Gender Relations Notes
Gendered Body
April 23, 2013
Sexual Scripts * Sexual Scripts are the learned guidelines for sexual expression that provide individuals with a sense of appropriate sexual behaviors & sexual desires for that particular culture * Women as passive, men as active in the U.S. culture * The egg as passive, sperm as active * Some feminists argue that the idea of passive, feminine sexuality is an attempt to control women’s power in society
Orgasm Gap * Women have about 1 orgasm for every 3 a man enjoys * 1/3 of women never had an orgasm during intercourse * The phallocentric definition of orgasm * According to the study, women’s orgasm rates are strongly related to * Her evolving relationship with her partner * The activities they include * His investment in her pleasure
Heterosexuality
* Heterosexuality is seen as the given, the assumed, the norm; and that homosexuality is the phenomenon that needs to be explained * There was no such thing as “heterosexuality” or “homosexuality” until the 19th century * The 2 terms were made popular by sexologist Richard Krafft-Ebing who wrote about homosexuality as a personality disorder in his book in 1886 * Categories of sexuality focused almost exclusively on the behavior of men – due to the historical one-sex model which views women as an inferior version of men
Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective * Cross-cultural research on same-sex behavior has found that social status in the form of age is often important in dictating appropriate and inappropriate forms of sexual behavior * Papua New Guinea boy – inseminating ritual * North American native berdaches * These cases show that there is nothing given about the particular relationship between sex category, gender, & sexuality that is presumed in current Anglo-European society * Ethnocentrism – seeing one’s own culture as better, more correct, or right relative to
April 23, 2013
Sexual Scripts * Sexual Scripts are the learned guidelines for sexual expression that provide individuals with a sense of appropriate sexual behaviors & sexual desires for that particular culture * Women as passive, men as active in the U.S. culture * The egg as passive, sperm as active * Some feminists argue that the idea of passive, feminine sexuality is an attempt to control women’s power in society
Orgasm Gap * Women have about 1 orgasm for every 3 a man enjoys * 1/3 of women never had an orgasm during intercourse * The phallocentric definition of orgasm * According to the study, women’s orgasm rates are strongly related to * Her evolving relationship with her partner * The activities they include * His investment in her pleasure
Heterosexuality
* Heterosexuality is seen as the given, the assumed, the norm; and that homosexuality is the phenomenon that needs to be explained * There was no such thing as “heterosexuality” or “homosexuality” until the 19th century * The 2 terms were made popular by sexologist Richard Krafft-Ebing who wrote about homosexuality as a personality disorder in his book in 1886 * Categories of sexuality focused almost exclusively on the behavior of men – due to the historical one-sex model which views women as an inferior version of men
Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective * Cross-cultural research on same-sex behavior has found that social status in the form of age is often important in dictating appropriate and inappropriate forms of sexual behavior * Papua New Guinea boy – inseminating ritual * North American native berdaches * These cases show that there is nothing given about the particular relationship between sex category, gender, & sexuality that is presumed in current Anglo-European society * Ethnocentrism – seeing one’s own culture as better, more correct, or right relative to