Human Sexuality Final

What is the difference between sex and sexuality?

SEX: the distinction between females and male, engaging in sexual behaviors

SEXUALITY: includes sex, but also encompasses the entire realm of human experience that is more or less closely connected with sex (total expression of who you are)

How has the media shaped sexuality?

Media facilitates a “virtual urbanization”

Expanded the concept of “normality,” such that very few sexual kinds are still stigmatized as shameful or named mental disorders

Understand the anatomical makeup of genitalia and the make up

Understand the menstrual cycle, the different phases

• The menstrual cycle usually lasts 28 days, driven by changes in hormones produced by the ovaries

• menstrual phase: discharge of endometrial tissue and blood

• Preovulatory phase: maturation of an ovarian follicle

• Postovulatory phase: marked by the presence of the corpus leteum, a hormone-secreting structure formed by the follicle that ruptured at ovulation

What are the most sensitive parts of the male and female genitalia?

women: clit

men: the tip (fremulum)

How does sperm pass through to ejaculation?

• Sperm leave the testicle through the epididymis and pass to the urethra through the vas deferens

• ejaculation is caused by contractions of the urethra and pelvic floor muscles

What are the Malarian and Wolffian Ducts?

• Female and male embryos possess both Wolffian and Mullerian ducts

• WOLFFIAN: are precursors of the male reproductive tract

• MULLERIAN: are precursors of the female reproductive tract

What are some social influences on a child’s gender development?

• surroundings- how parents talk to their children “big boys dont cry” etc

• other children

• if a girl grows up doing girl typical stuff, she will grow up to with the same female behaviors

Be familiar with sexual attraction, what do the sexes find attractive?

WOMEN: older men, status or wealth

MEN: physical attractiveness, visual sexual stimuli

• Both sexes are attracted to symmetry

Does the menstrual cycle have an impact on a woman’s appraisal of attractiveness? How so?

• women are more interested in sex and more sexually active during the 6 fertile days of the menstrual cycle

• women prefer more masculine faces near the time of ovulation, when most likely to conceive, prefer less masculine faces over time

Understand the sexual response cycle defined by Masters and Johnson

• has four phases: excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution

• model focuses solely on physiological markers of sexual arousal; it does not address the psychological components of arousal and desire

What happens in each phase of the sexual response cycle?

Excitement: when sexual arousal begins (women- increased blood flow to labia, erection of clit and nips, vaginal lubrication-- men- get hard and testicles elevate)

Plateau: when sexual arousal is maintained (women- increased muscular tension in outer third of vagina and surrounding muscles-- men- may have secretions of fluid from bulbourethral glands, penis more erect, testicles further elevate)

Orgasm: the subjective experience of pleasure and release at sexual climax (brief sequence of muscle contractions, heart rate increase, accompanied by emission and ejeculation in men)

Resolution: physical signs of sexual arousal subside, muscles relax, heart rate and blood pressure return to normal, about 15 mins

Understand the different sexual positions

• woman-above position: gives women greater control (cowgirl)

• side by side position

• rear-entry: doggy- not necessarily on all fours, can be standing up

• splitting the bamboo: girl has one leg up and one down like a split, guy in the middle

• anal penetration: literally anal sex

What muscles keep the anus closed?

Sphincters

What is true about hookup culture on college campuses?

• “sex should be emotionless, avoiding anything resembling romantic intimacy”

• dominates campus social life

• factors:

  • sex ratios

  • fewer men, easier to demand and receive sex

  • alcohol

What are the different types of love? What is the most common at the beginning and further on in the relationship?

passionate (limerence): “falling in love, head over heels”

companionate: cooler emotion, sense of attachment, commitment, intimacy, trust (intimacy and commitment)

Consummate: (passionate, intimacy, and commitment)

Romantic: (intimacy and passion)

Fatuous: (passion and commitment)

Liking: (intimacy)

Infatuation: (passion)

Empty: (commitment)

The process of determining if one is pregnant or not- when pregnancy tests are most accurate- what happens in order to tell if it’s accurate

• blood tests are very accurate

• tests for presence of hCH

How is a fetus’s gestational age counted based on the American Pediatric Association?

• number of weeks since the onset of the last menstrual period

• each trimester is 3 months long

• 39 weeks

What are the stages of labor and what happens in each stage?

first stage (uterine contractions): contractions cause the cervix to begin to thin out (effacement) and open up (dilation), lasts for a couple of hours, many women choose epidural

second stage (delivery of baby): passage of fetus through birth canal, toward the end baby’s head begins to appear at vaginal opening

third stage: birth placenta

At what point in a pregnancy are the majority of abortions performed?

first trimester 9-12 weeks (vacuum aspiration)

Be familiar with contraceptives and their effectiveness- which are most effective, do they protect against STIs and STDs

condoms: protects from STDs, prevent pregnancy but can still break

the pill: effective at preventing pregnancy, does not protect from STDs

IUD: can be left in for several years, protect from endometrial cancer, does not protect from STDs

diaphragm: covers the cervix, must be professionally fitted, sperm can migrate around the edges

What contraceptive are barrier method contraceptives? (sperm is not able to connect)

male and female condoms

What are alternative types of contraceptives, fertility awareness

• fertility awareness

• everything but sex

Understand victims of sexual abuse- do they blame themselves? Are they likely to confront abusers or not?

• children who are victims are at risk for PTSD and disassociation

• blame themselves, do not confront abusers

What are different types of sexual relationships?

• hooking up

• casual sex

• cohabitation

• long distance relationships

• same-sex relationships

• non cohabiting relationships

What is the trend for teen birth rates?

• declining dramatically in the US

• decrease in pregnancy and decrease in abortions

• twice as high among Hispanic and Black Americans

What puts an individual or a couple at risk for divorce?

• poor communication

How do men and women differ in what happens following divorce?

• women take longer but are happier at the end

• men remarry first

Understand different terms for menopause, andropause, etc. (How do men and women change over time and w fertility)?

• transition to infertility, known as menopause (natural decline in reproductive hormones)

• decrease in sexual satisfaction, andropause

• perimenopause, before menopause, phase marked by irregular period

What are some challenges gay children face?

• feminine boys became homosexual or bisexual

• current trends- next generation will find greater acceptance

• discrimination

• experienced hostility and can strongly color their worldview as adults

Understand homophobia and other phobias that relate to alternative sexual orientations

transphobia: hatred of transgender people

homophobia: hatred of gay people

Understand some of the different types of sexual behaviors

voyeurism: arousal by watching people have sex and they do not know you are there

sadomasochism: aroused by physical pain and humiliation

objectaphelia: arousal by inanimate objects not associated with the body

transvestism: cross-dressing because it is sexually arousing

What is pedophilia?

• a man who is sexually interested in children

• begins in adolescence and grows through the lifetime

What are some of the common sexual disorders for both men and women and potential treatments?

dyspareunia: most common in women: pain while fucking, antibiotics, lubricant, prolong foreplay, clit stim

vaginismus: fear of sex and closes up-sex therapy, vaginal dilators

for men: premature ejaculation- stop and start method

What is the current situation with STIs in our country? How do we compare to other countries around the world?

• the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS

• US has the highest curable rates of STIs

What STDs can be treated? which are curable and uncurable?

herpes, HEPb, HSV, HPV, HIV/AIDS- uncurable

everything else able to be treated: find it quickly, antibiotics, etc

What are some symptoms of STDs?

herpes: cold sores

HEPb: jaundice, fever

HIV: acute flu-like illness

Syphilis: ulcer, rash/fever

Gohnorrea: thick, cloudy discharge

Chlamydia: thin discharge and pain

What sexual behaviors put you at the greatest risk for contracting an STI?

• contact with an HIV partner

• not getting tested

• not using barrier methods

Who is at the greatest risk of being raped or sexually assaulted?

• LGBTQ people

• women at greatest risk of being raped by a friend

what element is required to gain a conviction in a sexual assault trial—what must be present for a conviction?

• under legal age of consent

What are the phases of IPV and what happens in each stage?

• Tension Building: abuser is moody, threaten victim, commit minor assaults or property damange

• Violence: no more than a day, victim fights back and tries to protect themselves

• Reconciliation: abuser comes to victim and promises it will never happen again, apologizes, victim will try and drop initial charges

What are the different types of stalking and harassment?

Intimate Partner: obsessive

Cyber Stalking

Erotomania: having a delusional belief of a sexual desire but unattainable person (people who stalk celebrities and love the person but its a fantasy)

Grudge Stalking: seeking revenge

Delusional Stalking: the belief that the victim is in love or could be in love with the stalker

What is the sex work hierarchy?- moving from street prostitutes to high-end sex workers

• majority of the hierarchy works for escorting services

• escorts make more than prostitutes

• prostitution on the decline

• street has risks

What is sex trafficking and how underage individuals are involved in it?

• promised things

• move around the country

• easier to manipulate