Introduction to the Study of Human Sexuality

1. Introduction to the
Study of Human
Sexuality
WARNING: THIS MATERIAL INCLUDES SEXUALLY EXPLICIT IMAGES/WORDS
AND IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE VIEWED BY YOUNGER PEOPLE. IF SO, PROPER
GUIDANCE IS ADVISED!

2. Why Study Sexuality?
 Some students have parents who provide an education in terms of
sexuality, while others never spoke of it
 Some schools offer sex education as a course while other learn via the
media or through their own peers
 Our family of origin is the one who largely influences us
 We also learn from our romantic partners, friends, religion, society, and etc.
 Current Issues:
 Same-Sex Marriage Legalization
 CoEd Dorms
 Sexually Transmitted Infections/Diseases

3. What is Sexuality?
 Human sexuality is grounded in biological functioning, emerging in each
of us as we develop, and is expressed by cultures through rules about
sexual contact, attitudes about moral and immoral sexuality, habits of
sexual behavior, patterns of relations between the sexes, and more.
 It is studied by sexologists

4. The Impact of Media
 Television
 Magazines
 Advertisements
 Pornographic Pictures/Videos

5. History of Sexuality
 Our ancestors were quadrupeds
 Phallus- symbol of sex and potency; associated with aggression
 Upright posture of breasts
 Because more body area is in contact in face-to-face intercourse than in
rear entry, the entire sensual aspect on intercourse was enhanced,
manipulation of the breasts became possible (the breasts are sexual
organs only in humans), and the female clitoris was much more easily
stimulated.

6. History of Sexuality: Ancient Egypt
 Egyptians condemned adultery among women
 Egyptian women had the right to divorce a husband,
but not among Hebrew women
 Circumcision
 Temple Prostitutes: Women in ancient cultures who
would have sex with worshippers at pagan temples to
provide money for the temple or to worship the gods.

7. History of Sexuality: Hebrews
 The Hebrew bible contained explicit rules
about sexual behavior
 Tales of sexual misconduct:
 Adultery
 Homosexuality
 Sex within family members
 Incest
 Sexual Betrayal
 Sex outside of marriage
 Sexual jealousy
 Tales of marital love
 The Hebrew Bible sees the marital union and
its sexual nature as an expression of love and
affection, as a man and woman “become one
flesh.”

8. History of Sexuality: Greeks
 Sexually Permissive
 Bestiality: sex with animals
 Can be seen in some stories and myths
 Aphrodite: goddess of sexual intercourse
 Eros: god of love; son of Aphrodite
 Pederasty: postpubescent males having a
sexual intercourse with adult
 Mentor and Student relationship
 Man’s nonsexual love for another man was
seen as the ideal love, superior to the
sexual love for women.
 Platonic- friendships without a sexual
element

9. History of Sexuality: Romans
 Permissive on bisexual and homosexual
behaviors
 Marriage and sexual relations were means of
improving one’s economic and social status
 Wives encourages husbands to have slaves
for sexual release

10. History of Sexuality: India
 Karma
 Patriarchal
 Female infanticide
 Marriage is an economic and religious obligation
 Kamasutra appeared around 400 B.C
 Discussed the nature of love
 Naming and classifying things, especially through the
size of the penis and vagina
 Recommends women to learn on how to please their
husbands
 Sex should be a passionate activity, it may include
scratching, biting, and blows to the back accompanied
by a variety of animal noises

11. History of Sexuality: China
 Interdependence of all things, unified in Tao
 Yin (women’s essence) and Yang (male’s semen)
 Sexual instruction and manuals are openly available in
early Chinese societies’
 Heterosexual intercourse should be prolonged as
possible without male ejaculation.
 Same-sex intercourse is not discouraged but male
homosexuality was viewed as a waste of spem
 Sexual devices were common
 Practice of Polygamy

12. History of Sexuality: Early Christianity
 Formalized with the teachings of St. Paul
 Jesus was silent but seems to be liberal
about it.
 men should be held to the same standards
as women on issues of adultery, divorce,
and remarriage
 “Let he who is without sin cast the first
stone.”
 Celibacy
 Chastity as a virtue
 Non-procreative sex is a sin
 Cognitive dissonance occurs among
people

13. History of Sexuality: Middle Ages
 Increase of Church’s influence
 The Church became strict during the 13th
Century.
 1215- Confession
 Woman as a place of purity
 Woman as a model of virtue
 Entremetteuse- teaches young men the ways of
love who was said to know the secrets of
restoring potency, virginity, and concocting
positions
 Ascetism- the practice of a lifestyle that rejects
sensual pleasures such as drinking alcohol,
eating rich food, or engaging in sex.

14. History of Sexuality: Islam
 Satr al-’awra – covering the private parts of the
body
 Muhammad tried to preserve the rights of
women
 Women in Islamic lands are subjugated to men
 Koran likens wives to fields that men should
cultivate as frequently as they want.
 Harems- secluded areas of a woman’s rich
husband in order to learn how to become self-
sufficient in the absence of men
 Eunuchs- guards the women who might want
to sleep with the sultan

15. History of Sexuality: Renaissance
 A shift in intellectual and artistic thought from God to
humans
 Women were having advancements
 1532- debates on women
 Women are peaceful, chaste, refined, and faithful
 17th Century witchcraft trials

16. History of Sexuality: Reformation
 Martin Luther King challenged Papal authority; allowed divorce
 John Calvin – women were not just reproductive vessels but men’s partners in all things

17. History of Sexuality: Enlightenment
 Sexual pleasure is natural and desirable
 Rise in premarital sex and illegitimate
birth
 1730 – Sodomite panic in Netherlands
 Napoleon eased laws against
homosexuality
 1860- French male prostitution

18. History of Sexuality: Victorian Era
 Prosperity in England
 Conservative sexual attitudes
 Pornography, Extramarital affairs, and prostitution
were common
 Male Chivalry
 Women does not talk about sex, even to a doctor
 Sexuality is repressed

19. History of Sexuality: Puritan Ethic
 Puritans – a religious group who tried to set up a
biblically based society in the New World
 Community is responsible for upholding morality
 Sexuality was good and proper within marriage
 Non-missionary sex style position
 Sexual intercourse during menstruation
 Lack of women
 Freer sexuality
 Bundling – young couples were allowed to share a
bed as long as they are clothed, wrapped in
sheets/bags, or had a wooden bundling board
 Premarital pregnancy as an indication of quick
marriage

20. History of Sexuality: Liberalization of
Sex
 People began to openly discuss
 1/3 of all brides in some parts of New England were pregnant
 1720 – prostitution was rare
 Late 18th Century – brothels were attacked
 Contraception were already available
 Decline in birth rate

21. History of Sex: Slavery
 Indentured Servants - A person who is bound by
requirements to work for another person for a
specified time in exchange for payment of travel
and living expenses.
 1670 – slaves were common in the South
 Anti-miscegenation laws forbids sexuality,
marriage, or breeding among members of
different races.
 Whites accused African slaves of having loose
morals

22. History of Sexuality: 19th Century
 1820s Free Love Movement - love, not marriage,
should be the prerequisite to sexual relations.
 Mormons practiced polygamy
 Close of 19th Century – medical model of sexuality
 Anthony Comstock outlawed obscenity

23. History of Sexuality: 20th Century
 Social Hygiene Movement
 Began in 1905
 Curious mixture of liberal and traditional methods
 Anti-premarital sex
 Masturbation can harm
 Sex Education Movement
 Sexology
 Scientific advances in understanding human sexuality
 The work of these sexologists helped to demystify sex and make it more respectable to publicly
discuss the sexual behaviors and problems of real people.
 Sexual Revolutions
 Reich believed in sexually liberated society
 1953 – Playboy began under Hugh Hefner
 Helen Gurley Brown - Cosmopolitan
 Changes in sexual morality and sexual behavior that occurred throughout the Western world during
the 1960s and 1970s

24. History of Sexuality: 20th Century
 Feminism
 Women’s suffrage movement
 Margaret Sanger influenced women’s sexuality
 Katharine Dexter McCormick – Birth Control League
 Planned Parenthood
 Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) showed
that women were not granted an identity of their own
but were considered the objects of men’s wishes and
anxieties.
 Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) stated
that educated, bright women felt trapped in the role of
housewife and wanted careers to have happier, more
fulfilled lives
 Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics (1969) which was written
during the Vietnam War stated that patriarchy bred
violence and forced to renounce men everything that is
feminine in them. Rape was seen as an act of
aggression aimed at controlling women

25. History of Sexuality: 20th Century
 World War II was challenging for
homosexuals
 Homosexuals were portrayed as perverts,
lurking in schools and on street corners ready
to pounce on unsuspecting youth, and many
were thrown out of work or imprisoned in
jails and mental hospitals.
 1951- Mattachine Society was founded by
Harry Hay
 1955 – Daughters of Bilitis was founded by 4
lesbian couples in San Francisco
 1969 – police raided Stonewall
 1973 – homosexuality was removed from the
DSM
 1990 – Queer Theory
 Former US President Barack Obama’s
legalizagion of Same-Sex Marriage