Social Problems Chapter 7: Sexuality – Flashcards
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Sex
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The biological distinction between females and males
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Primary sex characteristics
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Refer to differences in genitalia
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Secondary sex characteristics
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Refer to the distinct physical characteristics that develop as we mature
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How is sex a biological issue?
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Females and males have different organs used for reproduction and also different physical traits
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How is sex a cultural issue?
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Sexual attitudes and practices vary from one place to another and over time
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Sex: A cultural issue
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Sociologist point out that sexual activity is also guided by human culture
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What are some cultural norms define who can have sex with whom?
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-Age -Marital status -Sex of partners
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Cultural norms...
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define what is viewed as normative sexual activity
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What are some factors that led to increased sexual freedom in the U.S. over time?
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-Advances in technology -> more control over -Industrial era migration to cities -Kinsey research in the 1940's and 1950's
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What resulted from these changes?
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-Fewer people delaying sex until marriage -Small "gender gap" in sexual activity
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Feminist movement in the 1970s:
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-View of sex as men's power over women -"Sexism" emerges as a social problem -Public stands against pornography, rape, incest -Demand for access to birth control and abortion
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Conservative sexual counterrevolution in the 1980s:
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"return to family values"
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Continuing Sexual Revolution: Older people
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Men and women who began the sexual revolution the '60s are carrying the movement into old age
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Those reporting a current sexual partner
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-Age 65-74: 85% of men; 62% of women -Age 75-84: 78% of men; 41% of women
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Erectile dysfunction prescriptions
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20 million prescriptions a year -1.5 billion to drug companies
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Sex attitudes over U.S history: Early colonist
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Early colonists viewed sex rigidly as intended solely for reproduction
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Sex attitudes over U.S history: Recent Decades
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Sex has become more of a matter of intimacy and personal pleasure
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Sex attitudes over U.S history: Sexual Revolution
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1960s - encouraged people to be freer and more open about sexuality
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Sex attitudes over U.S history: Sexual Counterrevolution
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1980s - reflected the country's more conservative politics as well as fears about sexuality transmitted diseases
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Sex attitudes over U.S history: Sexual revolution now
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Continuing today among older people, sometimes making use of drugs that treat erectile dysfunction
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Sexual Orientation
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An individual's romantic and emotional attraction to another person
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Sexual orientation can include partners of:
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-Same sex = homosexuality -Other sex = heterosexuality -Either sex = bisexuality -Neither sex = asexuality
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Homosexuality in population
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How one defines homosexual orientation affects the share of the population considered to be homosexual
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Homosexuality history
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Long history of prejudice and discrimination
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Major shift in public opinion of homosexuality
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-Fewer than half of U.S. adults now say that same-sex relations are "wrong" -Laws now band discrimination based on sexual orientation -In 2011, the U.S. military ended its ban on same-sex behavior -60% of U.S. population now lives in a state where same-sex marriage is legal
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Hostility and Prejudice still exist for homosexuals
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-Many religious organizations refuse to ordain gay men or lesbians -1/3 of homosexual college students report experiencing harassment -1,300 hate crimes against gays in 2012 -Homosexual people of color are especially likely to experience violence
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Cultural Factors of Sexual Orientation
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-Diversity of sexual expression around the world suggest cultural influence -Patterns of socialization have an impact
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Biological Factors of Sexual Orientation
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-Sexual orientation largely fixed at birth -Studies focus on genes, hormones, epigenetic research
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1973: American Psychiatric Association
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Removed homo-sexuality from list of mental disorders
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2003: U.S. Supreme Court
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Struck down Texas banning sodomy
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Surveying of U.S. population later on
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Showed a large decrease in U.S. adults viewing homosexuality wrong
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2004: Supreme Court of Massachusetts
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Ruled that gay men and lesbian women had the right to marry
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By 2015
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29 other states (plus D.C.) enacted laws permitting same-sex marriage
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Same-Sex marriage globally
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There are 17 countries in the world where it is legal
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June 26, 2015 SCOTUS
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Rules that same-sex couples have the same right to marry as different-sex couples
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The Gay Rights Movement
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-Gained public attention in the 1950s -"Stonewall Riot" in 1969 -Introduction of the term homophobia claiming intolerance of sexual orientation is a social problem
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Stonewall Riot in 1969
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defining moment in growth of the movement
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Homophobia
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An aversion to or hostility toward people thought to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual
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Transgender
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Refers to appearing or behaving in ways that challenge how females and males should look and act -not the same as sexual orientation
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A better term of transgender
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These people feel like they don't match Ex. People born as a certain sex but don't feel like they match with sex
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Pornography
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Words or images intended to cause sexual arousal -Differing opinions as what "community standards of decency" should be
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Pornography: Conservatives
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View pornography as a social problem because it threatens conventional morality
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Pornography: Liberals
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Defend freedom of expression and support the right to privacy but object to pornography as demeaning to women
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1985: US Attorney General's Commission on Pornography was formed
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-Concluded that pornography increases people's sexual activity and encourages men to be aggressive and more accepting of violent acts such as rape -Others claim that the evidence does not clearly support a link between pornography and rape
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Sexual Harassment
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Unwanted comments, gestures, or physical contact of a sexual nature
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Sexual Harassment in recent years
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-Sexual harassment has been defined as a social problem -Today laws protect people from sexual harassment, esp in the workplace -Most but not all cases of harassment involved men victimizing women
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What was the rise of women's movement in the 60s was primarily responsible for?
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The definition of such behavior as a social problem
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1976: federal court declared...
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That sexual harassment amounted to illegal discrimination
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The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission identifies two types:
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-quid pro quo (one thing for another) -forms of behavior that create a hostile environment (not just intent, but also effect)
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82% cases of sexual harassment
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Are men who harass women
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Supreme Court (1998):
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Employees can be victims of harassment even if they are not obviously harmed by the actions
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Prostitution
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The selling of sexual services
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Where is prostitution most common?
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In low-income nations
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Most sex workers...
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Are women and range from escorts to streetwalkers
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In the US how many arrests are for women and men?
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2/3 of arrests are of women; and the remaining men are both prostitutes and clients
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Sweden and prostitution
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Allows people to sell sex but makes it a crime to buy sex
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Child Prostitution and "sex tourism"
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-For desperately poor children, selling sex is a means of survival
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World wide Sex tourism
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On the rise with the greatest increases in Africa, Latin American, and Eastern Europe
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Child Prostitution and "sex tourism": In patriarchal societies
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Poor girls sent out of the home to work and may end up in the sex trade
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Teenage Pregnancy
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The rate of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is decreasing, but is still higher than in most other high-income countries
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How many teens become pregnant each year in the U.S.?
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768k
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Off all pregnant teens
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Most are not married -17% have miscarriages -25% have abortions 58% keep their babies
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In who is teenage pregnancy more common in?
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Among poor families and most common among poor AA girls
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What increases when a teen becomes pregnant?
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Increases the odds of remaining poor
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How much does teenage pregnancy cost this year?
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11 billion/year
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Babies of teen pregnancy more likely to what?
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-Have lower birth weights and higher risk of physical and developmental problems -May face poor nutrition, little schooling, inadequate health care -Grow up at high risk of becoming single parents themselves
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Sex education: Critics
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Say that level of sexual activity has increased with the adoption sex education
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Sex education: Supporters
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Say that the biggest cause of teen pregnancy is ignorance
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Abortion
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Intentional termination of a pregnancy
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How many abortions are preformed annually in the U.S?
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1.2 million -1/4 of all pregnancies
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Abortion statistics
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-85% of women are unmarried, half have income below or close to the poverty line -Most are in their 20s and about half have already had at lease one abortion
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Abortion: Early time
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From colonial era until mid-19th century, early term abortion was legal everywhere
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Abortion: 20th century
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Laws banning abortion had been enacted in every state
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Abortion: 1973
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The U.S. Supreme Court struck down all laws that banned abortion
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Abortion: Today
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Remains a controversial issue
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Support for abortion: Gender
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Almost same between women (55%) and men (53%)
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Support for abortion: Government
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Greater among Democrats (63%) then Republicans (35%)
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Support for abortion: Ethnicity
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Less widely supported among people of Arab and Italian decent (29%)
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Support for abortion: Religion
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More widely supported by Jewish Americans (89%)
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Sexually Transmitted Diseases
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Disease spread by sexual conduct
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How many kinds of STDs?
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More than 50 including gonorrhea, syphilis, an genital herpes
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How many people are affected by STDs each year?
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20 million -Half under 25
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Cost of treatment for STDs per year
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about 16 billion
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AIDS
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Caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, which destroys the body's immune system
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AIDS trends
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Cases and deaths decreasing -15k deaths in 2010 -32k new cases in 2011
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AIDS total
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1.2 million contracted AIDS and 636k have died
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AIDS globally
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35 milllion infected 3.2 million are children
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Who counts for 71% of AIDS cases?
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Sub-Saharan Africa
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What gender is at higher risk for AIDS?
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Girls
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Behaviors that put people at risk
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-anal sex -sharing needles when using drugs -drug or alcohol use because it impairs one's judgment
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AIDS and U.S. history
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U.S. government was slow to respond to the AIDS crisis -AIDS wasn't given serious attention until the epidemic spread into heterosexual population
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Antiretroviral therapy
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Improves the health of people with HIV and reduces transmission
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Structural-Functional Analysis
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Emphasizes society's need to control sexuality
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Structural-Functional Analysis: Controlling Sexuality
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Emphasizes the importance of cultural norms guiding sexuality
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What does Structural-Functional Analysis explain
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Why societies have always paid attention to who reproduces with whom
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What does the Structural-Functional Analysis state?
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-All societies observe incest taboo
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What does Structural-Functional Analysis say about norms?
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Traditional norms favor legitimate offspring
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Structural-Functional Analysis: Criticism
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Ignores gender, diversity of sexual norms, and changing patterns of sexual behavior
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What does Structural-Functional Analysis say about sexual patterns?
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Some sexual patterns that are widely regarded as deviant, such as prostitution, may also have positive functions, at least for men
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Symbolic-Interaction Theory
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Highlights the fact that members of a society socially construct sexuality just as they create all reality
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Symbolic-Interaction Theory: Defining Sexuality
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Highlights the variable meanings people attach to sexuality -The meaning of virginity -Learning sexual roles -People socially construct sexuality just as they create the rest of the reality they experience
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Symbolic-Interaction Theory: Criticism
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Some patterns are very consistent
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Social-Conflict Theory
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Focuses on social inequality
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Social-Conflict Theory: Feminist Theory
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Points out the many aspects of sexuality reflect men's social dominance over women -Women as sexual objects -Violence as manifestation of male dominance
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Social-Conflict Theory: Queer theory
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Claims that the heterosexist bias in U.S. culture stigmatizes gay men and lesbians, bisexual people, asexual people, and transgender individuals
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What does the queer theory challenge?
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The heterosexual bias in U.S. societies
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Heterosexism
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Bias that treats heterosexuality as the norm while stigmatizing anyone who violates this norm as queer
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Social-Conflict Theory: Criticism
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Most people find that sexuality strengthens a relationship to another person; not as a power issue
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Conservatives: The value of traditional morality
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Support conventional norms -Overall the conservative answer to sexual social problems is a strong family life
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Conservatives: Premarital and Extramarital sex
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View them as social problems that lead to teenage pregnancy and STDs
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Conservatives: Prostitution and Pornography
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Condemn it and states that it violates traditional standards of decency and threaten marriages
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Conservatives: Abortion
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Opposes it on demand and that it gives one person the power to end the life of another
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Liberals: Sex and Individual Choice
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All people should have considerable choice in how they express their sexuality -Attitude is one of tolerance -Limits of liberal tolerance come when someone is threatened with harm
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Liberals: Who do they look for to address social problems
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Government
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Liberals: Abortion
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Support abortion available to all, leaving the decision up to the woman involved
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Radical Left: Go to the Root of the Problem
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Sexual problems are a dimension of social inequality -come about because one category of people has power over another
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Radical Left: Women
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Encourage women to work together to achieve political aims and to avoid dependency on men
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Radial Feminism and Queer Theory
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Argue the need for basic changes in U.S society in pursuit of equality for all, female and male, gay and straight
