Untitled Flashcards Set

Prehistory (40,000 - 3000 BC)

• tribal system 

• Worship of women’s fertility 

• later, became farmers

  • phallic worship (penis) 

  • incest taboo

Mesopotamia: 3000-300 BC (area that is now Iraq) 

• fertility cults

• positive attitudes towards sex

• few restrictions, except adultery 

• Ancient Hebrews 1000-200 BC

  • Restrictive laws 

  • marital sex joyful & encouraged 

  • circumcision 

  • women + “temptresses” 

Ancient Greece/Rome -500-300 BC

• Ancient Greeks

  • bisexuality - sex with both genders

  • pederasty - love of boys (older Greek man with younger boys) 

  • women = low status 

• Ancient Rome

  • upper class many excesses 

  • against homosexuality 

  • women = low status 

Early Christians - ~ 300-400

• celibacy was the best thing -> not having sex

• sex for procreation only 

• children born of sin

Other religions 

• Islam 

  • family is backbone 

  • premarital sex -> social condemnation 

• Eastern religions 

  • Chinese: yin & yang - men extend intercourse 

  • Indian: Kama Sutra - most famous sex manual in history

Middle Ages ~ 450-1450

• sex sinful 

• missionary position only 

• Protestant reformation ~1500’s (after 1000 years of Catholicism) 

  • sexuality within marriage = ok

  • pleasure was ok if there was side-effect of procreation

Victorian Era: 1800s 

• conservative clothing 

• euphemisms for anything relating even vaguely to sex 

• believed that men had sex drives & women didn’t 

• masturbation bad for health 

Late Victorianism (1880-1940)

• Industrial Revolution/WW1 

  • changes in male and female roles

  • feminist movement getting stronger 

  • sexuality -> legitimate era of study

Scientific study of sexuality - sexologists

• Richard Von Krafft - Ebing 

  • sexual deviance 

  • his own view distorted 

    • sex a “fearsome” thing

    • women have NO sex drive

    • sexual deviance = medical condition, treatable 

• Henry Havelock Ellis

  • sexual desire is women = natural 

  • masterbation common for both genders 

  • should have sex ed for everyone at an early age 

  • no one norm for sexuality 

• Sigmund Freud 

  • Very influential 

  • sex drive major motivating force, healthy 

  • repressing desire led to depression and anxiety 

  • unconscious desire 

• Alfred Kinsey 

  • First large scale study 

  • Historical perspective 

  • sexual revolution 

  • mid 1960s-1970s

  • the “pill”

  • pop psychology 

  • AIDS

Research methods in sexuality 

• evidence, NOT intuition 

• important to recognize flaws 

• populations 

• samples -> random sample, stratified random samples, should be a representative sample 

• limitations: volunteer bias 

case study 

• = individual/small groups 

• advantage:

• get to know participants very well 

• sometimes only way to discover something 

• disadvantage: 

• people studied may not be typical 

• interviewer bias 

surveys 

• questionnaires or interviews

• goal: generalizations about population 

• anonymity -> more truthful results 

• Kinsey survey: 5300 males and 5940 women 

• 1938-1949

• no random sample 

• checked reliability 

• couldn't validate findings 

other large scale surveys 

• NHSLS (national health and social life survey) 

• sexual behaviour in US

• 3432 people 

• completion rate 80%

surveys 

• research concerns 

• questions must not be biased 

• need to have representative sample 

• advantages: 

• cheap & fast, sample is representative of population -> good statistics 

• disadvantages: 

• inaccurate answers/bad memory/lying 

• volunteer bias 

• statistics can be misleading -> correlation (association between 2 variables) 

Kinsey's research 

• Steps to guard against lying/inaccuracies 

• 1. Straightforward language 

• 2. Ask when “first done” a behaviour 

• 3. Rapid questions -> no time to think of lies 

• 4. Reinterviewing after 2 years, compare spouse reports 

• still some issues with research 

• not a representative sample 

• volunteer bias 

• Kinsey reported behaviours only 

some of Kinsey’s findings 

• anal sex: 11% of men (in marriage) have done it at least once

• bisexuality: 46% of men & 6-14% of women 

• masturbation: 92% of men and 62% of women (45% of women orgasm within 3 minutes) 

• masturbation: most important sexual outlet for single women, 2nd most important outlet for married women 

Observational methods 

• naturalistic observation = in the field 

• participant observation = interactive 

• laboratory observation = in lab, artificial 

other landmark research 

• lab observation study 

• Masters & Johnson study: 

• 312 men and 382 women 

• 1960s/70s 

• habituated to lab setting 

• married couples had sex

• unmarried people masterbated 

• controversial, but first reliable set of data on sexual arousal processes 

monitoring equipment: 

• penile strain gauge 

• vaginal plethysmograph 

limitations of observational studies 

• observer effects - being watched, might change behaviour 

• bias of researcher 

• volunteer bias 

• might respond differently in public than in private (even biologically) 

• monitoring equipment affect responses 

Child and adolescent sexuality 

Infancy (0-2 years) 

• sexual reflexes present before birth 

• Kinsey (1953): baby boys show “orgasm” by 5 months, baby girls by 4 months

• masturbation: typical for infants and young children, start between 6-12 months 

• sex play 

• age 2 

• usually exploratory, not sexual 

Early childhood (3-8 years) 

• Heterosexual behaviour: 

• 3&4 years old - kissing 

• same sex sexual behaviour 

• “playing doctor” common ages 6-10

Preadolescence (9-13 years) 

• close friendships with same gender 

• usually dislike other gender 

• self- conscious about bodies

• masturbation: Kinsey: primary means of achieving orgasm, both genders (45% of men, 15% of females by age 13)

• heterosexual behaviour: 

• interests in other gender gradually increases as approach puberty 

• same sex sexual behaviour: 

• exploration between those of same gender many still occur 

• usually NOT gay or lesbian orientation 

Adolescence 

• puberty - secondary sex characteristics 

• distinguish men from women 

• not directly involved in reproduction 

• primary sex characteristics - sex organs 

Adolescence: Girls 

• menarche = first period 

• happening earlier 

• 8-14 years: estrogen secreted from ovaries

• growth of breasts 

• growth of uterus, thickening of vaginal lining

• testosterone (adrenal glands and ovaries) + estrogen -> pubic & underarm hair (age 11)

• estrogen levels cyclical -> menstrual cycle 

Adolescence: Boys

• release of testosterone (testes) 

• growth of male genitals, secondary sex characteristics 

• by age 13/14, erections become frequent 

• sperm usually not mature until 1 year after 1st ejaculation 

• nocturnal emissions (wet dreams) - involuntary ejaculation during sleep 

• Men produce a little estrogen in adrenals and testes 

• masturbation - major sexual outlet, more for men than women

• early dating -> higher early sexual activity 

• less likely to use contraception, more likely to get unwanted pregnancy 

• sexual behaviour 

• petting (foreplay) 

• oral sex increasing since kinsey's time 

• birth control 

• Montreal data on premarital intercourse (pmi)

• 107,300 students age 12-17: 

• 1 in 10 had first sexual relationship before age 14 

• reasons for intercourse: sex hormones, curiosity, in love with their partner, to rebel against parents, peer pressure 

Teenage pregnancy: 

• declining in recent decades 

• more contraceptives being used 

• consequences: many teenage mothers & children live in poverty, little help from teenage father 

use of contraceptives 

• teen girls -> if frequent sex, more likely to use contraception 

• condoms: younger teens better than older teens 

adult sexuality: 

• celibacy 

• complete: total sexual abstinence 

• partial:  masturbation but no sex with others 

• focus energy on career goals, sex outside of marriage = immoral, fears of STI 

• dating: serial monogamy: 1 exclusive relationship after another 

• declining marriage rates 

• 10.9 marriages for every 1000 people in 1940s 

• historic low: 2.6 marriages in every 1000 people in 2020

• average age at 1st marriage (2019) 35.5 years old 

cohabitation: 

• = living together with ought legal marriage 

• 2021 - canada excluding Quebec, 17% “common law” couples 

• quebec - 43% of couples are cohabiting 

• Belief “iron out kinks in relationship before marriage” 

• but: no - greater risk of divorce 

• likelihood of divorce nearly 2x as great