Chapter 9 Sexuality PDF

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Dr. Karen Smiley-Robinson Fall 2018...

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Chapter 9: Sexuality -

sexuality is a cultural arena within which people debate ideas of what is moral, appropriate, and natural and use those ideas create unequal access to society’s power, privileges, and resources o vast diversity of human sexuality across cultures

What is “Natural” About Human Sexuality? -

Sexuality: the complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact and the cultural arena within which people debate about what kinds of physical desires and behaviors are right, appropriate, and natural

Human Sexuality and Biology -

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human sexuality is a distinct outlier in the animal kingdom Jared Diamond explains how we are different from most other mammals o we live in pairs and raise children together o humans don't have public sex o we don't just have sex during ovulation cycle o menopause is unique to humans Human sexuality relies heavily on expression of biological drives o Helen Fisher’s “Why We Love”  through human evolution we have developed a set of neurochemicals (testosterone,dopamine, oxytocin and vasopressin) that drive evolutionary trajectory of loving  these guide us through 3 stages of falling in love genetic science still has limitations as predictor of individual human sexual behavior o genes do not work in isolation from environment o attraction, desire, and disinterest are biologically and culturally driven Sexuality and Culture constructionist view o humans are enculturated from birth to channel feelings and desires into a limited number of acceptable expressions o culture both guides and limits our sexual imaginations

What Does a Global Perspective Tell Us About Human Sexuality? -

Same-Gender “Mati Work” in Suriname Wekker’s Politics of Passion studies mati (women who form intimate spiritual, emotional, and sexual relationships with other women) sexuality to them is a flexible behavior rather than fixed identity cant think about them with western views about sexuality Mati work is spreading to the Netherlands forming relationships between young immigrants and older Surinamese women  interesting power dynamics

Machismo and Sexuality in Nicaragua -

Roger Lancaster’s Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua

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Machismo is central to Nicaraguan national imagination and in forming relationships o it must constantly be performed to retain one’s social status o men enhance their masculinity and macho status even if they engage in samegender sexual activity o a man who penetrates another man is a machista and is still considered aggressive and strong because he is the assertive one in the situation

Boy-Inseminating Ritual Practices in Papua New Guinea -

the exchange of semen (fellatio) between older and younger men actually strengthened the young Sambian men’s masculinity, and turned them into a warrior

How Has Sexuality Been Constructed in the United States? -

Heterosexuality- attraction to and sexual relations between individuals of opposite sex Homosexuality- attraction to and sexual relations between individuals of same sex Bisexuality- attraction to and sexual relations between members of both sexes Asexuality- a lack of erotic attraction to others

Origins of Heterosexuality -

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Jonathan Katz believes heterosexuality as it is practiced and understood today is fairly recent invention o it was until 1892 that the modern sense of heterosexuality was introduced Sexology- scientific study of sexuality o played a central role in establishment of heterosexuality as the dominant erotic ideal and dividing the population into distinct heterosexual and homosexual groups Alfred Kinsey- Sexual Behavior in the Human Male/Female o Kinsey Scale: his studies revealed a continuum of sexual behavior o contributed in 2 ways to establishment of heterosexuality as dominant erotic ideal in US: o placing heterosexuality and homosexuality at opposite ends of scale reinforced cultural idea of two distinct groups o relying of quantitative results reinforced idea that heterosexuality is norm “White Weddings” o Chrys Ingraham study about wedding culture and wedding industry and how they construct contemporary understanding of heterosexuality o weddings are key cultural institutions through which we learn what it means to be heterosexual they make women the economic and sexual property of their husbands heterosexual imaginary- our romance with the illusion of wellbeing in patterns of relationship between men and women that in reality may not be present Lesbian and Gay Commitment Ceremonies o homosexuals create rituals different from traditional wedding to recognize themselves and celebrate their love o rituals of resistance and acceptance

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Federal Law and Public Opinion o in June 2013 the Sup Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional -> placed same-sex marriages on equal footing with opposite-sex marriages o rethinking of human sexuality in US culture

How is Sexuality an Arena for Working Out Relations of Power? -

Michel Foucault (1978) described sexuality as “and especially dense transfer point for relations of power”

Colonialism and Intersections of Sexuality, Race, Class and Nation -

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Ann Stoler, Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power, explores sexuality as an arena for working out power relations o Historical study of the ways sexuality served as a tool for enforcing social boundaries under European Colonialism o European colonizers-controlled sexuality and used it as a tool for enforcing social boundaries of European identity boundaries between European women and native men we hardened to discourage racial mixing gender-specific sexual sanctions related to race delineated lines of power between European men and women

Intersection of Race and Sexuality for Gay Black Women -

Mignon Moore’s Invisible Families women in black lesbian community find that race is the primary framework that shapes their identity relationships once hidden from families and communities have moved into public sphere

Sexuality and Power of US College Campuses -

All colleges now have sexual offense policies or sexual harassment policies that spell out their expectations for how men and women on campus should behave toward one another Sexual Violence: violence perpetuated through sexually related physical assaults such as rape At Antioch College they developed “yes means yes” policy rather than “no means no”

How Does Globalization Influence Local Expressions of Sexuality? -

Globalization has influenced local expression of sexuality…  Time-Space Compression: facilitating the movement of peopleparticularly men- within countries and across national borders in search of sexual pleasure  Disruption of local economies are pushing women to fine wage labor in order to support themselves and their families

o These changes suggest that individual expression of sexuality and local understandings of sexuality are undergoing dramatic shifts as they intersect with economic policies, immigration practices, and political movements (globalization) Beach Resorts, Dominican Women, and Sex Work -

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Sex Tourism: travel, usually organized through the tourism sector, to facilitate commercial sexual relations between tourists and local residents o Dramatic rise due to current area of globalization o Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Repub., Cuba, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand o Involves millions of sex workers in a multibillion-dollar industry Denise Brennan’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” o Explores impact of globalization on Sousa, Dominican Republic o Become prime destination for white male European Sex tourists o Benefits corporate owners and airline companies o Doesn’t Benefit the hotel workers or the women o Sex Work: providing commercial sexual services to foreign tourists  Poor, rural, black women hope to reap benefits of globalization through sex work  Belief that they can earn money to help release them and their families from the hardships of life in their rural, underdeveloped country  Young Women migrate from across the DR to seek opportunities through  the sex trade o Globalization as expressed through sex tourism reproduced and reinforced unequal relations that existed previously between men and women of different nationalities. “Anthropologists Engage the World” o

Sexuality, Language, and Effects of Globalization in Nigeria -

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Rudolf Gaudio’s study of language practices of ‘yan daudu’, feminine men in northern Nigerian city of Kano. Men who have sex with other men. o They cook, serve food, sing, dance, or work as prostitutes Globalizations Homogenizing Influence o Yan daudu sexual practiced in northern Nigeria are complicated by the effects of globalization With the introduction of strict Islamic sharia law, which forbids same-gender sexuality, they have been increasly persecuted, harassed, and marginalized. they speak in their own language, yarn harka which provided opportunity to build community and solidarity African governments see recognizing gay sexual rights as a new front of western imperial domination globalization introduces narrower perspectives on the many expression of human sexuality

1. According to your chapter, what percentage of college students in a 2006 college survey would define oral sex as "having sex" with someone? a. 60 percent b. 80 percent c. 40 percent i. FEEDBACK: "Even within one population group - college students at one university - there is disagreement over the meaning of the most physical aspects of sexual relations" (page 314). Definitions and terminology associated with sexuality can differ substantially from person to person within a culture. d. 20 percent 2. Alfred Kinsey posited which of the following about human sexual behavior? a. Humans exist on a continuum between homosexual and heterosexual behavior 3. Chrys Ingraham believes that the notion of "white weddings" influences American society in which of the following ways? a. The father "giving away" the bride promotes the idea of women as "property." 4. Helen Fisher suggests that "through evolution humans have developed a set of neurochemicals that drive an 'evolutionary trajectory of loving'" (page 316). Which of the following is a neurochemical that she sees as important in human sexuality? a. dopamine 5. In October 2014 Columbia University students carried twenty-eight mattresses onto campus to protest what? a. alleged improper handling of sexual assault cases b. sexual assault at fraternity parties c. abnormal ratio of male to female students on campus d. failure to recognize a campus LGBTQ organization 6. Ivonne believes that people, events, and the cultural environment around us shape our sexual desires and behaviors. This is the __________ theoretical approach to human sexuality. a. evolutionist b. culturalist c. particularist d. constructionist i. The constructionist approach to human sexuality focuses on how culture shapes what individuals see as normal and abnormal. 7. Jared Diamond refers to humans as "the animals with the weirdest sex life." Which is NOT a reason for this conclusion? a. Most humans engage in long-term sexual partnerships and often co-parent the couple's joint offspring. b. Human mating is often predicated upon complex displays of physical prowess. c. Humans, as a rule, have sex in private.

d. Human women may be receptive to sex not only during ovulation but also at other times during their menstrual cycle. 8. Surinamese "women who form intimate spiritual, emotional, and sexual relationships with other women" are known as what? a. Wekker b. mati c. machista d. Sambia 9. The combined vast array of cross-cultural research about human sexuality is referred to in your chapter as the __________ of human sexuality. a. lexicon b. stratigraphy c. ethnocartography d. comparative lectionary i. FEEDBACK: The term ethnocartography reflects both cultural and geographic differences in human sexuality. 10. The scientific study of sexuality that began to emerge in the United States in the late 1800s and continues today is known as which of the following? a. reproductive studies b. sexology c. ethnosexism d. mating studies 11. Which of the following animals have sex for fun as opposed to exclusively for reproduction? a. humans b. bats c. wolverines d. wildebeasts i. FEEDBACK: Humans, dolphins, and bonobos are the only mammal species that have exhibited behavior consistent with sex for pleasure, as opposed to for reproduction. 12. Which of the following individuals might be thought of as displaying "machismo" in Nicaraguan culture? a. a homosexual male who seeks to be the recipient in sexual encounters b. a high school male who aggressively boasts of multiple female sexual partners c. a female store owner who complains to her friends about infrequent sex with her husband d. a college student who chooses to wait until he is married to have sex 13. Which of the following is included in the definition of sexuality as presented in Chapter 9? a. anthropological decisions about the appropriateness of certain behaviors related to intercourse b. the discussion of forms of behavior solely involved in the creation of new humans c. the cataloguing of the entire range of male-female social interaction between and within cultures

d. the cultural arena within which people debate ideas of what kinds of physical desires and behaviors are morally right, appropriate, and "natural" and use those ideas to create unequal access to status, power, privileges, and resources 14. White-collar male workers in which of the following nations are likely to visit highly sexualized "hostess bars" with colleagues after work? a. Japan...