Hoorcolleges Youth & Sexuality
Hoorcollege 1a Introduction, history & pleasure
Concepts & definitions
What do we mean by Youth?
What age group?
- A: children/teens 0-18
- B: adolescents 12-25
- C: young (almost-) adults 16-30
- D: all of the above
What concepts are we talking about
WHO working definition of sexuality (2006)
- A central aspect of being human throughout life encompasses sex, gender identities
and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction
- Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs,
attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and relationships
- While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always
experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological,
psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious and
spiritual factors
Sexuality research in the past century
,First scientific development (1900-1940)
- From religious to medical-psychiatric
- German psycho-analysts layed foundation for sexology: van Krafft-Ebbing, Freud
often considering female desire deviant
- 1906: Birth of sexology as a science (Iwan Bloch)
Hirschfeld & Bloch: founded sexual science institute
Havelock Ellis, Bloch & Hirschfeld: research on homosexuality
- First steps of moving away from LGBT as disease, immoral or a crime
Alfred Kinsey (US, 1894-1956), pioneer of sex research
- Biologist, zoologist, sexologist
- The Kinsey Reports (1948,1953) based on 5000 and 6000 interveiws
- Revolutionary: he moved the field from medical to multiple disciplines (biology,
sociology, etc.)
- Taxonomy of human sexual behaviors (including pedophilia): describing the full
spectrum of observable sexual behavior without moral claims about right/wrong
- Introduced scale to measure level of homosexuality
- Controversial in his time: revelations about masturbation, orgasm, premarital sex,
homosexuality, differences and similarities between men and women, and more
John Money (New Zealand, 1921-2006), psychologist, sexologist
- Groundbreaking clinical empirical studies on gender identity development among
intersex children
- Introduced the term gender (1955): all those things that a person says or does to
disclose himself or herself as having the status of man or woman. It includes, but is
not restricted to sexuality in the sense of eroticism
- Criticized for Bruce/Brenda/David Reimer sex reassignment study
Masters & Johnson
- 1966: discovery of the human sexual response cycle
Stage 1: excitement
Stage 2: plateau
Stage 3: orgasm
Stage 4: resolution
- A natural physiological process, can be blocked by psychological inhibitions
- Controversial methods: observing people having sex (hiring prostitutes)
- Layed foundations for behavioral therapy of sexual dysfunctions
The 70’s: Michel Foucault, John Gagnon, William Simon, Shere Hite, Susan Brownmiller
- Emergence of social-constructivist perspectives
- Dismissal of the Freudian idea of sexual instinct
- Growing attention for sexual violence, sexual equality
Sexuality = product of societal regulation, norms, meaning, and the freedom/right to
express themselves
Sexual behavior = social behavior, sensitive for interpersonal and intra-psychological
cultural scripts
1974: removal of homosexuality from the DSM
, - After heated debate, 58% of 10.000 APA psychiatrists voted that homosexuality is no
longer a mental disorder
- Increased awareness
What is normal and abnormal?
What is sexual deviance of variation?
1998/2005: discovery of the full anatomy of the clitoris
Ellen Laan (1962-2021)
- Groundbreaking research into female sexual arousal
Some myths maintaining sexual inequalities
- Men are from Mars, women from Venus
Of 30 sexual behaviors, only 4 moderate differences, and 80,26% overlap
- Penis and vagina are important for reproduction and therefore sexual pleasure
Penis-in-vagina sex does not facilitate women’s orgasms
Sexual inequality observation: orgasm gap
- We know that lesbian women have a much higher percentage of orgams than
heterosexual women
Sexual inequality observation: sexual pain
- About 10% of women always have pain during intercourse, in men this is rare
- Over 50% of young women in NL says they sometimes have pain
- The expectation of pain impairs arousal more pain
Sexual inequality observation: sexual coercion & sexual violence
- Percentages vary in research but in general there is a large gap in victimization (and
perpetration) of sexual violence between girls and boys
- Sex under 25
Metoo/SV 66% girls vs 29% boys
Forced to have sex 20% girls vs 4% boys
- For LGBT+ these numbers are often higher
Sexual similarity observations
- Men and women are similar in the capacity to experience sexual pleasure
Responsivity to sexual stimuli
Sexual desire
Sex drive/hormones (men aren’t always in the mood)
, - But: in cishetero relationships, men and women have different opportunities for
sexual pleasure
Gendered scripts
This impacts the expectation of pleasure, which in turn may impact sexual
response
Toward sexual equality
- A prioritization of pleasure for all health benefits
- Diversity/inclusion reduce impact of gendered scripts
- Discourse of similarities instead of differences
Sex should not refer to a particular act, but to an experience: a sexually pleasurable
experience that is affectionately shared by equal individuals.
Hoorcollege 1b Psychosexual development in children and young people
Sexual development is…
- A life-long process
- Multidimensional
- Context-related interaction between individual and context
- Has many paths
Early childhood 0-5
Context
- Attachment
- Motor skills
- Self-awareness and self-appreciation
- Language
- Toilet training
Sexual development
- Discovering
Own body and that of others
Language for genitals
Gender
Social rules
Childhood 6-11
Context
- Taking the others’ perspectives
Hoorcollege 1a Introduction, history & pleasure
Concepts & definitions
What do we mean by Youth?
What age group?
- A: children/teens 0-18
- B: adolescents 12-25
- C: young (almost-) adults 16-30
- D: all of the above
What concepts are we talking about
WHO working definition of sexuality (2006)
- A central aspect of being human throughout life encompasses sex, gender identities
and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction
- Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs,
attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and relationships
- While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always
experienced or expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological,
psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious and
spiritual factors
Sexuality research in the past century
,First scientific development (1900-1940)
- From religious to medical-psychiatric
- German psycho-analysts layed foundation for sexology: van Krafft-Ebbing, Freud
often considering female desire deviant
- 1906: Birth of sexology as a science (Iwan Bloch)
Hirschfeld & Bloch: founded sexual science institute
Havelock Ellis, Bloch & Hirschfeld: research on homosexuality
- First steps of moving away from LGBT as disease, immoral or a crime
Alfred Kinsey (US, 1894-1956), pioneer of sex research
- Biologist, zoologist, sexologist
- The Kinsey Reports (1948,1953) based on 5000 and 6000 interveiws
- Revolutionary: he moved the field from medical to multiple disciplines (biology,
sociology, etc.)
- Taxonomy of human sexual behaviors (including pedophilia): describing the full
spectrum of observable sexual behavior without moral claims about right/wrong
- Introduced scale to measure level of homosexuality
- Controversial in his time: revelations about masturbation, orgasm, premarital sex,
homosexuality, differences and similarities between men and women, and more
John Money (New Zealand, 1921-2006), psychologist, sexologist
- Groundbreaking clinical empirical studies on gender identity development among
intersex children
- Introduced the term gender (1955): all those things that a person says or does to
disclose himself or herself as having the status of man or woman. It includes, but is
not restricted to sexuality in the sense of eroticism
- Criticized for Bruce/Brenda/David Reimer sex reassignment study
Masters & Johnson
- 1966: discovery of the human sexual response cycle
Stage 1: excitement
Stage 2: plateau
Stage 3: orgasm
Stage 4: resolution
- A natural physiological process, can be blocked by psychological inhibitions
- Controversial methods: observing people having sex (hiring prostitutes)
- Layed foundations for behavioral therapy of sexual dysfunctions
The 70’s: Michel Foucault, John Gagnon, William Simon, Shere Hite, Susan Brownmiller
- Emergence of social-constructivist perspectives
- Dismissal of the Freudian idea of sexual instinct
- Growing attention for sexual violence, sexual equality
Sexuality = product of societal regulation, norms, meaning, and the freedom/right to
express themselves
Sexual behavior = social behavior, sensitive for interpersonal and intra-psychological
cultural scripts
1974: removal of homosexuality from the DSM
, - After heated debate, 58% of 10.000 APA psychiatrists voted that homosexuality is no
longer a mental disorder
- Increased awareness
What is normal and abnormal?
What is sexual deviance of variation?
1998/2005: discovery of the full anatomy of the clitoris
Ellen Laan (1962-2021)
- Groundbreaking research into female sexual arousal
Some myths maintaining sexual inequalities
- Men are from Mars, women from Venus
Of 30 sexual behaviors, only 4 moderate differences, and 80,26% overlap
- Penis and vagina are important for reproduction and therefore sexual pleasure
Penis-in-vagina sex does not facilitate women’s orgasms
Sexual inequality observation: orgasm gap
- We know that lesbian women have a much higher percentage of orgams than
heterosexual women
Sexual inequality observation: sexual pain
- About 10% of women always have pain during intercourse, in men this is rare
- Over 50% of young women in NL says they sometimes have pain
- The expectation of pain impairs arousal more pain
Sexual inequality observation: sexual coercion & sexual violence
- Percentages vary in research but in general there is a large gap in victimization (and
perpetration) of sexual violence between girls and boys
- Sex under 25
Metoo/SV 66% girls vs 29% boys
Forced to have sex 20% girls vs 4% boys
- For LGBT+ these numbers are often higher
Sexual similarity observations
- Men and women are similar in the capacity to experience sexual pleasure
Responsivity to sexual stimuli
Sexual desire
Sex drive/hormones (men aren’t always in the mood)
, - But: in cishetero relationships, men and women have different opportunities for
sexual pleasure
Gendered scripts
This impacts the expectation of pleasure, which in turn may impact sexual
response
Toward sexual equality
- A prioritization of pleasure for all health benefits
- Diversity/inclusion reduce impact of gendered scripts
- Discourse of similarities instead of differences
Sex should not refer to a particular act, but to an experience: a sexually pleasurable
experience that is affectionately shared by equal individuals.
Hoorcollege 1b Psychosexual development in children and young people
Sexual development is…
- A life-long process
- Multidimensional
- Context-related interaction between individual and context
- Has many paths
Early childhood 0-5
Context
- Attachment
- Motor skills
- Self-awareness and self-appreciation
- Language
- Toilet training
Sexual development
- Discovering
Own body and that of others
Language for genitals
Gender
Social rules
Childhood 6-11
Context
- Taking the others’ perspectives
