Public Health and Sexuality

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Chapter 1: Perspectives on Human Sexuality

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Main Topics

• Studying human sexuality
• Sexuality, popular culture and the media
• Sexuality across cultures and times
• Societal norms and sexuality

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Studying Human Sexuality

• Multiple perspectives of human sexuality
• Source of great pleasure and satisfaction
• Means of reproduction
• Source of guilt and confusion, anger and disappointment
• Pathway to infection
• Means of exploitation and aggression

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Figure 1: Average Media Use in the United States (Ages 18 and Over)

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Figure 2: Adolescents’ and Young
Adults’ Monthly Video Viewing Time
By Device

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Sexuality, Popular Culture,
and the Media

• Media portrayals of sexuality
• Men’s magazines
• Women’s magazines
• Telephone sex
• Advertising
• Books
• Tabloids
• Online Social Networks

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Sexuality, Popular Culture,
and the Media

• Television
• Media reflect and reproduce stereotypical and unequal but changing gender roles
• Major source of information about sex for teenagers
• Influences the way men and women view themselves
• Ratings and V Chip
• Educate parents
• Allow blocking of programs based on ratings

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Sexuality, Popular Culture,
and the Media

• Music and game videos
• Young female artists have brought energy, sexuality, and individualism to the young music audience
• Video games promote sexist and violent attitudes toward women
• Feature-length films
• Portray consequences of unprotected sex

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Sexuality, Popular Culture,
and the Media

• Gay men, lesbian women, bisexual, and transgendered people
• Integrated into mainstream films and television
• Defined by sexual orientation
• Gay man stereotype
• Lesbian woman stereotype
• Media should present healthy sexual relationships

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Sexuality, Popular Culture,
and the Media

• Online social networks
• Surfing the web – a major recreational activity
• Easy to obtain and distribute sexual information
• Expanded ways for people to meet and interact
• Well integrated into the daily lives of young adults
• Means for displaying identity
• The Internet
• Shapes sexual culture
• Serves as a powerful learning tool

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Figure 3: Percentage of Those Who Sext Monthly, By Age

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Sexuality Across Cultures
and Times

• Culture molds and shapes sexual interests
• Humans give diverse shapes and meanings to sexuality
• Mehinaku
• Mangaia
• Dani
• Victorian Americans
• The sexual revolution
• Between the 1960s and the mid-1970s
• Counterculture movement
• Questioned the traditional codes of behavior
• Men – Naturally sexually aggressive
• Women – Sexually passive

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Sexuality Across Cultures
and Times

• What is acceptable, desirable and tolerable in sexual expression still remains debatable
• Sexual orientation
• Heterosexuality
• Homosexuality
• Bisexuality
• Social acceptance of sexual orientations differ across cultures
• Ancient Greece
• Sambians

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Sexuality Across Cultures
and Times

• Gender
• Biology defines men and women
• Culture and other factors shape masculinity and femininity
• Two-spirits
• Transsexuality
• Transvestism

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Societal Norms and Sexuality

• Natural sexual behavior
• One that conforms to a culture’s sexual norms
• Cultural rules become a natural part of ones personality
• Normal sexual behavior
• That which conforms to a group's average or median patterns of behavior
• How do people actually behave?
• Am I normal?
• Only behavior universally labeled as normal
• Biological process of reproduction

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Sexual Behavior and Variations

• Variation
• Continuum
• Diverging from the statistical trend
• Exhibitionism
• Voyeurism
• Fetishism
• Standards for evaluating sexual behavior do exist
• Many sexual behaviors are harmful to oneself
• Masturbatory asphyxia
• Rape
• Child molestation
• Obscene phone calls

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Sexual Behavior and Variations

• Psychological standards for determining the harmfulness of sexual behaviors
• Issues of coercion
• Potential harm to oneself or others
• Personal distress

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Final Thoughts?

• Studying human sexuality
• Sexuality, popular culture and the media
• Sexuality across cultures and times
• Societal norms and sexuality