Sexuality As A Social Concept

1. Sexuality As A Social Concept Sexuality As An Evolving Concept Sexual Socialization: Agents Sexual Socialization: Cause And Effect?

2. Sexuality As An Evolving Concept • In Western culture, it was the early Christians that came to view sex as sinful. • Alarmed by the sexual excesses of Romans, and influenced by the Greek concept of dualism, early Church leaders such as Saint Paul argued that celibacy was necessary for spiritual development. • Saint Augustine, the major influence on early Christian beliefs about sex, believed that lust was the original sin of Adam and Eve and consequently, that sex was sinful.

3. The prevailing view of women’s sexuality began to change at the time of the Crusades and the elevation of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. • The Virgin Mary was perceived as compassionate and pure, and thus a dichotomous view of women evolved: virgins as asexual and pure, and sexually experienced women who expressed sexual desire as evil temptresses. • This virgin/whore dichotomy is still very prevalent in traditional Latino cultures. • The general view during the Middle Ages was still that men were ruled by reason and had more control of their sexual impulses, while women were ruled by animal appetites.

4. During the Victorian era, we saw a complete turnabout in the way women were viewed. • Men were now viewed as sexual aggressors who could not control their desires. • Women’s gender roles were very stereotyped at this time, and they were expected to be subservient to men and fulfill their roles as wives and mothers. • The 1900s witness the advancement of the feminist movement, greater autonomy for women, and finally, with the start of the sexual revolution.

5. Sexuality Of Children • “In medieval society the idea of childhood did not exist.” • The idea of a separate category called childhood, different from adults, did not arise until the middle 1700s. • In England during the 1600s, children were believed to be evil. • During the 1700s, this view gave way to the modern view of children as vulnerable and needing protection.

6. Sex Education • In the United States, sex education in schools originated as part of a social hygiene movement to prevent rising levels of sexually transmitted diseases. • The first printed matter for sex education appeared in the early 1900s. • By the mid-1960s, numerous scientific surveys and studies had been conducted.

7. Girls were now included in the same classes as boys. • In addition to sexual anatomy and sexual health, a variety of behaviors were presented as normal, so that people could now engage in masturbation, oral-genital sex, and homosexual relations without guilty or shame.

8. Religion • Today, about 60% of teens have engaged in sexual intercourse by the time they complete high school.

9. The Media • Magazines and Tabloids • The average American child spends 6 to 8 hours a day watching, listening to, or reading some form of the media.

10. Television. • Three-fourths of teenagers today list television and friends as their major sources of information about sex. • Researchers have stated: “TV that presents sex as a distorted, realistic oriented, exploitive, casual activity without dealing with consequences.”

11. Advertisements. • Sex certainly sells, or at least manufacturers of perfumes and colognes, liquor and beer, cigarettes and clothing think so.

12. Sexual Socialization: Cause And Effect? • A review concluded that frequent sexual content on television has four major effects on viewers: • (1)overestimation of the prevalence of certain sexual activities in the general public; • (2) disinhibition—a more liberal attitude about sex; • (3)increased interest in sexual issues; and • (4) learning about sexual topics.

13. It is not just the amount of sexual content that is important. Perhaps the nature of sexual content in the media is equally important. • Europeans generally receive a more balanced approach from all the various agents of sexual socialization. • Parents are ore open about sex, and school-based sex education begins early in life for most European children.