What is Human Sexuality

1
What is Human Sexuality?

• Chapter 1

2
What is Human Sexuality?

• Human sexuality
• Ways in which we experience and express ourselves
  as sexual beings

3
Sexuality and values

• Values
• Sexual knowledge and critical thinking skills are
  of value because they allow us to make informed
  sexual decisions

4
Thinking Critically About Human Sexuality

• Be skeptical
• Examine definitions of terms
• Examine the assumptions or premises of arguments
• Be cautious in drawing conclusions from evidence

5
Thinking Critically About Human Sexuality

• Consider alternative interpretations of research
  evidence
• Consider the kinds of evidence on which
  conclusions are based
• Do not oversimplify
• Do not overgeneralize

6
Historical Perspective

• Ancient Greeks
• Bisexuality
• Pederasty
• Courtesan
• Concubine

7
Historical Perspective

• Ancient Rome
• Bestiality
• Sadism
• Fellatio
• Cunnilingus
• Fornication

8
Historical Perspective

• Early Christians
• Adam and Eve
• Eastern religions
• Yin and Yang
• Kama Sutra

9
Historical Perspective

• Middle Ages
• Woman as Eve
• Woman as Mary
• Protestant Reformation
• The Scarlet Letter
• Victorian era
• Shaping the present

10
Historical Perspective

• Scientific study of sexuality
• Sexologists
• Havelock Ellis
• Richard von Krafft-Ebing
• Sigmund Freud
• Alfred Kinsey

11
Historical Perspective

• Sexuality in the twentieth century
• Sexual revolution
• AIDS

12
Biological Perspective

• Biology of human sexuality
• Role of genes, hormones, nervous system, and
  other biological factors

13
Evolutionary Perspective

• Evolution
• Development of a species to its present state
• Natural selection
• Evolutionary process by which adaptive traits
  enable members of a species to survive to
  reproductive age and transmit these traits to
  future generations

14
Evolutionary Perspective

• Mutations
• Random changes in molecular structure of DNA
• Evolutionary psychology
• Erotic plasticity

15
Cross-Species Perspective

• Nonhuman analogues of sexual behavior

16
Cross-Cultural Perspective

• Commonalities and differences in sexual behavior
• Polygyny
• Polyandry

17
Psychological Perspectives

• Learning theories
• Behaviorism
• Observable and measurable behaviors
• Emphasize rewards and punishment
• Social-learning theory
• Observational learning, values, and expectations
• Modeling

18
Psychological Perspectives

• Sociocultural perspectives
• Number of sex partners
• Gender
• Age
• Level of education
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Gender roles