Summary
Sexuality and Human Development
Sexual Identity- awareness of ourselves as male of female and the ways in which we express our sexual values, attitudes, feelings, and beliefs.
Sexual Orientation- a preference for sexual partners of the same sex, the opposite sex, both sexes, or neither sex
Other vocab: Homosexuals, Heterosexuals, Bisexuals, Asexuals, Transsexuals, Transvestites, Intersexuals,
Sexual Scripts- specify the formal or informal norms for legitimate or unacceptable sexual activity, the eligibility of sexual partners, and the boundaries of sexual behavior
The Double Standard Revisited
Why We Have Sex: Sex the First Time, Sex in Committed Relationships, How much Do We Know about Sex?
Who Influences Our Sexual Behavior?: parents, peers and siblings, religion, media and popular culture, and sex education
Sexual Behaviors: flirting, kissing, autoeroticism, oral and anal sex, and sexual intercourse
Sexuality Throughout Life: virginity and abstinence, sex and adolescents, sex and singles, sex in marriage, sex during the middle years, and sex and later life
Sexual Infidelity
Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sex
Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV, and AIDS
Points of Interest
On page 177-178, the author points out that religion plays a role in sexual intercourse. I am taking a religion class this semester and we watched a movie on evangelical and pentecostal Christians. The text states that "80 percent of teenagers who identified as evangelical or born-again Christians said that sex should be saved for marriage, but they were more likely than their mainline ... counterparts to lose their virginity and at an earlier age. " After watching the movie in religion, I found this extremely difficult to believe. The Evangelical Christians refused to even dance to secular music, let alone dance in a sexual way or be sexual. However, they did seem quite secluded, so it may have been difficult for them to be faithful when faced with such different attitudes in the real world.
On page 181, when sexual fantasies are brought up, the author states "Sexual fantasies are emotionally and psychologically healthy." I couldn't help but remember an episode of Grey's Anatomy where a man watched porn to help with his pain. His doctor actually prescribed him porn to decrease his pain levels because watching it produced endorphins in the brain.
Reading this chapter also made me think of this fun little clip my mom sent me:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/06/wits-sweeney/
Concerns
The table on page 190 gave me a lot of concern. Most of the items on the list constitute infidelity to me, so it really shocked me that so many people thought otherwise.
Kelly, my response to the table was the same: how lax, how permissive could the common definition of infidelity be?
ReplyDeleteWhat does holding the hand of another mean if not "I want to be with you", "I do not care about who I am currently with", or "I would rather be with you". Interpreted upon each of these meaning the act is unfaithful and is an act of infidelity.
It is also stunning to consider how this table would compare to one that shows the practice rather than the perception of infidelity -- how many people actually engage in these behaviors that they recognize as unfaithful? It would show the great disparity between peoples' intellectual attitudes and their behavior. It would also show that definitions of infidelity, such as our table that specifies what behaviors constitute 'infidelity', mean nothing if they have no place in swaying decision.
I think that the increase in infidelity (true infidelity--you know what I mean, Kelly) has produced three kinds of people (non-exclusive) -- (1) those who are complacent towards degeneracy due to a blasé attitude, (2) those who not only are observant of traditional sex norms but are disgusted by their degeneracy, and (3) those who actively advantage from the degeneracy of traditional sex-norms. We both might fall into category 2.
Hilarious video, by the way.