Description
Human Sexuality Exam 1 Study Guide
Chapter 1: Intro to Human Sexuality
∙ Sexuality: sexual attitudes, feelings, and behaviors
o Believed to be uniquely human
o In the U.S. there are contradictory messages about sex:
o Increasing amount of sexual content in the media over time that is unrealistic
o 70% of tv shows contain sexual content
o Only 14% of shows that contain sexual content show the risks and responsibilities
∙ Sexuality around the world: wide variations in attitudes and behaviors o Inis Beag: extremely sexually repressive, belief that sexual behaviors are evil, only done for reproductive purposes Don't forget about the age old question of What is performed to achieve behavior modification?
o Mangala: extremely sexually permissive, sex is necessary for self discovery, sex is taught and encouraged as often as possible, belief that sex comes before love
∙ Ethnocentrism: belief that ones own culture is superior
∙ As level of education increases, variety of sexual behaviors also increases
∙ Sexual researchers use 3 criteria to determine if a sexual behavior is abnormal or unhealthy:
1. Does it involve coercion or force?
2. Can it cause serious harm to you or others?
3. Does it cause personal distress?
∙ Chimpanzees and bonobos are the 2 closest relatives to humans o They have very different sexual behaviors: chimps are aggressive while bonobos are gentle and use sex to diffuse tense situations
o Bonobo sexual behavior closely resembles that of humans
∙ As human societies transitioned from huntergatherer to settled communities, sexual behavior and nudity became restricted (ex: sex outside of marriage became looked down on)
If you want to learn more check out What is the dilution effect?
o Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman societies were very sexually permissive
o Greeks were the first to recognize homosexuality and non sexual love (Platonic love)
∙ Hebrew society: promoted sex only in heterosexual relationships within marriage for procreation
o Bans incest, adultery, and homosexuality
∙ India & Hinduism: Development of Hinduism and emergence of a class system led to leisure time, which could be spent having sex
o Kama Sutra: Hindu book explaining hundreds of sexual positions o Recognized intersex individuals as Hijra
∙ Islam: had a positive view of sexuality historically
o Polygyny: (having multiple wives) was valued
o Sex outside of marriage is a sin If you want to learn more check out Explain the difference between health and wellness.
o Unlike in Christian societies, contraception is encouraged, and sex is first for pleasure and second for reproduction
∙ Christian societies: many restrictions on sexual behavior, similar to Hebrews o Used for procreation only, missionary position only
o Oral sex and other unnecessary acts were prohibited
o Homosexuality, adultery, masturbation etc. all had harsh punishments o Chastity (sexual purity) and celibacy (abstinence) encouraged
o Sex for pleasure was evil
Chapter 2: Theoretical Approaches
∙ Behavioral Theory: only observable behavior should be studied o Sexuality/gender roles develop through:
o Operant conditioning: reinforcement and punishment
o Classical conditioning: neutral stimulus is paired with one that
causes a reaction until the two become linked, used in sexual
therapy to help change unwanted behaviors (aversion therapy)
∙ Cognitive Theory: Our thoughts influence how we feel and act Don't forget about the age old question of Paracrine hormones are a type of hormone that acts on their what?
o Most important sexual organ is the brain
o Cognitive therapists help people change the way they interpret sexual experiences
∙ Sociological Perspectives: how others and society influence sexual attitudes and behavior
o Friends, family, government, media etc.
∙ Social Learning Theory: we learn through imitation of others
o We see ourselves as similar to another person so we imitate them to learn social norms (ex: baby daughter putting on mom’s lipstick)
o Whether we continue this imitation depends on if we are reinforced or punished
∙ Social Script Theory: Everyone is governed by social scripts (set of rules/norms about particular events/relationships/behaviors) If you want to learn more check out What is classical liberalism?
o Learned from culture and society, usually through observation, not taught
∙ Feminist and Queer Theories:
o Feminist Theory: How gender operates in most societies and how power is used to oppress/maintain inequalities
o Queer Theory: challenges normative assumptions about the nature of gender and sexuality
o Gender is a social construct, not innate or binary (more than just male and female)
∙ Psychoanalytic Theory: Freud’s theory that children are innately sexual and their formative years shape who they grow up to be
o Mental energy comes from libido (energy from sexual and survival instincts)
o Stages of development are important, if successful resolution is not achieved in each phase, problems will arise later in life
o 3 parts of your mental self (make up the “iceberg”):
o Id: unconscious desires, pleasure seeking, instincts Don't forget about the age old question of What is the focus of the ecological systems theory?
o Superego: controlling, rule following
o Ego: Balances the other two, thinks about delayed gratification
∙ Evolutionary Theory: adaptations, behaviors and preferences are a product of natural or sexual selection that drives evolution
o Choices in mate selection revolve around youth, beauty, and fertility or strength, stability and ability to provide for offspring
o Symmetry and body shape play an important role in attraction
Chapter 3: Sex Research
∙ Ethical Concerns: all research with humans must be approved by IRB (Institutional Review Board)
o Always weigh potential benefits with potential costs
o Informed consent: Study must be explained to participants before they agree to participate
o Voluntary Participation: they can quit at any time
o Minimize harm or distress
o Results must remain anonymous
o Use of deception must be justifiable
o Debriefing: must give participants info about the study after it is over ∙ Collecting Data:
o Sampling: Selecting members of the population to be in your study, want it to be representative so it should be randomly selected
o Volunteer Bias: When the sample is not truly random because it relies on volunteers
o Volunteers for sexuality research tend to be: more sexually
permissive, more experienced, most likely male, less
religious, most likely liberal, mostly college students
o Self Report: Asking people about themselves and their opinions, ex: questionnaires and interviews
o Strengths: easy and cheap, can study unobservable things, if online we get access to distant groups
o Concerns: limited answer choices, unclear questions, order of questions, lying (aka purposeful distortion, including concealments and enlargements), memory issues
o Observation: directly watching a behavior
o Strengths: accuracy, physiological measurements (body temp, vaginal photoplethysmograph and penile strain gauge, fMRI)
o Problems: volunteer bias, generalization, time consuming,
expensive
∙ Qualitative: observable info, categorical like hair color
∙ Quantitative: measurable info, numerical, height
∙ Research Designs:
o Correlational Designs: illustrate the relationship two variables may have on one another, strength of relationship
o Correlation does not equal causation!
Experimental Designs: illustrate the relationship between independent and dependent variables
o Must account for extraneous variables
o Validity: whether the tool you are using measures what it’s
supposed to
o Reliability: whether the experiment will produce the same results upon repetition
∙ Response bias: participants not answering questions truthfully ∙ Important Figures:
o Richard von KraftEbing: psychiatrist and one of the first sex researchers o Wrote Psychopathia Sexualis
o Thought sex was for procreation
o Henry Havelock Ellis: Physician, writer, sex researcher
o Focus on sexual norms
o Found that men and women have similar sexual desire
o Said that masturbation and homosexuality are not evil
o Magnus Hirschfeld: One of the first advocates for sexual minorities o Founded Scientific Humanitarian Committee: homosexual and
transgender rights
o Established the First Congress on Sexual Reform
o Margaret Sanger: birth control activist, nurse, founded what became Planned Parenthood
o Alfred Kinsey: First comprehensive survey of sexual practices in the US o Established the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction
o Kinsey Reports
o Masters and Johnson: what happens in the body during intercourse o Shere Hite: Hite Report, focused on female sexuality
o Challenged social norms related to female sexuality
Chapter 4: Female Sexual Anatomy
∙ Vulva: external female genitalia
o Includes: inner and outer labia, mons, vaginal opening, and clitoris ∙ Labia: Skin folds around the vulva, outer is fattier, thicker tissue with hair, inner is thinner, pink, and on the inside of the outer labia
o Can vary greatly in color, shape, texture, symmetry
∙ Mons: front, outer covering of the vulva, thin layer of fat to cushion during sex, covered in hair
∙ Clitoris: most visible part is the glans, located right under clitoral hood o Glans: becomes erect when aroused, corpus spongiosum and corpus cavernosa fill with blood and cause erection
o Entirety of clitoris is a wishbone shape, most is internal
o Only function is to provide sexual pleasure
∙ Hymen: fold of skin that covers vaginal opening, contains an opening for menstrual blood to pass
∙ Urethra: between vaginal opening and clitoris, excretes urine
∙ Perineum: flat area between vagina and anus, can be erotically sensitive, but can transport bacteria from anus to vagina
∙ Bartholin’s gland: secrete small amounts of fluid into vagina immediately prior to orgasm
∙ Vaginal canal: to provide a birth canal for the fetus and to help transport sperm up through the uterus to the oviducts to create a pregnancy
∙ The Grafenberg spot (Gspot): located 2 inches inside the vagina on the front wall, debate on its existence, said to produce orgasms more powerful than clitoral ∙ Skene’s gland: like a prostate gland for females, secretes fluid during an orgasm ∙ Anus: internal and external sphincter muscles control excretion ∙ Uterus: composed of 3 layers:
o Endometrium: innermost layer, transports sperm to the site of fertilization and provides nourishment for embryos
∙ Cervix: Where the uterus connects to the vagina, secretes mucus that facilitates sperm transport
∙ Oviducts: aka fallopian tubes, at the top of the uterus, forming a pathway between the uterus and ovaries, lined with cilia that help push the egg towards the uterus ∙ Fimbria: The fingerlike extensions at the end of the oviducts, sweep the egg into the oviducts
∙ Ovaries: 2 round structures that produce eggs (ova) and sex hormones (estrogens, androgens, etc.)
o Each ovary contains a follicle, inside each follicle is an egg cell o Egg release from the ovaries is called ovulation
∙ Female Genital Cutting: affects 80120 million people worldwide o Happens before puberty, usually done by untrained people in unsterile environments
o 3 main types:
o Sunna: removal of prepuce (clitoral hood)
o Escision: removal of clitoral glans
o Infibulation: removal of clitoral glans, labia minora and part of majora, labia majora sewn shut leaving a small hole
∙ Causes problems with urination, menstruation, intercourse,
hemorrhaging, possible death
∙ The Menstrual Cycle: average cycle is 28 days, ovulation around 14 days before menstruation
o Birth control: keeps hormone levels steady so they don’t have to be released from the pituitary gland, stops egg from being released
o First period off of birth control will be lighter bc uterine lining did not thicken
o Effects of the cycle:
o Dysmenorrhea: pain during menstruation
Primary: typical pain expected with the cycle, cramps etc.
Secondary: symptoms caused by other problems
o Treatments for pain: can take meds, hormonal contraception,
exercise and a better diet, orgasm? (not proven)
∙ PMS (Pre Menstrual Syndrome): symptoms that occur between ovulation and menstruation
o PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphonic Disorder): severe PMS to the point where it is debilitating, must have 5 or more symptoms that change throughout the cycle
∙ Climacteric/Perimenopause: Combination of physiological and psychological changes at the end of a woman’s reproductive years
o Ovaries become less responsive to FSH and LH
o Estrogen and progesterone production decline
o Decreased sexual desire, pain during intercourse, drooping breasts, brittle bones (can lead to Osteoperosis)
o Hot flashes, headaches, depression, anxiety, mood swings
∙ Menopause: Stop of menstruation for at least 12 months
o Occurs on average at the age of 51
∙ Problems relating to menstruation:
o Primary amnenorrhea: Never began menstruating, diagnosed around age 16
o Secondary amnenorrhea: Normal menstruation, then it stops before menopause, missing at least 3 consecutive periods
o These both can result in infertility or increased risk of Osteoperosis o Endometriosis: Endometrial cells migrate to a location where they don’t belong
Implantation on surface of organs
Causes pain, infertility
Chapter 5: Male Sexual Anatomy
∙ Variations in penis size and shape: size doesn’t necessarily matter, width may be more important
o Average size flaccid: 34 in, erect: 56 in
o Size is largely dependent on heredity
o No way to permanently increase size without surgery, cock rings and penis pump can temporarily increase size
o Exercise, eating well, not smoking can all help penis appear larger and for erections to last longer
∙ Glans: Head of the penis
∙ Corona: Rim of the glans, on the underside it moves closer to the tip
∙ Frenulum: Strip of looser skin on the underside of the penis created by the inward movement of the corona towards the tip of the penis
∙ Foreskin: A layer of skin that covers the penis, is sometimes circumcised ∙ Shaft: long section of the penis, contains 3 structures on the inside: o Corpora cavernosa: harden during arousal, control the angle of erection, located on either side
o Corpora spongiosum: enlarges a males erection, runs down the center of the penis
o Penile bulb: Rounded mass of erectile tissue at the base of the penis, formed by corpus spongiosum
∙ Urethra: discharges semen and urine
∙ Scrotum: External genitalia, houses 2 testicles in the scrotal sac o Testicles: produce sperm and sex steroids
∙ Vas deferens: part of the spermatic cord that is attached to the testicles, carries sperm up from testicles
∙ Testicular Cancer: when cancer cells begin to grow uncontrollably into a tumor on one or both of the male testes
∙ Penile Circumcision: surgical removal of the foreskin
o Only about 30% of men worldwide are circumcised
o Anticircumcision movement claims it’s barbaric, doesn’t provide major benefits, takes away some penile sensitivity, takes away bodily autonomy o AAP has changed its stance several times, it now says that circumcision lowers risk of penile cancer, UTI’s, HIV, HPV, herpes, etc. so the benefits outweigh the risks
Say that insurance should cover the procedure
∙ Sperm: The Journey
o Production begins in the testicles
o Must be produced outside the body because it needs to occur at lower than body temperature
o Cremaster muscle moves testes closer or farther from the body o Sperm formation takes around 72 days but sperm count is replenished every 24 hours
∙ Seminiferous tubes: microscopic tubes in the testes where sperm is produced ∙ Epididymus: long tube that sits on top of the testicles, sperm continue maturation here and form a thick paste with other sperm
∙ Vas deferens: where sperm moves from the epidiymus, is stored here until ejaculation
∙ When arousal is high, fluid from cowper’s glands (2 glands just beneath prostate) lubricates urethra and neutralizes acidic urine, creates pre ejaculatory fluid (pre cum)
o May or may not contain sperm
∙ Fluid from 2 glands is added to sperm mixture:
1. Seminal vesicles: (next to bladder) provide nutrition for sperm 2. Prostate gland: (at base of bladder) neutralizes acidic nature of vagina so sperm can survive
∙ Ejaculation occurs in 2 stages:
1. Epididymus, seminal vesicles, and prostate empty fluid into urethral bulb, bladder closes off connection to urethra
2. Contractions squeeze urethral bulb and ejaculate out (orgasm) a. Ejaculate: 70% seminal fluid, 30% prostate fluid, <1% sperm
∙ Vasectomy: cutting and sealing off of vas deferens so pregnancy cannot occur o Not sterile immediately, there can still be extra sperm in the vas deferens so it is recommended you practice safe sex for up to 3 months after the procedure