Download Sexuality - Introduction Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 11 SEXUALISING docsity.com Sexuality • Sexuality is a fundamental force in how our societies are structured and in how we live in them. • All societies express, pattern and regulate sexuality. • Observing these trends across time we see great variety in sexuality, rather than one particular “natural” paradigm. • Sociology examines how modern society benefits from particular forms of sexual patterning and how these are privileged over others. • Currently in western societies we see the privileging of the heteronormative model of the monogamous heterosexual couple as the family unit. This is a key social element providing capitalism with a stable unit capable of producing more workers and consumers. • In examining sexuality sociologists learn a lot about things like: religion, science & health, property rights, gender. docsity.com Sexual Regulation • Traditionally, sexual regulation has been based on religious understandings of the world • Increasingly there are competing authorities for the regulation of sexual expression (e.g. the medical & legal professions). Sin → insanity, perversion. • Note that the discrepancy between that which is officially sanctioned and that which is actually practiced may be very large • This urges us to think of the distinctions between public and private cultures. docsity.com Sexual Deviancy and the Scientific Turn • New attempts to classify: sadist, masochist, homosexual, transvestite • New attempts to comprehend: perverts and criminals instead of sinners • New attempts to regulate: cure or incarcerate • E.g. Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1935) Psychopathia Sexualis • Continued condemnation of certain sexual acts • But drew attention to a hitherto taboo realm docsity.com Later Sexologists • Havelock Ellis – recognizably contemporary take on sexuality. Challenged fixed notions of biological essentialism. Pushed us to consider the links between sexuality, sexual regulation & social construction. • Alfred Kinsey – suggested sexual lives are much more varied than the standard heteronormative monogamous accounts would have us believe. docsity.com Essentialist Opinions • Fixed • Hard-wired • Pre-set genetic dispositions: usually heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual • Answers to be found in human nature docsity.com Constructionist Opinions • Fluid & malleable • Result of social privileging • Learned • Answers to be found in human society docsity.com What’s at Stake • How much of our own life do we control? • How much of our identity & existence is structured by social forces? • How free are we? • What do we owe to our evolutionary history? The decision to accept the essentialist or the constructionist position here has profound ramifications for how we deal with sexuality (our own and everyone else’s). docsity.com
