Psyc 3845 Issues in Sexuality

Jan 9, 2025

Objectivity, subjectivity & inter-subjectivity

metaphysical question: what counts as reality

Objective phenomenon exist independent of human beliefs, consequently remain stable across time and space (cultural space and historical time), we do not need to be aware of it, it simply exists

i.e homosexual males have more older brothers than heterosexual males.

subjective phenomenon involve the beliefs of a single individual , an individuals subjective perspective cannot be challenged only the individual has access to their subjective reality (subjective experience) it is possible that their experience has no objective bearings but is still important as it can affect ther feelings and actions.

e.g a man who identifies as heterosexual but has no attraction to women sexually or otherwise

inter-subjective phenomenon (social constructs) involve the shared beliefs of a network of individuals. Important in influencing what people believe in and how they behave, in the absence of believing in them social constructs will vanish

e.g. the lgbtq+ this exists because people believe in it, not because its an objective aspect of the natural world

social construncts are important even if th are n harrari’s wods “ a shared myth”

Two perspectives on sexual orientation

1. sexual orientation is a social construct

2. sexual orientation has a biological basis

social construct view on sexual orientation

• humans are blank slates at birth

• individuals acquire their sexual orientation via post-natal socialization

• how we conceptualize sexual orientation influences how we socialize it

• how sexual orientation is conceptualized varies across-culturally and historically

• consequently, how sexual orientation is socialized varies across cross-culturally and historically

• this results in the development of fundamentally, different types of sexual orientation that are culturally and historically unique

What is queer theory

• a variant of social constructionism, which claims special expertise in relation to sex differences and sexual orientation

• it is a political strategy, as opposed to a theory that attempts to explain reality

• it seeks to subvert (“queer”, “deconstruct”, destabilize”, “disrupt”, “problematize”) whatever is deemed “normal”, especially in relation to sex differences and sexual orientation

Queer theory : Knowledge claims

• rejects the idea that objective knowledge (truth) is attainable so it is anti-empirical and anti0rational

• rejects the idea that psychological and behavioural sex differences and sexual orientations have any biological component

• it holds that all psychological and behavioural sex differences and sexual orientation are social constructs (intersubjective phenomenon) that arise because of how we talk about them (discourse)

• As social constructs, psychological and behavioural sex differences (or lack thereof) and sexual orientations are culturally - and historically- specific

• what counts as “knowledge” and “truth” is limited because it is always restricted to culturally- and historically- specific inter-subjectivities

• these can only be truly understood in cultural or historical context and therefore your ability to understand anything other than our own contemporary culture is limited (emic vs etic)

• Emic refers to an understanding of a culture or historical time period from the perspective of the individuals living in that culture or time period

• Etic refers to an understanding of a culture or historical time period from the perspective of the outsider studying that culture or time period

• because culturally-and historically- specific inter-subjectivities can only be understood in context, they can not be meaningfully compared

• furthermore, because of this, they are equally valid (cultural relativism)

• as scial constructs, psychological and behavioural sex differences and sexual orientations are potentially infinite, unstable, and arbitrary

• so any universal categories we create to characterize psychological and behavioural sex differences and sexual orientations (e.g., “male-typical”, “female-typical” ”homosexual” “heterosexual”) are illusory

• consequently there are no human universals when it comes to psychological and behavioural sex differences and sexual orientations (no norms, no patterns, no meta-narratives)

Queer theory: political claims

• those who have socio-political power control discourse and thus they control what counts as knowledge and truth (episteme)

• episteme : inter-subjective belief system that is dominant and powerful

• this “power-knowledge” permeates al levels of society

• this benefits the powerful, but is oppressive for others

• categories (e.g., female/male, woman/man, feminine/masculine, heterosexual/homosexual) imply the existence of recurrent patterns, which in turn suggest the existence of norms

• norms can be prescriptive and his can foster hierarchies

• consequently norms are oppressive (even violent)

• given this, categories must be “interrogated” and “deconstructed” by blurring their boundaries (“problematizing”) and thus sowing doubt about their validity

• the goal of queer theory is not to elucidate truth but rather push a “queer” political agenda by “disrupting” what counts as (normative) knowledge to foster uncertainty. ambiguity, contradiction instability, and incoherence

• obfuscation is intentional (trying to make something obscure is intentional)

• categories can be “deconstructed” by changing how we talk about them and thus “destabilizing” how we think about them

• hence proponents of queer Theory use words in ways that depart from their everyday meaning

• they are also focused on how words are used and censorious when others do not employ their preferred speech patterns

• they believe that this “language policing “ will cause us to think and in turn behave differently thus eliminating the oppression caused by categories (social engineering things in the direction they want them to go, which is to eliminate oppression)

The euphemism treadmill

• a word is deemed offensive and then another word comes in to replace it that is okay to use then that word becomes offensive due to change in belief systems and another takes its place and the cycle continues

social constructs are unstable but are politically useful

Biological (essentialist) view of sexual orientation

• biological processes SHARED by all humans INFLUENCE the development of sexual orientation (and psych-behavioural sex differences)

• these processes occur prenatally (and postnatally) hence, individuals are not blank slates at birth

• An individuals sexual orientation emerges and devlops, regardless of the historical or cultural context in which they live

• sexual orientation categories (e.g., homosexual vs heterosexual) are objectively real (natural kinds)

• sexual orientation categories are characterized by objective characteristics (intrinsic properties)

• Intrinsic properties distinguish different (natural) kinds of sexual orientation from each other

• these intrinsic properties represent the deep structure of sexual orientation, which exist REGARDLESS of cultural or historical context

How can we parse these two perspectives?

• can sexual orientation be socialized

• does sexual orientation develop fundamentally different ways across cultures and history?

• are there intrinsic properties of sexual orientation

Sources of evidence

• cross-cultural

• historical

• developmental

• biological

putting it all together

• universal biological processes influence the development of sexual orientation

• cross-cultural and historical variation in how sexual orientation is inter-subjectively conceptualized influences how sexual orientation is expressed (or not expressed)

Jan 14

What is Biological Sex?

“there is a human imperative to give everything a sex.. but biology doesn’t share that desire”

Sexual Development

• sexual development begins with the fusion of two anisogamous (unequal) gamete

• gametes are haploid sex-cells they contain a single set of 23 chromosomes

• The fusion of two gametes produces a diploid cell (zygote) that develops into a new individual

• Diploid cells contain 46 chromosomes (23 pairs; 22 pairs of autosomes + 1 pair of sex chromosomes)

• Pairs of sex chromosomes can be XX or XY

• An XX pattern of sex chromosomes determines female development

• An XY patter determines male development

• Developing XX and XY embryos have:

  • One bipotential embryonic gonad

  • One bipotential embryonic genital (genital ridge)

  • Two embryonic reproductive tracts including:

    • the Mullerian duct system (female reproductive tract in embryonic state)

    • the Wolffian duct system (male reproductive tract in embryonic state)

• Y chromosomes contain an SRY gene

• At about six weeks post-conception the SRY gene triggers embryonic gonadal tissue to develop into testes

• In the absence of an SRY gene, DAX-1 genes direct the embryonic gonadal tissue to develop into ovaries

• The developing embryonic testes produce testosterone (T) and Mullerian inhibiting hormone (MIH)

• At about eight weeks post-conception

  • MIH causes the Mullerian duct system to regress

  • T promotes the development of the Wolffian duct system develops into the male reproductive tract (epididymis, vas deference, ejaculatory duct, and seminal vesicles)

  • In the absence of T, the wolffian duct system regresses

  • In the absence of MIH, the Mullerian duct system develops into the female internal reproductive tract (fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix)

• At about ten weeks post-conception

  • T causes the fetal genital tissue to develop into male external genitalia (penis, scrotum)

  • In the absence of T the fetal genital tissues develop into female external genitalia (clitoris, labial folds)

  • 5-alpha dihydrotestosterone results in genital differentiation

Gametes

• There are two types of gametes produced by the gonads:

  • Eggs (ova) which are produced by the ovaries

  • Sperm which is produced by the testes

• Egg and sperm cells are anisogamous (unequal), differing in size and function

• Eggs are large, nutrient rich and immobile

• Sperm are small, nutrient poor and mobile

Defining Biological Sex

• In biological terms, sex is defined by the production of one type of gamete or the other

• Thus, sex refers to reproductive strategy

• These reproductive strategies represent potentials that are not necessarily realized

• Females are the sex defined by egg production which occurs in the ovaries

• Males are the sex defined by sperm production which occurs in the testes

Determining and Denoting Biological Sex

• Sex is determined (not defined) by sex chromosomes

• Structures that arise from the organizational effects of sex chromosomes during development are phenotypic markers that denote sex, but do not define sex

• These include gonads, internal reproductive organs and genitals

• We can usually ascertain whether an individual is male or female by looking at the structures that support the production (gonads), transport (internal reproductive tract) and release (genitals) of either type of gamete

Primary vs Secondary sexual markers

• Primary markers that denote sex develop in utero

• at 10-18 years, humans undergo secondary sexual development (puberty)

• Puberty results in further secondary divergence in the morphologies of males (e.g., facial hair, increases muscle mass) and females (e.g., breast development)

Why Gametes (to define sex)

• Biological parameters that determine and denote biological sex vary among sexually reproducing species

• Gametes are the only biological parameter that is invariant across all sexually reproducing species

• A consilient definition of sex is, therefore, centered on gametes

  • consilience refers to unifying explanations that invoke universal organizing principles)

“there is a human imperative to give everything a sex.. but biology doesn’t share that desire”

• Not all species have sexes

  • prokaryotes - unicellular organisms lacking nuclei and mitochondria

• Not all species have two sexes

  • Whiptail lizards (cloning)

• Some species are simultaneously two sexes

  • Corpse snail

• Some species are sequentially two sexes (individual can at one point be sperm producing and another egg producing)

  • Clownfish

• No species has more than two sexes

Sex assigned at birth

humans may assign sex to individuals for social purposes using among other things, traits that determine or denote sex, but this process of socially constructing a sex does not alter the objective biological reality of gamete production, or lack thereof

Intersexuality

• Individuals whose chromosomes, gonads, internal reproductive organs and/or genitals exhibit mixed-sex characteristics

• Sometimes referred to as disorders of sexual development (DSD)

• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)

• 5-alpha reductase deficiency

Some cultures recognize more than two sexes

• Inter-subjective beliefs about sex vary cross-culturally

• Guevedoce are assigned a third sex for social purposes

• In this way, members of the culture construct an “explanation” about individuals who appear female in childhood and then transform into males in adulthood

• T is not converted into 5-alphadihydrotestosterone so male genitals do not develop in typical ways

Is sex a social construct?

• Some groups of people may inter-subjectively conceptualize “sex” based on sexual morphology (e.g., genitals) because it is socially useful to do so

• That said no change in how we choose to define sex is going to change the fact that gamete production is an objective biological/reproductive phenomenon, not a socially constructed one

Does sex exist on a continuum?

• Intersex conditions are categorical; relative to each other, they are not expressed as a continuous gradient from male to female in a manner of colour gradient

• Gamete production is completely dichotomous; determinates and markers of sex are overwhelmingly dichotomous

• So in these regards, sex does not exist on a continuum

• 99.98% of humans are male or female

• 2 in 10,000 people is intersex

• Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms or supports one’s beliefs and values

• Motivational reasoning is the tendency to make decisions that are desired (emotionally-motivated) rather than those that are evidence-based.

Jan 16

What is gender?

“One is not born, but rather, one becomes a woman” - de Beauvoir (1949)

Beauvoir is trying to say that the state of being a woman is something that is acquired postnatally

Evolving concepts of gender

Traditional view —> Social Role View —> Self-identification View

Biology —> Inter-subjectivity —> Subjectivity

Two individuals aided the shift from a traditional view to social role view which opened up broader opportunities:

Simone de Beauvoir and John Money who is the one who used the term gender in a psychological context, he described gender as socially learned rules, also emphasized that gender is culturally specific.

More recently there is a new view which is the self-identification view this view has been primarily advanced by Judith Butler she says gender is a subjective phenomenon

Gender is about more than socially learned roles and identity

So what is gender?

• Gender is a belief system used to construct categories based on the conceots of “masculinity” and “femininity”

• Anything can be “gendered” by attributing masculinity or femininity characteristics to it

• Inter-subjective ideas about what counts as masculine and feminine vary across historical time and and cultural space

• bodies can be sexed, but bodies can also be gendered

  • when we gender bodies we create gendered categories of personhood

Non-Binary Gendered Categories of Personhood

• In many non-Western cultures, gender is conceptualized in a non-binary manner

• In such cultures, Transgender, same-sex attracted individuals often identify, and are identified by others, as non-binary

• in such cultures, this is also sometimes the case for cisgendered same-sex attracted individuals

Gender role expectations and enactment

• Gender role expectations: culturally prescribed rules associated with how individuals that are perceived to occupy a particular gendered category of personhood should behave

• Gendered Role enactment/presentation: the constellation of masculine and feminine behaviours that individuals manifest

Gender differences

• Average group differences in gender role enactment called “gender differences” for short

• These stem from differences in gender role expectations

Are all psychological and behavioural sex differences between the sexes gender differences?

Psycho-behavioural sex differences

• There are differences in personality, cognition and behaviour that exist, on average, between males and females independent of any post-natal socialization that relates to gender role expectations

• Jennifer Connellan’s study on gazed worked with newborn infants and supports the belief that infants are not blanks slates: are socialized to behave in this sexually dimorphic way

• The study found that male infants looked longer at mobile than faces but female infants looked longer at faces than mobile

• this is developmentally very early evidence of a sex difference that seems to emerge in many different studies and in many different lifespans

  • female: people oriented

  • male: thing oriented

• Some psycho-behavioural sec differences do not originate as a result of gender roles expectations, rather they precede such socialization

• However, their expression can be subsequently influenced by those expectations

• socialization can magnify differences or minimize them however we will not see instances where roles are completely reversed e.g., females who are more thing oriented

• beyond this neo-natal stage of life we are generally dealing with a combo of social and biological influences

Sex differences in Children’s Play across cultures

• a sex difference in object-orientation versus people orientation is expressed in children’s play across cultures

• the assumption is that people share a common biology. Sex differences in children's play across cultures indicate that there are average group differences in play behavior. Boys tend to exhibit more object-oriented behavior while girls often show a preference for person-oriented play. This suggests that, despite cultural influences, biological factors may underpin these differences.

The same sex difference in children’s play emerge across very different non-industrialized cultures

• play with weapon is common among boys and not really seen in girls

The same sex difference in children’s play persist over time

• Sex differences have been quantitatively documented for almost a century

• direction of these differences and magnitude has been stable for 5 decades

The same sex difference in toy preference emerges in monkeys

• Study done by Melissa and her student about if this sex difference exists in non human primates, they threw different gendered toys into Vervet monkey enclosure, dolls and trucks/cars and they found that the female monkeys engaged with the dolls significantly more on average where as the males interacted with the cars more.

• These sex differences happened despite no prior socialization regarding toys

• These study has been replicated three times

A comparable sex difference is expressed by wild chimpanzees

• study by Richard and his student found that younger females who had no babies were carrying sticks around as if they were babies (like stick dolls), females were engaging in the stick doll behaviour much more than males once they have their own babies percentage of stick play drops.

Overview

• Overall the developmental cross cultural historical and primatological data are consistent with the conclusion that these behaviours originate due to innate biological processes not socialization. socialization cannot account for their origin however in humans gender role expectations can amplify or dismiss these differences

Jan 21, 2025

What is sexual orientation

“It has been suggested that sexual orientation can be characterized as a mechanism, analogous to a compass, that directs one’s sexual attraction, arousal, fantasy and feelings

-J. Michael Bailey

Sexuality refers to courtship and/or genital activity involving arousal, attraction and behaviour which can, in turn, motivate identity formation

Sexual arousal and Sexual attraction

• sexual arousal is a state of physical and psychological excitement that is initiated by exposure to a sexual stimulus

• Sexual attraction is increased sexual interest in a target

• Receptivity refers to a willingness to engage in sexual activity (open but passive)

• Proceptivity refers to the active solicitation of sexual activity (open and active)

Courtship

• Courtship (or sexual solicitations) are behaviours that communicate sexual interest

  • non-tactile behaviour (lowering gaze, playing with hair)

  • verbal

  • tactile behaviour (touching, hugging)

Terms for sexual orientation in relation to one’s own sex

• Heterosexual (attraction to individuals whose sex is opposite to oneself)

• Homosexual (attraction to individuals whose sex is the same as oneself)

• Bisexual (attraction to both sexes)

two things have to been known and considered ones own sex and the sex of the target

Heterosexual → Heterosexual males, Heterosexual Females

Homosexual → Homosexual males, Homosexual females

• Gynephilic (sexual attraction to adult females)

• Androphilic (Sexual attraction to adult males)

• Ambiphilic (Sexual attraction to adults of both sexes)

Gynephilia → Gynephilic male, Gynephilic female

Androphilia → Androphilic male, Androphilic female

What is sexual orientation?

Relative sexual attraction to adult males, to adult females, or to both when given a choice

Commonly employed indices of sexual orientation

• Sexual (orientation) identity

• Sexual behaviour

• sexual feelings (attractions, fantasies)

• Sexual (psychological) arousal

• Sexual attention

Assumptions & Implications

• The different indices of sexual orientation are not necessarily concordant

• so these indices are different phenomenon

• sexual orientation is a social construct when conceptualized as something that encompasses all four of these indices

behaviour and identity are impacted by culture and social phenomenon

Sexual feelings as an index of sexual orientation

• Kinsey scale

  • bipolar unidimension 7 point scale for people’s sexual feelings (and behaviours)

  • Exclusively heterosexual kinsey score of 3 is assigned, exclusively homosexual kinsey score of 6, Bisexual assigned score 3

  • assigned X to individuals with no sexual feelings

• Self report (subjective)

  • feelings and fantasies, attraction, what is attractive to you

Some pitfalls involved in assessing sexual feeling

• People can intentionally misreport their sexual behaviour and feelings (lie)

• People can also unintentionally misreport their sexual behaviour and feelings (confabulate)

• Confabulation involves producing an explanation, but not one that accounts for the real factors underlying one’s behaviour or psychology

Sexual aversion/disgust

• sexual orientation is usually though about in terms of attraction

• The flip side of attraction is aversion or disgust

• sexual attraction and sexual aversion may operate independently

• no god objective way to measure aversion

What’s Love got to do with it?

“…the criterion of falling in love [is] the definitive criterion of homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual status

A heterosexual person is able to fall in love with, and become pairbonded sexual/erotic partner of only a person of the other morphological sex.

A homosexual person is able to fall in love with, and become the pairbonded sexual/erotic partner of only a person of the same morphological sex.” - John Money (1988)

we need to be conscious in using love as an indicator for sexual orientation, using lust as a criteria makes more sense

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

intense desire for proximity

intimacy increases as passion decreases

depending on how you combine intimacy, passion and commitment seven types of love can occur.

• Some forms of love are probably closely linked to sexual orientation including:

  • infatuation (Passion)

  • Romantic love (passion + intimacy)

  • Fatuous love(passion + commitment)

  • Consummate love (passion + intimacy + commitment)

What’s love not got to do with it?

• Many types of love do not involve sexual feelings including:

  • Liking (intimacy)

  • Empty Love (commitment)

  • Companionate love (intimacy + commitment)

Other Dimensions of Sexual Orientation

• Age:

  • Teleiophilia - sexual attraction to adults

  • Hebephilia/ peri-pubescent - sexual attraction to pubescent individuals

  • Pedophilia - sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children

• Orientation (pedophilia/hebephilia) versus behaviour (child molestation)

• Species

  • Anthrophilia - sexual attraction to humans

  • Zoophilia - sexual attraction to animals

• Orientation (zoophilia) versus behaviour (bestiality)

• Location

  • External - focusing on allosexual targets (locating preferred sexual target out in the environment)

  • Internal - focusing on oneself (Interest in target becomes inverted back onto self) Autosexual, what you find sexually attractive you invert it back into your own body. Want to temporarily or permanently transform yourself into what you find attractive.

• Activity

  • Masochism - sexual arousal to being subjected to pain, suffering and humiliation

  • Sadism - sexual arousal to inflicting pain, suffering and humiliation

  • Biastophilia - sexual arousal to sexual activity with non-consenting partners

Jan 23

Sexual Attraction and Arousal in Males

Monosexual- sexually attracted to one sex or the other but not both (Gynephilic or Androphilic)

“A man’s pattern of genital arousal is his sexual orientation” - J. Michael Bailey

• whatever the penis is doing thats what a mans sexual orientation is

Heterosexual Erotic Stimuli

• sexual interactions between a male and female is sometimes used but is often not used as it is not considered optimal as its difficult to tell what part of the stimuli is arousing the participant

Homosexual (“Pure”) Erotic Stimuli

• Much more common to use homosexual stimuli as there is only one sex depicted so the object of arousal is more clear

Measurement of Male Genital Arousal

• penile plethysmograph: rubber strain gage filled with mercury, electrical current is ran through the mercury

The pattern of heterosexual men’s genital arousal

Stimuli depicting men

Stimuli depicting women :

The pattern of heterosexual men's subjective arousal

Describing heterosexual men’s pattern of genital arousal and subjective attraction

• Heterosexual men’s pattern of genital arousal and subjective sexual attraction in response to human stimuli is sex specific

• Sex specificity refers to sexual arousal that is dependent on the sex of the human stimulus

Comparing heterosexual men’s genital arousal & subjective sexual attraction

The relationship between heterosexual men’s genital arousal & subjective sexual attraction

• Heterosexual men’s genital arousal and subjective sexual attraction are sexually concordant

• Sexual concordance refers to a pattern whereby genital arousal and subjective sexual attraction match each other

Male sexual orientation differences and similarities in genital arousal

• Unlike heterosexual men, homosexual men’s direction of genital arousal is toward men and thus, sex-atypical

• Like heteropsexual men, homosexual men exhibit a pattern of genital arousal that is sex specific and, in this regard, sex-typical

Male sex orientation similarities in sexual concordance

• Like heterosexual men, homosexual men’s pattern of genital arousal and subjective sexual attraction are sexually concordant and thus, they are sex-typical in this regard

Viewing time data from Samoa

Study of samoan men: Petterson et al. (2018)

• Sexual attraction rating: How would you feel about having sex with this person?

• 1 = Very unpleasant 5 = very pleasant

• Viewing time: time between stimuli presentation and response to text prompt

Samoan males exhibit sex-specific attractiveness ratings

• studied different types of males fa’afafine who had sex with men, men who had sex with men and men who had sex with women

Samoan males exhibit sex-specific viewing time patterns

• discrepancy between ratings allowed us to haze zero as no preference between the two below zero indicates more attraction to women above zero indicates more attraction to men

What is sexual orientation in men?

• the maximum value along an erotic stimulus generalization gradient

• erotic stimulus generalization gradient can be thought of as a continuum of erotic stimuli that differ from each other

Morphological distances (Mi) : Adult female←→ peri pubescent female,←→ pre pubescent female, ←—→ pre pubescent male,←→ peri pubescent male,←→ adult male

• one unit of morphological distance between an adult female and peri pubescent female whereas there is 1.5 units of MD between pubescent female and pubescent male

• Largest unit of distance is found between adult male and adult female (5.5), this stems from having different genitalia as well as being at the end of their development (sexual differentiation)

• the extra .5 distance between pubescent males and females is to take into account the different genitalia

gender preference study: Blanchard (2010, 2017)

data pertains to male penile response to different stimuli

• peri pubescent males and female

• pubescent males and females

• adult males and females

green lines represent data, red lines represent data generated from mathematical model of theoretical data expected, both lines of data fit each other closely

• one column is heterosexual males, the other is homosexual and the data is split up into teleiophilic, hebephilic and pedophilic

• Heterosexual male teleiophiles have greatest response to adult women and the lowest to adult males (AW most preferred, AM least preferred) however they are much more aroused to PPG than AM

  • this is because lesser preferred erotic stimuli has relation to their most preferred erotic stimuli, the more different morphologically the bigger the distance of arousal

• Homosexual Teleiophiles have the greatest response to Adult males, with some arousal to the lesser preferred stimuli AW, they were more aroused by PPB than AW

“Can you imagine being a young man on campus today? The way society policed the sexuality of gay people in the past, it’s now open season the sexuality of heterosexual males. they’re monitored, policed, demonized, under constant criticism, and their taught that their normal sexuality is a pathology that needs to be punished, corrected, and cured.”

- Christina Hoff Sommer (2016)

Heterosexual men are subjectively and genitally aroused to consexual, non-violent sex

• study by suschinsky & lalumiere (2011)

• presented participants with audio stimuli

  • neutral

  • no sex, violence, no consent

  • no sex, violence, consent

  • sex,violence, no consent,

  • sex, violence, consent,

  • sex, no violence, no consent,

  • sex, no violence, consent

• they found that sex was most arousing and they liked consensual non-violent sex

• their genitals reached maximum arousal to non-violent consensual sex

Jan 28

Sexual Arousal and Attention in Females

“Before asking what sexual orientation orients, we should first ask whether anything sexually orients women” - J.Michael Bailey (2008)

Measurement of Sexual Arousal

• most of the studies are doing so with vaginal arousal or vaginal blood flow

• measured with Vaginal photoplethysmograph, more light detected is indicative of more arousal

Heterosexual women’s vaginal arousal is not sex-specific, not contingent on the sex of individual being depicted in the stimuli, might be a little more response to the lesbian stimuli vs the MM stimuli, despite attraction to men.

Sex differences in the sex specificity of genital arousal

• women have a different pattern of arousal to stimuli than men do, sex specificity is male typical, lack of sex specificity is female typical

Heterosexual women’s subjective sexual attraction is not sex specific

• study showed that hetero women found lesbian stimuli more arousing than gay stimuli

Sex differences in the sex specificity of subjective sexual attraction

Heterosexual women’s vaginal arousal and subjective sexual attraction are not sexually concordant

False Comparisons?

• Do sex differences in genital arousal result because we are comparing blood flow in non-homologous structures (vaginas versus penises)

• The clitoris is homologous to the penis

• Clitoral blood flow is not sex specific in response to sexual stimuli

Clitoral Anatomy: Glans, Shaft, Crura Vestibular bulbs

Heterosexual women are vaginally aroused to non-preferred sexual activities

• sex with, no violence and consent was rated highly

• how ever rating of sex did not influence genital blood flow, occurred to highly aversive stimuli

The Preparation Hypothesis

• Preparation Hypothesis holds that vaginal arousal to any cues of sexual activity via lubrication and, in doing so, protect it from damage should forced copulation occur

Female sexual orientation differences in subjective sexual arousal

• Lesbians are more sex-specific than heterosexual women in terms of subjective sexual attraction

Female sexual orientation similarities in vaginal arousal

• Like heterosexual women, lesbian vaginal arousal is not sex specific when shown high intensity sexual stimuli

Female sexual orientation differences in vaginal arousal

• Lesbians are more sex specific than heterosexual women in terms of vaginal arousal when shown low intensity sexual stimuli

• Even so, lesbians exhibit less sex specific genital arousal than monosexual men

Female sexual orientation differences in sexual concordance

• Lesbians are more sexually concordant than heterosexual women when shown low intensity sexual stimuli, but they are still less sexually concordant than monosexual men

• Lesbians and heterosexual women are both sexually non-concordant when shown higher sexual intensity stimuli

• Lesbians genital arousal is shifted in male-typical direction

What do eye-tracking experiments tell us about female sexual orientation?

• Forced attention paradigm: two stimuli presented unable to look at both

• Two important measures

  • Latency to first fixation (LFF) (automatic) (where you look first)

  • Controlled attention (where you choose to look)

    • Total fixation duration (TFD)

    • Total fixation count (TFC)

Latency to first fixation

• LFF is not sex-specific in exclusively androphilic and mostly androphilic/Kinsey 1 women

• LFF is sex-specific in ambiphilic women and exclusively gynephilic women

Controlled attention (TFD)

• In monosexual women, controlled attention is sex-specific

• In ambiphilic women, controlled attention is not sex-specific, but we would not expect it to be

Controlled attention (TFD)

• In all females, controlled attention is concordant with self-reported sexual orientation

Implications for female sexual orientation

• female sexual orienting toward sexual stimuli appears to be less coupled to automatic physiological processes compared to male sexual orientation

• Female sexual orienting toward sexual stimuli has a relatively greater cognitive component compared to male sexual orientation

Greater cognitive control in the sexual/reproductive realm may be adaptive for heterosexual women because they risk incurring relatively greater costs if they make poor sexual/reproductive decisions

Jan 30

Masculinity - Femininity & Sexual Orientation

“It’s highly probable that a small group of homosexual people exist in all societies and produce the same kind of continuu. There are the “macho” and “regular guy” hoosexuals as well as highly cross-gendered homosexuals, [including] female impersonators and transsexuals. Lesbians also exist in all societies. They range from the ultramasculine to the very feminine.

• Frederick L. Whitam (1994)

A spectrum of male androphilia

Very masculine(keegan hirst) → Very feminine (Laverene cox)

Gynandromorph: males who feminize their bodies but retain their penises

Gynandromorphophiles: males who are attracted to gynandromorphs as much as they are attracted to women

A spectrum of female gynephlia

Very feminine(portia de rossi) → Very masculine (chaz bono)

Categorization of same-sex attracted individuals

• Across cultures and history, individuals who are attracted to same-sex adults are commonly categorized into two groups

• These two groups are distinguished by their presentation and behaviour and include: cisgender and transgender individuals

• Cisgender refers to a person whose presentation and identity is relatively typical for their sex and corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth

• Transgender refers to a person whose presentation and identity is atypical for their sex and does not correspond to the gender that they were assigned at birth

Many cultures categorize androphilic males into transgender and cisgender types

• cutures way of saying feminine males

• in ivory coast feminine males are woubi and cis gendered males are yossi

Binary categorization of gynephilic females occurs outside the West

• Thai dee (feminine) and tom (masculine)

Binary categorization of androphilic males occurred in the ancient past

• Two types of androphilic males (klibas) were recognized in ancient India : masculine and feminine

Binary categorization of gynephilic females has occurred at least since the 19th century

• In critical arrows (1879), Ulrich described how gynephilic females could be very masculine (Mannlingin) or very feminine (Weiblingin)

Objective reality: A spectrum of masculine-feminine presentations

Intersubjectivity: Binary categorization/ social construction

• we think of these types as categorically different (gay guy vs trans woman)

Binary bias involves treating gradients of information as binary

this binary bias might be adaptive, might be impossible to process infinite graditiences of information.

Same natural kind, different expressions

• the way in which they express the trait of androphilia varies depending on cultural context

• How would we know? that two different presenting individuals are part of the same category

  • do they share intrinsic properties

Whitam (1987) contends that male homosexual and heterosexual transvestites (cross-dressers) and transsexuals are

“two separate spectra, not one”

• arguing that they are different natural kinds

Two types of MtF trans individuals

• Homosexual/Androphilic MtF trans individuals

• Heterosexual/Gynephilic MtF trans individuals

Whats the evidence?

Homosexual/Androphilic MtF trans individuals

• Extremely feminine in childhood including non-fetishistic cross-dressing

• Extremely feminine in adulthood

• Exclusively sexually attracted to men (homosexual/androphilic)

• If they transition, they often do so early in life

Heterosexual/Gynephilic MtF trans individuals

• Not feminine in childhood

• Sexually attracted to women, but will sometimes engage in sex with men

• Not particularly feminine in adulthood

• Often marry and father children

• Sexually aroused to the thought of themselves as women (autogynephilia)

• Autogynephilia expressed in adolescence via fetishistic cross-dressing

• If they transition, they often do so later in life

Two separate types of MtF trans individuals

Homosexual/Androphilic

• MtF trans individuals

• has normophilic pattern of attraction

• femininity is present since childhood

Heterosexual/Gynephilic

• MtF trans individuals

• has paraphilic pattern of attraction

• often attraction becomes inverted back into their own bodies : want to become what they desire

• Erotic target location error

• femininity starts to manifest at adolescence

Cisgender androphilic “gay” man & Androphilic transwomen

• Same natural kind

• Same biological potential, but its channeled in different directions depending on the culture you find yourself in.

• Different expressions of the same thing

Androphilic transwoman & Gynephilic transwomen

• different natural kinds

Two types of FtM trans individuals?

• What’s the evidence

Childhood onset

• Masculine in childhood including cross-dressing

• Masculine in adulthood

• Most are sexually attracted to women, although some report bisexual attraction

Adolescent Onset

• Prior to mid-2000s it was rare to non-existent

• Not masculine in childhood

• Sexually attracted to women, men or both

• Trans identification occurs “out of the blue” typically in adolescence and often in the context of others in their peer group making similar declarations (peer-to-peer social contagion)

Some cross-dressing is apotropaic

• The Nandi of Kenya , has nothing to do with having sex atypical identities

• trying to avoid evil influences

• power to avert evil eye

Some cross dressing is propitiatory

• refers to signaling reverence, and sacrifice

• to appease gods or other supernatural beings

  • Yase, Japan fesitval

  • Chavara, India festival