use and crime to a broader tendency toward deviance --> most drug users has criminal record before

Economic deprivation theory

The theory associates drug use in poverty with seeking status, escape, or structure.

Cognitive Association Theory

Theory to explain drug addiction; causes its users' cognitive association between withdrawal distress and prior drug use

Social-psychological theory of drug use

Emphasizes lack of social attachments, drug-using peers, drug use subcultures, and access to drugs as social factors leading to use.

Drug use and arrest disparities

Similar drug use among White and Black people but higher arrest rates for Black people.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education

DARE; A school-based program intended to educate students and prevent drug use.

Sources for data on drugs

ADAM, DAWN, NSDUH, MTF

Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring

ADAM; Federal data collection system that combines interviews and biological tests to study drug use among booked arrestees

Drug Abuse Warning Network

DAWN: Tracks drug-related emergency-department events, including overdoses.

National Survey on Drug Use and Health

NSDUH: A comprehensive survey measuring legal and illegal drug use across different time periods; most sophisticated (130,000 samples per year)

Monitoring the Future

MTF: A national survey of high school students' drug use and attitudes (found alcohol use most popular)

Anti Drug Abuse Act 1986

During "War on Drugs;" categories for drug criminalization and mandatory sentencing --> led to period of mass incarceration

Controlled Substances Act of 1970

Placed drugs into five schedules.

Main concerns with drugs

1. harm

2. how to deal with the criminalization of it

Portugal's 2001 drug policy

The notes describe decriminalization alongside increased emphasis on treatment. Successful!

Why doesn't the criminalization of drugs and drug use work?

Because it doesn't decrease demand; if you want change, decrease demand

Oregon drug policy

The notes report decriminalization in 2020 and renewed criminalization of some drugs in 2024.