Human Sex Midterm 1

Historical documents/art

\-Art displayed same sex behaviours

\-Sexual behaviour embraced in various cultures

Examples of sexual behaviour in history

\-Greeks: Tolerant of sexual behaviour

\-Sex manuals: Glorified sexual pleasure

\-The Hammer of Witches: women perceived as wicked/vile

\-The Bible: Restrictive rules about sexuality

Bias in Sex History

\-Sexist, androcentric, classist, eurocentric

\-Suppression and destruction of documents

Conclusions and Science in Sex History

\-Look back at history to understand what happened, be aware of bias present

\-Scientists and clergymen were less tolerant

\-Acceptance/rejectance of behaviours changes behaviours

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Science: the sacred sin

\-Sacred sin = masturbation

\-Believed to cause insanity

\-Treatments: caustration, clitoris removal, circumcision

Havelock Ellis “Studies in the Psychology of Sex”

\-Early 1900s

\-Recognized homosexuality as a sexual orientation

\-Victorian women’s sexual desire

Kinsey

\-Surveyed men and women in north america

\-Snowball effect → incorrect stats

\-Published “Sexual behaviour in the human male” and “sexual behaviour in the human female” in 1950s

Masters and Johnson

\-Physiology of sexual response and sexual disorders

\-Lab experiments with sex

\-Late 1960s

John Money

\-Errors in gender differentiaton

\-David Reamer: botched circumcision → penis removal, raises as a female, drove him to suicide

\-1970s

Modern Sex Research History (1990s+)

\-Contemporary sex surveys

\-Web based surveys

\-fMRI studies

Cultivation

\-What we se in media as representative of what we see in real life ..?

\-Too hot to handle, the bachelor

Agenda Setting

\-What is “newsworthy”

\-Media sets the agenda of what they think is important and what will sell

Social learning

\-Observational learning through social situations

\-We tend to want to do what we see others do

Internet’s Influence on Sexuality

\-New/fast growing form of technology

\-viewing erotic images/porn

\-Sexual activity with known or anonymous partners virtually

\-Sharing explicit information/images

\-Provides health information about sexuality and promotes sexual health

Ethnocentrism

\-”Our way is the best way”

\-Positive: bonds groups

\-Negative: produces rigidity and intolerance

Dani

New Guinea → asexual

Mangaia

Encourage/embrace sex and sexuality, talk about sex to kids, open to extramarital relationships

Participant Observation

Live with the people and immerse themselves in the culture

Bias in Participant Observation

\-Researches have their own attitudes

\-Participants may not be fully forthcoming with a stranger

Moral Acceptability of Sex

\-Canda is more accepting than Americans in all categories → variable by region

\-Quebec is more liberal than the rest of Canada (show genitals vs censorship)

Pornography Acceptability

Canda: 49%

USA: 34%

Gay or Lesbian Relations Acceptability

Canada: 81%

USA: 60%

Indigenous Peoples BEFORE European Contact

\-Egalitarian and more permissive

\-Tolerated permarital/extramarital sex, gay, lesbian, two-spirited people were respected/admired

\-Women were encouraged to take the initiative

Indigenous Peoples AFTER European contact

\-Residentials school abuse, poverty, crowded living conditions affected sexual behaviour

\-Women at high risk for negative sexual health outcomes → STIs, unwanted pregnancies, low BW babies

Cross Cultural Perspective Conclusions

\-All societies have rules

\-Incest taboo

\-Variety of behaviour and attitudes

\-Sexual behaviour is culturally determined

Biological Perspective

\-Ways of examining behaviour

\-No sexual behaviour is exclusive to humans

\-Cross-species behaviour

\-Roles of biological factors (anatomy, physiology, hormones)

\-More primitive anime = more hormone control

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Methods of Biological Perspective

\-Animal experiments (Hormone injections)

\-Natural variations (How △ hormones impacts sexual behaviour)

\-Biological anomalies (rare instances → intersex and genetic abnormalities)

Conclusions of Biological Perspective

\-Definitely a biological component

\-Problem of generalizing (always to humans

Evolutionary Perspectives → Natural Selection

Sexual behaviour is rooted in our genes , viability of species’ lineage

Evolutionary Perspectives → Double Standard

Males vs Female perspectives: # of partners, reproduction (9 months for women)

How sociobiological theories developed

Commonality between animals and humans, status quo

Sociobiology → Dating

\-Used to measure compatability

\-Species fitness

Sociobiology → Pair-bonds

Importance of bonding between men and women, men nurture women during pregnancy

Sociobiology → Attachment

Mother with baby, both parents attach to baby to increase baby’s survival

Intrasexual sexual selection

“Within gender”, competition among one gender

Intersexual sexual selection

“Between gender”, preferential choice of one gender to members of another gender

Problems with sociobiological theories

\-Argues rape is for reproduction (false as non-reproductive girls are overrepresented in rape)

\-Minimizes learning (focuses on genes)

\-Difficult to test

\-Not in favour of change (humans adapt in situations)

Gender-Neutral Evolutionary Theory

\-Gowaty (2018), criticizes sociobiology’s theory of biology is destiny

\-Human environments vary

\-Humans evolve as a species to survive, argues humans don’t display fixed behaviours determined by evolution

\-Evolution selected for flexibility and adaptability

\-Too new of a theory to thoroughly evaluate

Fo’afafine

\-Biological men who identify as female

\-Samoan culture, act as caretakers of children

\-Challenges sociobiological perspective

Psychoanalytic Theory

\-Freud, libido = sex energy/drive

\-Id (instants and desires)

\-Ego (bridge between id and superego)

\-Superego (moral conscience)

Psychosexual stages of Psychoanalytic Theory

\-Oral stage (birth → 1 yr), pleasure at the mouth

\-Anal stage (elimination and potty training, rigid, exact and rule following

\-Phallic stage (Oedipus and Electra complex)

\-Latency stage (“dormant” stage)

\-Genital stage (sexual urges fuse and promote reproduction)

Oedipus complex

Boys age 3-5, develop sexual desire for their mother, hate their fathers, have castration anxiety, repress desire for mother in fear of father

Electra complex

Girls age 3-5, have desire/envy for penis, believe they are castrated, attach to fathers, resolves and align with mother

Freud and Women

Immature (clitoral stimulation) vs mature (intercourse) orgasms, no physiological difference between the two

Conclusions about Psychoanalytical Theory

\-Theories are not testable

\-Derived from Freud’s patients

\-Very male-centered

\-\*Took sex “out of the closet”

Learning theories

Classical and operant conditioning (reinforcement schedules for more effective conditioning)

Classical conditioning

Behaviour therapy to aid in sexual dysfunction, ex: person wearing a scent causing sexual arousal, arousal can occur with just the scent (person absent)

Operant conditioning

Rewards and punishments for behaviours (ex. orgasms vs pain during sex), explains why condoms are used less

Social Learning Theory

\-Modeling: more likely to do things ourselves if we see others do it

\-Learned behaviours can be unlearned through therapy

\-Changes in learning through life

\-Does not explain sexual orientation or pedophilia

Cognitive Theory

How you feel influences how you behaves influences how you think (triangle model)

\-Whalen and Roth

Whalen and Roth’s Cognitive Model of Sexual Arousal

\-Positive evaluation of a perceived sexual stimulus

\-Arousal → perception of arousal → positive evaluation

\-Sexual behaviour → perception of behaviour → positive evaluation

\-Positive feedback loops increase arousal and sexual behaviour

Sandra Bem’s Gender Schema Theory (Cognitive Theory)

\-Gendered schemas developed in children

\-See things that align with our schema, ignore things that don’t align

\-Schemas and predictability help us navigate our world

\-Expectations depending on the binary

Gender as Status and Inequality

\-Gender signals status

\-Gender is a dimension of inequality

Sexuality (Feminist Theory)

\-Women’s sexually has been repressed

\-Sexual assault, abortion, birth control, sexual harassment on the job, pornography

Gender roles and Socialization

Gender roles are limiting, need to be more flexible

Intersectionality

Should consider a person’s multiple group memberships and identities (gender, social class, sexual orientation, etc)

Performativity

Ways in which we perform gender or sexuality based on society’s norms (like actors in a play)

Queer Theory

\-sexual orientation, intersex, transgender issues

\-Questions social categorization of sexuality and gender and challenges binaries

\-challenges **heteronormativity**

Assumptions → Every Society Regulates Sex

\-Basic institutions affect rules

\-Religion (used to influence behaviour

\-Economy (sex workers, “sex sells”)

\-Medicine (pharmaceuticals, fertility methods, birth control, STI treatments, viagara)

\-Law

\-Family (Messages said or “not said” to kids)

Sexual Scripts

\-Expectations to how things typically go

\-gaps in scripts (friendship vs romantic scripts)

\-Very gendered

Statistical Concepts → Sampling

\-Representative sample (represents the pop) vs convenience sample (can’t generate pop statements)

\-Volunteer bias (more liberal, permissive, sexually experienced, positive about sex research, male)

\-Volunteers vs non-volunteers (more intrusive = more bias)

Prevalence

% of behaviour observed

Frequency

How often the behaviour occurs

Ethics in Sex Reserach

\-Protection from harm

\-Confidentiality (info privacy)

\-Anonymity (helps participant be more forthcoming)

\-Cost/benefit analysis

\-Informed consent

\-Debriefing (esp if study is deceptive)

\-Justice

Questionnaires

(+): inexpensive, reach more people, anonymous and confidential, easy to create

(-): can’t monitor participants, generalizability, close-ended questions, isolation, bots

\-Web surveys vs traditional surveys

Longitudinal surveys

\-Follow same sample as the age and observe changes

\-avoids cohort effect

\-timely, expensive

\-usually follows multiple cohorts

Cross-sectional surveys

\-Using cohorts and take cross-section to compare

\-Cohort effect: cohorts have different beliefs and are influenced by when they were born and how they grew up

Problems with self-report

\-Volunteer bias

\-Ability to estimate (timelines)

\-Purposeful distortion (participant may be suspicious, angry, forgetful, confused

\-faulty memory

The Kinsey Report

1940s, over representative ample (mainly gay)

National Health and Social Life Survey

1994, survey of American sex life, very representative sample and high response rate

National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL)

2018, low participation rate, less representative sample, people overwhelmed with e-invites at the time

Interviews

\-Usually 1-on-1, more in depth

\-(+): non-verbal cues, semi-structure or open-ended respones

\-(-): can only do so many, less likely to get participants if the topic is intrusive

Case Study

\-Intensive investigation (one or a few people)

\-used in rarer case, lots of info and able to develop hypothesis

\-Gives us info about atypical behaviour

\-Issues: can’t generalize or establish cause-effect, selection and observer bias

Media Content Analysis

\-Set of procedures used to make valid inferences about media

\-Need coding scheme

\-Intercoder reliability

Participant Observation

\-(+): No bias from individual being observed, more honest behaviour

\-(-): Can’t test specifics (correlation only), behaviour changes when observed, observer bias, timely, expensive

Humphreys: Tearoom Trade

\-Men had sex with strangers in washrooms with lookout

\-Humphreys acted as look, would then record license plates and send researches to people’s homes

\-Lack of confidentiality and privacy

\-No consent from those being observed, highly unethical

Bartell: Swinging

\-More ethical, participants were debriefed

\-Possible change in behaviour with observer present

Mosher: S/M Parties

Observer may not have disclosed himself as an observer

Laboratory Observation

\-(+)Physiological measures, can videotape to reobserve and analyze

\-(-): change in behaviour when studied, generalizability (ecological validity)

\-Biological, implicit, behavioural measures (eye tracking, blood flow, erection)

Masters and Johnson → Laboratory Observation

\-First to take sex into the lab and observe changes during arousal

\-Only researched heterosexual couples, claimed results applied to all types of sex

Experiment of Alcohol and Sexual Arousal

\-Experimental group drank, control group had placebo independent variable = amount of alcohol

\-dependent variable = sexual arousal

\-Results: arousal does not increase, systems depress and we become disinhibited

Problems with Laboratory Research

\-Experiment bias (blind and double blind research)

\-Generalizability (confounding variables (age, culture))

Perineum

Skin between vagina and anus, can be cut or ripped during childbirth

Genital Manipulation

\-Sunna: removal of clitoral hood

\-Excision: removal of shaft and inner lips

\-Infibulation: removal of entire clitoris, inner and outer lips

Sexual differentiation

Occurs after 6 week in utero

Vagina and Hymen

Hymen blocking vagina opening was used to determine virginity (can be born without, partial, or easier or tougher to break

Pubococcygeus muscles

Pelvic floor or kegel muscles, can strengthen these for pregnant women and childbirth

Labia Majora

Flatten during arousal to expose labia minor

Cervix

\-Opening (Os)

\-Pap test for cervical cancer

Vagina

Thin walled muscular tube, 3-4inch long, goes up to cervix, increase blood flow during arousal, lubricated, upper 2/3 are less sensitive (less nerve endings)

Clitoris

Shaft extends into the body, homologous to penis shaft

Douching

Can destroy natural bacteria and decrease acidity, making vagina more susceptible to infection, can mask other problems

Layers of the Uterus

Perimetrium: fine outer layer

Myometrium: contacts during orgasm and childbirth

\-Endometrium: sheds during menstruation

Ovary

\-Contains eggs (ova) released monthly (except pregnant or breastfeeding), almond sized

\-NOT connected to fallopian tube

\-Born with 500,000 ova, release \~500 over a lifetime

Ova Implantation

\-Usually occurs in the uterus, can occur elsewhere

\-Fimbriae draw in ova released from ovary → infundibulum → Fallopian tube → uterus

Nipple

Increased nerve ending, plays a role in erotic stimulation in males and females

Glans Penis

Tip of the penis

Urethral opeing

Where urine and semen exit (from the urethra)

Corposa cavernosa

Fills with blood to cause erection, tissues can crush and “break the penis” during vigorous sex

Penis Length and the Equalizer

\-Flaccid = 2-4 inches

\-Erect = 5-6 inches

\-Small flaccid = longer erect and large flaccid = shorter erect