Human Sexuality

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Human Sexuality

• Matters of the heart and soul, body and mind

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overview

• A look at an essential part of us all
• Profoundly important
• Undeniably interesting
• A challenge and opportunity for every one of us

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controversy

• Contraception
• Education
• Orientation

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headlines

• Movies/Television
• People
• Advertising
• Crime Punishment

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diversity

• The U.S. compared with other nations
• Great variety within the U.S.
• Ethnic/Racial
• Education/Economic
• Regional

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A psychosocial approach

• Its more than just biology
• Our views of our sexuality are strongly
  influenced by psychological and social
  conditioning factors

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Two themes

• Two essential aspects of sexuality and what it
  really means to be a man or a woman have ebbed
  and flowed throughout the centuries
• Their evolution and current status tell us a lot
  about our conception of sexuality and ourselves

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Sex for procreation

• The belief that sexs only permissible use is
  reproduction.
• So, any other reason to engage in sex is either
  immoral or illegal, or both.
• But today, 60 of us think that oral sex is
  acceptable.

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Male female gender roles

• Real, physiological differences have been
  exaggerated
• Stereotypes
• MEN should initiate, persist and be
  all-knowing.
• Women should be passive and careful or face
  the slut label.

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• We will look at these themes through a variety of
  perspectives as our semester unfolds.

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Other cultures - Islam

• Based on Muhammad's Quran
• Premarital sex is frowned on, especially for
  women
• Marital sex is to be treasured
• Women viewed as more sexual
• Marriages arranged
• Female adulterers and male homosexuals are
  severely punished

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China

• Sex initially promoted through Taoism
• A resurgence of Confucianism led to a much more
  conservative approach
• Wide-spread sexual illiteracy
• Slow loosening today

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A Brief history

• Often parallels the sad story of how women became
  marginalized in our culture
• Western civilization has seen the conception of
  women (and their sexuality) change drastically
  over the millennia

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From Gaea
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Aphrodite
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Maeve
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To Eve
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The Bible

• Sexuality was celebrated by man and wife despite
  strict gender roles
• Sex was a frequent motivation
• On the other hand, diversity (homosexuality)
  meant death

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Christianity

• Jesus compassionate but more typically silent
  about sex
• Equality in the early church?
• The mystery of Mary Magdalene

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Thecla

• Banned from the Bible
• Chastity enthusiast
• Fell into disfavor
• Wrong emphasis?

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The early Church

• St. Paul advocated celibacy in response to
  temptation
• Viewed women as inferior to men
• St. Jerome (340-420)
• Too much lust for your wife?

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The great synthesizer

• Saint Augustine (354-430)
• reformed party guy
• reconciled the Catholic faith with
  classical traditions
• once devoted to God, sneered at sex
• invented Original Sin thus forever
  vilifying Eve
• Missionary position

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The intersection of faith and sexuality

• As the centuries rolled on, the church became
  increasingly institutionalized and male dominated
• Solidified in the context of the sexual excesses
  of the late Roman Empire
• Mary idealized, Mary Magdalene defamed
• Womens sexual nature feared

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St. Thomas Aquinas

• Meshed Catholic theology with Aristotle
• In his hugely influential Summa Theologica,
  briefly but effectively perpetrated the view of
  sex as sinful
• Any activity not aiming for procreation was a
  crime against nature

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Consequences

• After Aquinas, homosexuals could find neither
  refuge nor tolerance anywhere in the Western
  world.
• As for women, witch hunts provided horrifying
  outlets for the fear of feminine sexuality

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The Protestant Reformation

• Some softening of the prevailing, bleak view of
  sex
• John Calvin (1509-1564), said marital sex could,
  lighten and ease the cares and sadness or
  endear each other.

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The Victorian era 1837-1901

• Queen Victoria ruled over England, the worlds
  greatest power
• World-wide tone setter
• Sexes were cast in rigid roles
• MEN stern breadwinners full of lust
• WOMEN pure, asexual, delicate sex was a
  wifely duty

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More Victorian Views

• Sex viewed as a medical risk
• Due to strict gender-roles, great gulf between
  the sexes
• Surprise! - Prostitution flourished

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But behind closed doors

• Celia Mosher, M.D. took a survey of her female
  clients
• Contrary to prevailing notions, they
• 1) had sexual desire,
• 2) enjoyed sex, and
• 3) experienced orgasms

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The Anti-Victorian

• Sir Richard Francis Burton
• Secret agent extraordinaire
• Explored 5 continents
• Worlds greatest sex expert
• Wrote of sexual practices and oddities
• Translated the Kama Sutra
• Prudish wife burned his detailed diaries

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The 20th Century

• People, events and technology brought huge
  changes in attitudes and behaviors
• Freud (1900)
• women are innately as sexual as men
• the even more startling conception of
  infantile sexuality

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• Havelock Ellis (1921)
• women have inherent sexual rights
• anything goes as long as no one is hurt
• Suffrage (1920)
• women could vote but lacked real equality

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World war i

• Soldiers encounter less conservative European
  women
• American women enter the depleted work force
• Society in transition more flexibility

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The Roaring 20s

• Cars mobility and freedom
• Movies role models
• Fashion flappers
• Behavior petting

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• The Great Depression
• with economic hardship, progress slows
• World War II
• repeat of WWI freedoms and exposure
• The 50s
• conservatism and strict gender roles return

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The kinsey bombshell

• Surveys on men (1948) and women (1953)
• Claimed that our sexual behaviors were much more
  varied than previously assumed
• True? It didnt matter.

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The Swinging 60s Beyond

• The quest for gender-role equity kicks in
• The Pill removes fear of unwanted pregnancies
• Laws against contraceptives fall, largely due to
  the controversial Right to Privacy
• Sexs link to procreation is shattered
• Over population concerns surface

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• Maters Johnsons Human Sexual Response is
  published
• Self-help books appear
• Sex therapy emerges
• Gays come out to both positive and negative
  responses
• AIDS erupts and further polarizes positions

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The Explosion of Media/Sexuality

• Just 50 years ago, married couples had to be
  depicted in separate beds
• Now, televisions amazing access has had,
  good gays
• bad depersonalization of women,
• effects on our attitudes towards sex.
• Anita Hill brought sexual harassment into
  everyones awareness on national TV.

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TVs mixed impact

• Does it help by presenting valuable info?
• or
• Does it hurt through trash TVs daily, and
  exploitive, freak shows?
• The Media Projects noble purpose
• But TV is filled with sexual content which
  stresses infidelity, revenge and exploitation.
  Sex in marriage is ignored.

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The medias rapid embrace of gay programming

• The American Family first reality show
• first
  gay on TV
• Sit-coms like Rosanne and Friends follow
• Ellen first gay lead, then first gay kiss
• Will and Grace
• Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for .
• Now lesbian chic in advertising

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Beyond television

• VCRs, Cable, and DVDs bring sex home
• Music videos often portray sexual coercion and
  females as mere objects
• Impulsivity rules tenderness and commitment
  rarely appear

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But SEX Doesnt Always Sell

• Advertising relies on sex to sell but shows with
  strong sexual content leave viewers unable to
  focus on ads!

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The Internet

• Whatever you want, whenever you want it.
• Forums unite people with all manner of tastes.
• Exhaustive source of helpful info?
• or
• Grave threat?
• Remember, you have no privacy.

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In summary

• With all these resources good and bad we have
  the ability to define our personal sexuality, an
  opportunity unmatched in history

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questions

• How much access should minors have to
  contraceptives?
• Should gay marriages be recognized?
• Should prostitution be legalized?
• Should women bear children after menopause?
• Abortion?