FORUMS FOR HUMAN SEXUALITY HEALTH
Chapter One
Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Sexuality in Popular Culture Is Shaped by the
Mass Media, So We Should Ask:
- What kinds of sexuality are portrayed by the media?
- What messages about sexuality are sent?
- Who are the messages intended for?
- What messages are ignored or avoided?
- What shapes the selection by the media?
Mass Media Portrayals of Sexuality Occur in Multiple Forms
- Television
- Movies
- Music
- Magazines, tabloids, books
- Hand held technology
- World Wide Web
- Advertising
Media Portrayals of Sexuality:
- Sell products
- Produce sexual arousal
- Increase sexual behavior
- Provide sexual information
- Correct or incorrect
Media Effects Live by:
- Keeping sexual behavior visible
- Reinforcing sexual and relationship norms
- Including irresponsible models
Mass-media Depictions Are Meant to Entertain, Not Inform
- Rarely present reality scenarios
- Perpetuate the status quo
- Create a social context by defining:
- What behaviors are appropriate
- With whom they are appropriate
- Why they are appropriate
Television
- Increasing exposure
- Increasing sexual content
- Rare presentation of risk
- Rare presentation of responsible action
- Unrealistic presentation of sexuality
Television
- FCC regulation of public airwaves
- Enforces regulations via fines
- Responds to public grievances
- Does not regulate cable
- Parental responsibility
Television Genres
- Comedy series
- Soap Operas
- Crime/action-adventure programs
- Drama series
- Commercials
- Music videos
- Games
- Other
Television Genres Emphasize Different Types of Content
- Comedy series – Taboos
- Soap Operas – Sexual transgressions
- Crime/action – Sexual variation
- Drama series – Situations
Television Genres Emphasize Different Types of Content (cont.)
- Commercials – Attitudes
- Music Videos – Individual expression
- Games – Exploitation & aggression
- Other – Variations
- Note absence of risk or responsibility
Feature Length Films
- Sexy content
- Nudity
- Sexual double standard
- Vulnerability
- Rare presentations of risk or responsibility
GLBT People in the media
- Historically absent from mainstream films
- Historically presented stereotypically
- New trend to present GLBT in positive ways
Online Sexual Activities
- Global
- Cybersex
- Online sex Web sites/chat rooms
- Meet new partners
- Safety
Triple A Engine
- Access
- Affordability
- Anonymity
Cybersex
Real time event involving two persons
engaging in sexual talk for the purpose of
sexual gratification
Online Sexual Activities Effect on Culture
- Crosses distance
- Promotes intimacy without physical contact
- Creates a new level of plasticity and expression
- Positive for expression of under represented groups
- Negative if it becomes compulsive or addictive
Dial-a-Porn
- Commercial telephone sex lines that enable the caller to anonymously “talk dirty” with someone
- Phone worker is paid to respond to the caller’s fantasies
- Creates a sense of “pseudo-intimacy” with the voice
Cell Phone Sex
- Easy access
- Privacy
- Mobility
- Potential billion dollar industry
Sexuality Across
Cultures and Times
- What is considered “natural” varies between cultures
- In America, kissing is considered erotic
- The Mehinaku of the Amazonian rain forest consider kissing to be a disgusting sexual abnormality
- Culture molds and shapes our sexual interests
Cultural Differences: Mangaia of Polynesia
- Adolescence have a high level of sexual desire
- Adolescents are instructed on how to please their partner
- A woman may leave a man who does not satisfy her
- Adulthood is marked by a decrease in sexual desire
Cultural Differences: The Dani of New Guinea
- Little interest in sexuality
- Sex for reproduction
- Extra relational sex and jealousy is rare
- Female orgasm is unknown
- 5 year sexual abstinence between pregnancies
Cultural Differences: Victorian Americans
- Women had reproductive desire rather than sexual desire
- Women with sexual desire classified as suffering from “nymphomania, or furor uterinus”
- Men were viewed as animal like
- Men had raging, uncontrollable sexual appetites
Victorian Americans: Long Lasting Effects
- War between sexes
- Madonna – Whore dichotomy for women’s roles
- Women’s responsibility to tame men’s impulses
- Sexual double standard
Sexual Orientation: The Pattern of Sexual and Emotional Attraction Based on the Gender of One’s Preferred Partners
- Heterosexuality: between men and women
- Homosexuality: between persons of the same sex
- Bisexuality: both males and females
Contemporary American Culture
- Heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation receiving full social and legal legitimacy
- State by state recognition of civil unions
- Who knows which states currently have legislation?
Homosexuality,
Bisexuality, and Culture: Ancient Greece
- Roles for men
- Highest form of love: Same-sex relationships between men
- Between an older and a younger man
- Men were also expected to be married
- Roles of women
- Child bearing was associated with marriage
- Courtesans
Homosexuality,
Bisexuality, and Culture: Sambians of New Guinea
- Sexual orientation is malleable across lifespan
- Young males engage in sexual activity with one another
- Adolescence marks the occurence of sexual activities between males and females
- Adulthood marks the end of sexual activities between males
Gender and Culture
- Gender:
- What makes a person a man or woman goes beyond simple anatomy.
- Gender is the set of culturally-influenced characteristics associated with being male or female
Gender and Culture
- The characteristics associated with being male or female
- Culturally defined
- Not always defined by genitals only
- Fully explored in Chapter Five
Transsexual and Transgender Persons
- Genitals and gender identities are discordant
- A person born with a penis self-identifies as a woman
- A person born with a vulva and vagina self- identifies as a man
- Not the same as transvestite
Gender and Culture: Two spirits
- Biological males who assume female dress, gender role, and status
- Accepted as a “man-woman” and given spiritual status in several cultures worldwide
- Includes some Native American, Filipino, Lapp, and Indian cultures
- Some females considered “two-spirit,” but more rare than with males
Societal Norms and Sexuality
- Diversity across cultures and times
- Calls into question what is inherently natural or normal
- Words like “natural,” “unnatural,” “normal,” and “abnormal” are value judgments
- They often state how we feel about behaviors, rather than objectively describing those behaviors
Natural Sexual Behavior
- How do we decide if a sexual behavior is natural or unnatural?
- What is natural?
- What is unnatural?
Natural Sexual Behavior
- We have internalized the norm since infancy
- Is a part of “the cultural air we breathe” and like the air is invisible
- We have learned our culture's rules so well, they seem instinctive
Normal Sexual Behavior
- Behavior that conforms to a group’s average or median patterns of behavior
- Not related to moral or psychological judgments
Normal Sexual Behavior
- Many people feel pressure to behave like the statistical norm
- Ironically, most of us actually don’t know how others behave sexually
- Most people do not talk about their sexual activities, especially those that they perceive as being outside the norm.
Sexual Behaviors and Variations
- Researchers view human sexuality as characterized by sexual variation, i.e. sexual variety and diversity
- Understand sexual activities as existing on a continuum of frequency and behavior
- People’s activities can be typical or atypical of the group average—does not necessarily indicate deviance
Sexual Behaviors and Variations
- Many activities thought of as “deviant” are engaged in by most of us to some degree:
- Exhibitionism
- Voyeurism
- Fetishism
Authors’ Standard
- The authors of the text believe that the basic standard for judging various sexual activities is:
- Whether they are between consenting adults
- Whether they cause harm
- It is up to the individual to evaluate the ethical or moral aspect of behavior in accordance with his or her values.
Summary
- Popular culture
- Sexual behaviors and norms vary
- Understanding diversity
- Influence of culture
Summary (cont.)
- Popular culture
- Sexual behaviors and norms vary
- Understanding diversity allows us to acknowledge that there is no such thing as inherently “normal” or “natural” sexual behavior
- Sexual behavior strongly influenced by culture