Chapter 10 - Charlotte Loppie PDF

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Chapter 10 – Sexuality and the Life Cycle: Childhood and Adolescence -

Scientist think of human development, including sexual development, as a process that occurs throughtout the lifespan - This process is influenced by biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors - Lifespan development the study of sexuality throughout the course of our lives LO1 – Data Sources - What kinds of scientific data are available on the sexual behaviour of people during childhood and adolescence? Most of the data come from surveys in which adults are questioned about their pasts. Their responses form some of the data to be discussed in this chapter - The data on childhood sexual behaviour may be subject to errors that result from faulty memory - An alternative would be to interview children about their sexual behaviours or perhaps even to observe their sexual behaviour; reactions from society reflect in part the widespread beliefs that children are not yet sexual beings and should not be exposed to questions about sex - Such research also raises ethical issues: at what age can a child give truly informed consent to participate in such a study? - In a few studies, children have been questioned directly about their sexual behaviour; an innovation is the use of a “talking” computer to interview he children. More children reported sexual experience to the computer than in face-to-face interviews - The studies of child and adolescent sexual behaviours have mostly involved surveys that have used either questionnaires or interviews. Virtually no researchers have made systematic, direct observations of children’s sexual behaviour, although some have asked parens to report on their children’s sexual behaviour. - Once children have learned that sexual behaviour has to be kept private or hidden, though, parents may not be able to report their children’s behaviour very accurately - The sexual attitudes of visible minority children and adolescents in Canada are affected by culture, however, they are also influenced by the dominant Canadian culture and by the behaviour of their peers from the majority culture. This can and does cause conflict between parents and children LO2 – Infancy and the Preschool Years (Birth to 4 Years) - The capacity of the human body to show a sexual response is present from birth. Male infants, for example, get erections. Vaginal lubrication has been found in baby girls in the 24 hours after birth - The first intimate relationship most children experience is with their mother, and perhaps their father in families in which fathers participate equally in child rearing - The mother-infant relationship involves a good deal of physical contact and typically engages the infant’s tactile, olfactory, visual, and auditory senses Attachment - The quality of the relationship with the parents in infancy can be very important to the child’s capacity for later sexual and emotional relationships - In psychological terms, an attachment (or bond) forms between the infant and the mother, father, or other caregiver; it begins in the hours immediately following birth and

continues throughout the period of infancy; it is facilitated by cuddling and other forms of physical contact - The quality of these attachments – whether they are stable, secure, and satisfying or unstable, insecure, and frustrating – affects the person’s capacity for emotional attachments in adulthood Self-Stimulation - Infants are often observed fondling their own genitals. Generally, the progression is that, between 6 and 12 months of age, infants discover their genitals by unintentionally touching them - They learn to walk, their coordination improves, and by 15 to 19 months, some boys and girls increase genital touching - Orgasms from self-stimulation are possible even at this early age, although before puberty, boys are not capable of ejaculation Child-Child Encounters - By the age of 4 or 5, though, children have become more social and some heterosexual play occurs. “Playing doctor” can be a popular game at this age o It generally involves no more than exhibiting one’s own genitals, looking at those of others, and perhaps engaging in a little fondling or touching - Some children first learn about heterosexual behaviour by seeing or hearing their parents engaging in sexual intercourse – that is witnessing the primal scene - Freud believed that this experience could inhibit the child’s subsequent psychosexual development, however research suggest that the experience is not damaging Sexual Knowledge and Interest - In the preschool years, children become interested in sexuality and begin to develop a simple understanding of some aspects of sexuality, although their knowledge is typically vague - Children at this age are very affectionate and enjoy hugging and kissing their parents. They may even propose marriage to the parent of the other gender - By age 5, children have formed a concept of marriage; they know that a member of the other gender is the appropriate marriage partner, and they are committed to marrying when they get older - Because, in Canada, children usually learn early that sex is taboo, they may turn to their peers for learning as they play games of “show” or “doctor” - It is important to remember that children’s sex play at this age is motivated largely by curiosity and is part of the general learning experiences of childhood Knowledge about Gender - By age 2.5 or 3, children know what gender they are. This is the first step in developing a gender identity. Awareness of being a boy or girl motivates them to be like other members of that group - 3- and 4-year olds typically do not understand the genital difference between males and females, but they acquire this knowledge by 5 or 6 - A small number of children do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. These children begin to exhibit cross-gender behaviour, wanting to dress, play and be referred to or named in gender-atypical ways; early as age 2

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Children who are adamant about their gender-atypical identification may be taken or referred to a clinician and be identified as experiencing gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder (GID) LO3- Childhood (5 to 11 years) - The evidence indicates, however, that Freud was wrong and that children’s interest in and expression of sexuality remain lively throughout this period - For many children, sexual awakening does not occur until adolescence, but for others it is a very real and poignant part of childhood - Adrenarche, the maturation of adrenal glands, occurs around 8 to 10 years of age and leads to increased levels of androgens in both boys and girls - In short, some sex hormone action occurs in childhood, well before adolescence - Across several studies of adolescents and adults, the average age at which participants recall first experiencing sexual attraction to another person was at age 10, probably linked to adrenarche and the rise in androgens Masturbation - During childhood, more and more children gain experience with masturbation - Generally, boys start masturbating earlier than girls, a trend that is even more pronounced from masturbation by age 12 - Boys and girls tend to learn about masturbation in different ways o Typically boys are told about it by their male peers, they see their peers doing it, or they read about it; girls most frequently learn about masturbation through accidental self-discovery Mixed-Sex Behaviour - There is generally little mixed-sex sexual behaviour during childhood, mainly because boys and girls divide themselves into groups rigidly by gender - However, children commonly hear about penile-vagina sexual intercourse for the first time during this period - Children’s reactions to this new information are amusing combination of shock and disbelief- particularly disbelief that their parents would do such a thing - Five percent of males adolescents and 1 percent of female adolescents in Canada report that they had engaged in sexual intercourse by the age of 12 o Compared with their peers who first engage in intercourse during preadolescence are more likely to report having a poor relationship with their parents, having experienced pressure to engage in unwanted sex, having used drugs other than marijuana and believing that they must break the rules to be popular Same-Sex Behaviour - It is important to understand same-sex sexual activity as a normal part of the sexual development of children - In childhood, children have a gendered-segregated social organization: a form of social grouping in which males play and associate with other males, and females play and associate with other females; that is, the genders are separate from each other - Given that children are spending time mainly with members of their own sex, sexual exploring at this age is likely to be with partners of the same sex - These activities generally involve masturbation, showing the genitals, and fondling others’ genitals

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A study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth found that the participants reported their first experience of same-sex sexual attraction at age 10 or 11 on average Sex Knowledge and Interests - Children learn very early that male-female pairing are the norm. That is they learn heteronormativity, the belief that heterosexuality is the only pattern that is normal and natural - Intertwined with this view are beliefs that boys and girls are very different from each other, that boys should be attracted to girls, and that girls should be attracted to boys LO4: Sexualization of Children - A major concern of some parents, educators, and researchers is the sexualization of girls and boys in Canadian society - Sexualization as defined by an authoritative report from the American Psychological Association occurs when: o A person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behaviour o A person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy; o A person is sexually objectified; o Sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person - Sexualized products are involved as well, such as Bratz or Barbie dolls, books, and sexy clothing - Boys are exposed to TV shows, video games, and movies that often trach messages that males should have “buff” bodies, that they should be physically powerful and always ready to fight, and that sex for men involves aggressive domination of beautiful women for the pleasure of the man - Sexualization also results when girls are treated like sexual objects by peers, family, teachers, or other adults - Experts are concerned that sexualization may lead to reduced self-esteem and body dissatisfaction because the child does not meet the cultural standard of sexy appearance - In adolescence, viewing oneself as a sexual object may lead young people to initiate sexual activity, to engage in unwanted sexual activity and relationships, and to engage in risky sexual behaviour, such as unprotected vaginal intercourse LO5 – Adolescence (12 to 18 Years) - A tension exists in thinking about adolescent sexuality. On the one hand, sexuality is a normative part of adolescent development, and it plays an important positive role in growth and development, and it plays an important positive role in growth and development - Adolescent relationships, including sexual relationships, provide the context in which the individual develops the skills and learns the scripts needed to sustain long-term intimate relationships - On the other hand, not all adolescent sex is good sex. Sometime the person is too young, or the sex is coerced, or the sex is risky and unprotected. - This heightened sexuality may be caused by a number of factors, including bodily changes and an awareness of them, rises in levels of sex hormones, increased cultural emphasis on sex, and rehearsal for adult gender roles - Udry has proposed a theoretical model that recognizes that both social and biological factors are potent in adolescent sexuality.

o Hormone levels (testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone) and a number of sociological factors  (whether they were in a two-parent family, their parents’ educational level), the teenager’s response to a scale measuring sexually permissive attitudes, and the teenager’s attachment to conventional institutions, such as involvement in school sports and religious attendance - For boys testosterone levels had a strong relationship to sexual activity (including coitus, masturbation, and feeling sexually turned one) - Sexually permissive attitudes, a social variable, also were related to sexuality among boys, although they had a smaller effect than testosterone did - For girls, there was a relationship between testosterone level and sexual activity, although it was not as strong as it was for boys – and it was testosterone that was related to sexuality, not estrogen or progesterone - The bottom line in this study is that it shows that testosterone levels have a substantial impact on the sexuality of adolescent boys and girls - Social psychological variables (permissive attitudes, father absence for girls and religious attendance) then interact with the biological effects, in some cases magnifying them in some cases suppressing them What Impact Does Mass Media Have on Adolescent Sexuality? - A major developmental task of adolescence is learning how to manage physical and emotional intimacy in relationships with others - Although most Canadian students identify school as their main source of information on human sexuality, an increasingly important source of information are the media – in particular, the Internet - In one study of youth ages 14 – 17, 54% of the participants identifies television and 44% identifies the Internet as a source of information about sex and sexual health - Media are a major part of adolescents’ lives - In analyzing how much sexual content there is in mass media in the US, sexual material is defined to include talk about sex, sexually suggestive behaviour, and explicit portrayals of sex. o 70% of the programs included sexual material; 4.6 scenes per hour included talk about sex, and 2 scenes per hour included sexual behaviour o Only 4% of scenes portraying risk or responsibilities associated with sex - Cable movie networks have the largest proportion of programs with sexual content. The most frequent portrayals are of unmarried heterosexual intercourse, often in a context of alcohol and drug use - A content analysis of the 40 best-selling books targeting youth ages 9 to 14+ found that they contain a great deal of sex-related information o Portrayals of sexual intercourse involved unmarried couples in uncommitted relationships - The results of a study indicated that, in a typical hour of television viewing, these adolescents were exposed to an average of 17 references to sexual talk or behaviour - It would be a mistake, thought, to think of adolescents as passive victims of an onslaught of media sex; research indicated that teen actively seek sexual content in their media choices - Some popular television programs and movies meant for adolescent audience do explore teen sexuality in a more realistic and sex-positive way and encourage positive behaviour:

teens talk about sex and obtain consent from their partners for sexual actives; abstinence is respected as a choice; condoms are discussed and used; and youth obtain STI/HIV testing, use birth control, and discuss their pregnancy options with partners and health practitioners. - Media representation of gay and lesbian adolescent characters have increased, giving LGBTQ more characters, they can identify with - Experts say that the majority of portrayals of sex being confusing and negative represent sexual socialization by the media - Youth may learn scripts that influence their later sexual decision-making and behaviour - Many studies demonstrate correlations between the amount of sexual media consumption and adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviours - The media may also influence standards of physical attractiveness and contribute to the dissatisfaction with their bodies that many, especially women, feel. - Youth who view more sexual content at baseline are more likely to progress to more advanced sexual activities and to engage in first intercourse in the following year - Youth who had spent more time watching these films reported a younger age of first intercourse and more risky sexual behaviour including more sexual partners and more frequent causal sex without a condom - The evidence is strong that media portrayals have an important impact on adolescents’ sexual knowledge and attitudes, and behaviours. The problem lies in the fact that these portrayals are not realistic - As a final note, most adolescents are not only exposed to sexuality in the mass media but are also increasingly exposed to sexual depictions in pornography, which they easily access over the Internet Masturbation - According to the Kinsey data, there is a sharp increase in the incidence of masturbation for boys between the ages of 13 and 15. The curve is steepest between the ages of 13 and 15, indicating that most boys begin masturbating to orgasm during that period (age 15 – 82% of the boys in the study had masturbated) - Many girls also begin masturbating in adolescence but note that the curve on the graph is flatter for them, indicating that many girls do not being masturbating until later. The increase in their masturbation behaviour is more gradual for girls than for boys and continues past adolescence - More recent data indicated children and adolescents begin to masturbate earlier today, thus the Kinsey data needs to be pushed back about a year - Attitudes toward Masturbation o Attitudes toward masturbation underwent a dramatic change in the 20th century o As a result adolescents are now given much different information about masturbation than were earlier adolescents, and this may affect both their behaviour and their feelings o Masturbation, in short, was once believed to cause everything from warts to insanity o Attitudes toward masturbation are now considerably more positive, and today few people who subscribe to notions like those expressed earlier; most individuals see masturbation as normal

o Indeed, sex therapists recommend masturbation as a way for people to increase their awareness of their own sexual response and as a step in overcoming a number of sexual problems and concerns o Researchers did a content analysis of popular North American movies and found that masturbation was generally depicted somewhat negatively, especially when engaged in by a male character, often leading to negative outcomes Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour - Grade 9 and 11 students in the CYSHHAS were asked about their sexual attraction o About 5% of the girls reported being attracted to girls or to both boys and girls o Among the boys 2-6% reported being attracted to boys or to both boys and girls - Experts believe that adolescence is the period during which one’s identities develop and become stabilized. The process of self-identification as a sexual minority person typically occurs between a14 and 21, and occurs at somewhat younger ages for boys - Adolescents are generally accepting of same-sex sexual behaviour - Nonetheless, many sexual minorities adolescents experience prejudice and rejection within their families or their schools; nonetheless, most sexual minority youth successfully navigate these difficulties and emerge at the end of adolescence with wellbeing compared to their heterosexual peers - Adolescence is also the period during which gender identity, one’s sense of being male, female, or in some other gender category, undergoes substantial development - Most youth experience gender intensification – that is, further development of a gendervariant identity o Pubertal development, intensified cultural and peer pressure to conform to genderrole norms, and increased time spent in gendered social contexts Mixed-Sex Sexual Behaviour - In middle and late adolescence, more and more young people engage in sex with members of the other gender, with more and more frequency. Thus mixed-sex sexual behaviour gains prominence and becomes the major sexual outlet - Many adolescents who go on to adopt gay, lesbian or bisexual identities report having engaged in heterosexual activity during adolescence – 74% of fema...