Showing papers on "Human sexuality published in 1981"

The Masterpiece of Nature: The Evolution and Genetics of Sexuality

Abstract: Originally published in 1982, The Masterpiece of Nature examines sex as representative of the most important challenge to the modern theory of evolution. The book suggests that sex evolved, not as the result of normal Darwinian processes of natural selection, but through competition between populations or species - a hypothesis elsewhere almost universally discredited. The book also discusses the nature of sex and its consequences for the individual and for the population, as well as various other theories of sex. Since the value of these theories is held to reside wholly in their ability to predict the patterns of sexuality observed in nature, the book seeks to provide an extensive review of the circumstances in which sexuality is attenuated or lost throughout the animal kingdom, and these facts are then used to weigh up the merits of the rival theories. This book will be of interest to researchers in the area of genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology.

Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800

Abstract: A pioneering study which has become an established classic in its field, Sex, Politics and Society provides a lucid and comprehensive analysis of the transformations of British sexual life from 1800 to the present. These changes are firmly located in the wider context of British social, political and cultural life, from industrialization, urbanisation and the impact of Empire and colonisation, through the experience of economic disruption, World Wars, the establishment of the welfare state, changing patterns of gender and the emergence of new sexual identities. This book also charts the rise of both progressive and conservative social movements, including feminism, LGBT activism, and fundamentalist movements. It is a history where the past continues to live in the present, and where the present provides ever more complex, and often controversial patterns of sexual life, with sexual and gender issues at the heart of contemporary politics. Now fully revised and updated, this edition examines key new developments including: the impact of globalisation, and the digital revolution; gender nonconformity and the rise of transgender consciousness; shifting family and relational patterns, and new forms of intimacy; changes in reproductive technology including the debates on IVF and surrogacy; new discourses of equality and sexual rights for LGBT people; the irresistible rise of same-sex marriage; the weakening of the heterosexual/ homosexual binary divide and the development of new lines of concern and divisions in the politics of sexuality. Combining rich empirical detail with innovative theoretical insights, Sex, Politics and Society remains at the cutting edge of the subject, and this fourth edition will inspire and provoke a whole new generation of readers in history, sociology, social policy and critical sexuality studies.

Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis

Abstract: In 1973, after several years of bitter dispute, the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association decided to remove homosexuality from its official list of mental diseases. Infuriated by the Board's action, a substantial number of dissident psychiatrists charged the association's leadership with capitulating to the pressures of Gay Liberation groups, and forced the board to submit its decision to a referendum of the full APA membership. Ronald Bayer presents a political analysis of the psychiatric battle involved, from the first confrontations organized by gay demonstrators at psychiatric conventions to the referendum initiated by orthodox psychiatrists. The result is a fascinating view of the individuals who led the debate and the fundamental questions that engaged them: social and cultural values, the definition of disease, and the nature of sexuality. Available for the first time in paperback, the book includes a new afterword by the author.

Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman

Abstract: Introduction 1. Earliest Memories 2. Family Life 3. Life in the Bush 4. Discovering Sex 5. Trial Marriages 6. Marriage 7. Wives and Co-Wives 8. First Birth 9. Motherhood and Loss 10. Change 11. Women and Men 12. Taking Lovers 13. A Healing Ritual 14. Further Losses 15. Growing Older Epilogue Notes Glossary Acknowledgments Index

The socio-cultural context of rape: A cross-cultural study.

Abstract: A cross-cultural study on the sociocultural context of rape was undertaken to examine the incidence meaning and function of rape in tribal societies. The study utilized a cross-cultural sample of 156 tribal societies. The research described in this paper departs from the assumption that although sexual behavior of human beings was based on a biological need it was rather an expression of a sociological and cultural force than merely a bodily relation between two persons. Analysis of available information suggested that rape in tribal societies was part of a cultural configuration which includes interpersonal violence male dominance and sexual separation. There was considerable evidence to support the notion that rape was an expression of a social ideology of male dominance. First female power and authority was lower in rape prone societies. Second women in these societies do not participate in decision making. The correlates of rape strongly suggested that rape was the playing out of a sociocultural script in which the personhood of males was expressed through interpersonal violence and an ideology of toughness.

Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality

Abstract: List of contributors preface Introduction: accounting for sexual meanings Sherry B. Ortner and Harriet Whitehead Part I. The Cultural Organization of Gender: 1. The gender revolution and the transition from bisexual horde to patrilocal band: the origins of gender hierarchy Salvatore Cucchiari 2. The bow and the burden strap: a new look at institutionalized homosexuality in native North America Harriet Whitehead 3. Transforming 'natural' woman: female ritual leaders and gender ideology among Bimin-Kuskusmin Fitz John Porter Poole 4. Self-interest and the social good: some implications of Hagen gender imagery Maralyn Strathern 5. Sexuality and gender in Samoa: conceptions and missed conceptions Bradd Shore 6. Like wounded stags: male sexual ideology in an Analusian town Stanley Brandes 7. Pigs, women, and the men's house in Amazonia: an analysis of six Mundurucu myths Leslee Nadelson Part II. The Political Contexts of Gender: 8. Politics and gender in simple societies Jane F. Collier and Michelle Z. Rosaldo 9. Women, warriors, and patriarchs Melissa Llewelyn-Davies 10. Gender and sexuality in hierarchical societies: the case of Polynesia and some comparative implications Sherry B. Ortner Index.

Surpassing the Love of Men

Abstract: Faderman takes a look at the traditional view of lesbianism, drawing on love letters, trial records, pornography and the 'experts' proclamations, and shows how shifting theories of female sexuality makes some things acceptable and others taboo.

Women, men, and power

Abstract: This book explores the issues of how relationships between women and men are shaped by differences in personal, collective, and institutional power.

The social control of sexuality.

Abstract: While the potential for sexual behavior is provided by human biology cross-cultural research has made it clear that sociocultural factors determine how that potential is expressed (Davenport 1977). Thus each society constraints "the age gender legal and kin relationships between sexual actors as well as setting limits on the sites of behavior and the connections between organs" (Gagnon & Simon 1973: 4). The nature of these constraints and their influence on the individuals sexuality are the subject of this paper. In order to meet the page limit imposed this review is focused on heterosexual activity. (excerpt)

Sexuality in Middle and Late Life: The Effects of Age, Cohort, and Gender

Abstract: Previous studies of sexual behavior in middle and late life suggest a decline in sexual activity during the last half of adulthood. Longitudinal data on the sexual activity of 278 married men and women, initially aged 46 to 71 years, were collected. These data suggest that levels of sexual activity remain more stable over time than previously suggested. It is crucial to distinguish between aggregate trends and intraindividual change. Although stable levels of sexual activity are typical, aggregate statistics can blur distinct patterns of change exhibited by individuals. Special attention is paid to the relative influences of age, cohort, and gender on sexual activity during middle and late life.

Parent and peer influence on sexual behavior contraceptive use and pregnancy experience of young women.

Abstract: Data from a national probability sample of 15 to 19 year old women are analyzed to determine the influence of parents and peers on the views of young women and how this influence is related to premarital sex behavior contraceptive use and premarital pregnancy. Women with views on premarital sex resembling those of parents have low levels of premarital sexual experience. The sexually experienced among them have high levels of 2 categories of contraception: always used and never used; few of them were casual contraceptors. By contrast women with views resembling those of their friends have high levels of premarital sexual experience; although a majority of the sexually experienced have used contraceptives there is very little consistent use. Consequently women influenced by friends have higher levels of premarital pregnancy than do those influenced by parents. (Authors)

Sex and Society: A Research Note from Social History and Anthropology1

Abstract: “The personal is political” was a central insight of the wave of feminism which gathered momentum in the 1960s. Within that phrase is condensed the understanding that the seemingly most intimate details of private existence are actually structured by larger social relations. Attention to the personal politics of intimate life soon focused on sexuality, and many canons of sexual meaning were challenged. The discovery of erotic art and symbols as malecentered, the redefinition of lesbian sexuality as positive and life-affirming, and the dismantling of the two-orgasm theory as a transparently male perception of the female body were among the products of this critique.

Sexual Development, Age, and Dating: A Comparison of Biological and Social Influences upon One Set of Behaviors.

Abstract: Data from the U.S. National Health Examination Survey of 12-17-year- old youths were used to determine whether the development of the social behavior of dating is more closely linked to the level of sexual maturation or to the progression through age grades without reference to sexual maturation. Regression analyses and partial correlations show that individual levels of sexual maturation add very little to the explained variance in dating after age had been taken into account. It appears that social pressures based on behavior considered typical and appropriate at various ages determines the onset of dating in adolescents. Individual rates of sexual maturation that deviate from the norm for that age have little impact on dating. These findings show how social standards can reduce dramatically the impact of individual biological processes on institutionalized forms of behavior. (authors)

Quality of Life in Patients on Permanent Home Parenteral Nutrition

Abstract: A psychosocial survey of patients on permanent home parenteral nutrition (HPN) has been made to assess the quality of life in these patients. All patients on permanent HPN in the period August 1978 to August 1979, including 7 women and 6 men, age range 24-62 yr (median 53) were interviewed, as well as partners of 11 patients who were married or cohabiting. The duration of HPN ranged from 2-43 mon (median 24 mon). They were asked specific questions about physical symptoms, social and leisure activities, interpersonal relationships, sexuality, psychological problems, and feelings about HPN. None had an outside job, but 6 (46%) did most of the housekeeping. Some physical distress was recorded in almost all patients, but 9 (69%) considered themselves healthy or fairly healthy, whereas 4 (31%) felt diseased. Social and leisure activities were normal or only slightly impaired in most. Sexual activity had ceased completely in 5 above 55 yr, in association with onset of the disease; younger patients displayed nor...

Families in Former Times: Kinship, Household and Sexuality

Abstract: 1. The ties of kinship 2. the household: size, structure and material life 3. Domestic morality 4. Reproduction and sexual life Notes Index.

Attitudes toward Sexual and Nonsexual Extramarital Involvements among a Sample of College Students.

Abstract: A sample of 321 undergraduate students was utilized to investigate attitudes toward sexual and nonsexual extramarital involvements and to explore correlates of these attitudes. The results indicate that a sizeable majority of the students were opposed to extramarital sexual involvement, while the majority also reported they would find several nonsexual extramarital behaviors acceptable. The group most likely to report the various extramarital activities acceptable were males who disassociate sex, love, and marriage and who are permissive with respect to premarital coitus.

Some Observations on Ideology and Sexuality in America

Abstract: In the last several years the public debate on sexuality has increasingly indicated that strong ideological biases are operating in our sexual lives. In order to illustrate and scientifically analyze these biases, five substantive areas of public controversy are examined for evidence of our ideological tenets concerning human sexuality: (1) abortion, (2) genetic differences, (3) exploitation and pornography, (4) sexual normality, and (5) sexual history. Two broad ideologies are derived from this examination: Traditional-Romantic and Modemrn-Naturalistic, and several tenets of each type are ,formally stated. Both of these conflicting ideologies blind their adherents to the broader set of choices and perspectives that are available in the area of human sexuality. The ideology of science offers a way of understanding these conflicting ideologies. Thus, social science research into such ideologies must be encouraged, despite the potential clash with personal ideologies.

Dating Behaviors of University Students.

Abstract: Data on 334 university students in a random sample revealed how students meet, where they go, and what they do on dates. Sexual behaviors of these students also indicate that men expect more sexual intimacy sooner in a fewer number of dates than women. Influences/involvements by their parents in their dating relationships are also discussed. Most students feel positive about limited parental involvement.

Sex on the Soap Operas: Patterns of Intimacy

Abstract: A sample was drawn from all ABC CBS and NBC network daytime television soap operas broadcast in Philadelphia Monday through Friday over the 6 weeks from October 22 through November 30 1970 in an effort to determine the extent and nature of sexual behavior in daytime television soap operas. A simple random sample of 5 afternoons was drawn for each network and all of the programs for each sampled afternoon were coded. The completion rate for the original sample of afternoons was 93% (1 afternoon had to be substittued due to a preemption). The composite 1-week sample of soap operas from the 3 networks produced a total of 12 different soap operas spanning 50 hours (including commercials). Coding categories were based upon those developed by Silverman et al. Erotic touching was defined as interpersonal touching that has clear sexual overtones demonstrating or intending to demonstrate sexual love arousing or expressing sexual desire. 3 subcategories were used to classify whether the participants were married partners unmarried partners or of unclear marital status. Heterosexual intercourse was divided into these same 3 categories and was further coded for whether the behavior was expressed verbally was implied or was actually physically depicted. The remaining categories coded were homosexuality incest pedophilia prostitution aggressive sexual contact exhibitionism fetishism masturbation unnatural sexual behavior transvestitism and transexualism and voyerism. The total number of codable sex acts was 329 producing a frequency of 6.58 per hour. Thus there was 1 codable sex act approximately every 9 minutes. The single category with the largest frequency was erotic touching/unmarried with 115 codable acts followed by aggressive sexual contact/verbal with 68 acts. There was a complete absence of any findings in several categories such as incest homosexuality and masturbation as well as the complete absence of any physical representations relating to intercourse prostitution and aggressive sexual contact. There were 85 codable acts relating to prostitution and aggressive sexual contact resulting in an overall frequency of 1.70/hour. There were 58 codable acts involving married partners and 183 codable acts involving unmarried partners. There were 173 codable instances of verbal sexual behavior. CBS had 7.66 instances of codable sexual acts per hour ABC had 7.20 instances per hour and NBC had 4.60 instances per hour.

Freud and modern psychology

Abstract: Freud's discovery of an emotional basis for mental illness led him to pursue the emotional basis of human behavior in general. This pursuit led him to undertake observational studies of dreams (1900), everyday mistakes (1901), sexuality (1905b), character formation (1908, 1931), jokes (1905a), and the origin of guilt (1913). Volume 2 of Freud and Modern Psychology examines the texts of each of these major writings in general psychology, continuing to explore the contradiction between Freud's observations about the power of emotions and his narrow the oretical formulations about human behavior. Volume 2 also reviews the remarkable power of the uniquely moral emotions of shame and guilt not only to create psychiatric symptoms, as discussed in Volume 1, but to infiltrate our nightly dreams, create everyday parapraxes, influence the development of sexuality, specify the emotional release in jokes, shape personality, and "create" human culture. As we saw in Volume 1, we shall see again in Volume 2 that Freud's theoretical difficulties arose from the absence of a viable theory of human nature as cultural, that is, social by biological origin. In a the oretical framework based on the cultural nature of human nature, the emotions and the social cohesion are reciprocally related to each other. The emotions are the means of the social cohesion which, in turn, is the means by which the emotions, including shame and guilt, are formed in infancy."

Violence against Women: Some Considerations Regarding its Causes and its Elimination

Abstract: Violence against women is identified as an outcome of the social structure and ideology of gender domination. Its very definition is problematic and political, related to changes in women's place in male-dominated society. Specific crimes against women, such as the outlawing of birth control and abortion, rape, witch hunting, and wife battering, are grouped and analyzed as originating in female subordination in the gender-specific arenas of reproduction, sexuality, and nurturance. Despite recent formal legal gains by women, their increasing participation in the waged labor force, decreased childbearing, and a male-oriented "sexual revolution," neither individual nor systemic violence against women has apparently slackened. This is related to the fact that as traditional patriarchy is absorbed by the rule of the state, public institutions, and medicine over "personal" life, male domination is transformed rather than eroded. A qualitatively different development is the achievement of the feminist movement i...

An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias--The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community

Abstract: An Ordered Love is the first detailed study of sex roles in the utopian communities that proposed alternatives to monogamous marriage: The Shakers (1779-1890), the Mormons (1843-90), and the Oneida Community (1848-79). The lives of men and women changed substantially when they joined one of the utopian communities. Louis J. Kern challenges the commonly held belief that Mormon polygamy was uniformly downgrading to women and that Oneida pantagamy and Shaker celibacy were liberating for them. Rather, Kern asserts that changes in sexual behavior and roles for women occurred in ideological environments that assumed women were inferior and needed male guidance. An elemental distrust of women denied the Victorian belief in their moral superiority, attacked the sanctity of the maternal role, and institutionalized the dominance of men over women. These utopias accepted the revolutionary idea that the pleasure bond was the essence of marriage. They provided their members with a highly developed theological and ideological position that helped them cope with the ambiguities and anxieties they felt during a difficult transitional stage in social mores. Analysis of the theological doctrines of these communities indicates how pervasive sexual questions were in the minds of the utopians and how closely they were related to both reform (social perfection) and salvation (individual perfection). These communities saw sex as the point at which the demands of individual selfishness and the social requirements of self-sacrifice were in most open conflict. They did not offer their members sexual license, but rather they established ideals of sexual orderliness and moral stability and sought to provide a refuge from the rampant sexual anxieties of Victorian culture. Kern examines the critical importance of considerations of sexuality and sexual behavior in these communities, recognizing their value as indications of larger social and cultural tensions. Using the insights of history, psychology, and sociology, he investigates the relationships between the individual and society, ideology and behavior, and thought and action as expressed in the sexual life of these three communities. Previously unused manuscript sources on the Oneida Community and Shaker journals and daybooks reveal interesting and sometimes startling information on sexual behavior and attitudes. |Focusing on the War of 1898, Louis Perez presents both a critique of the conventional historiography and an alternate history of the war that is informed by Cuban sources.