Youth & Sexuality samenvatting
Hoorcolleges 1 tot en met 7
Hoorcollege 1:
Definitions:
• Sex/seks: short for sexuality, often narrowly understood as: activities towards sexual
arousal
• Sex/sekse: set of biological characteristics defining human beings as male or female
• Gender: social-cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity, and connected processes
and effects (not biological, but social)
World of health definition of sexuality (2006):
- “…a central aspect of being human throughout life (regardless ones age), that
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, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships.
- While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always
experienced or expressed (many societies, if not all, put heavy limitations on
the expression of sexuality: sexual norms) .
- Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social,
economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.”
Sexual health (WHO, 2006):
• …a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to
sexuality;
• It is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.
• Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual
relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual
experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
• For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons
must be respected, protected and fulfilled.
• ‘Outcomes’ mostly studied are much narrower: STIs/HIV; unplanned pregnancies;
sexual violence; sexual function and satisfaction (pleasure is much studied recently)
Sexuality: an important issue
• Highest happiness and deepest sorrow…
• Entwined with gender roles and women’s social position (Its norms about sexuality that
keep women in the kitchen and girls from school. So sexuality is important in women’s
participation in society)
• Important health issue (sexual violence); high costs SHC (Somatic health care) and MHC
(Mental health care)
• Likewise for education, policing and jurisdiction; high costs
• Interwoven with (other) important issues:
, - Population, ecological relevance (Population density and the ecological pressure that
comes with it)
- Human rights, ‘sexual justice’, civilization (The level of civilization of a society may be
measured with the way it deals with sexuality; discrimination and priviliges)
- Global health, burden of disease
Sexuality is a lever in adolescent development
• Independence from parents
• Development of personal morality
• Identity development
• Development of the capacity for meaningful intimate relationships
• Crucial in finding the balance between autonomy and connectedness
• Adolescent intimate relationships a training ground for adulthood
• Sexuality functions as a crowbar/ as a lever to development of identity and intimacy
The social regulation of sexuality...
• Is of all times; degree of moral restriction varies
• Affects women and non-heterosexuals primarily
• A variety of explanations: protection patriarchal power; fear of chaos & anarchy;
evolutionary perspective (paternal insecurity); historical perspective; pure misogyny
• Tightening of rules during the 19th century; Victorian era (Industrialization. Strong
emphasis on masculinity and on differences between genders)
• Children and youth seen as a-sexual
• Codes less strict first half 20th century (democratization, equalization, emphasis on
women’s rights, first feminist wave)
• Rise of contraceptive care and sexological science
Scientific developments first half 20st century
• From religious-moral to medical-psychiatric
• German psychiatrists laid foundation sexology:
- von Krafft-Ebing
- Hirschfeld
- Freud. He introduced Libido, which directs all human developments through a
number of unconscious processes and sublimation
- Reich. He stressed that sexuality needs to be liberated for people to become free.
Sexual freedom was a pre-condition for total human freedom. Reich should be seen
as one of the founders of anarchism in general.
• WW2 ends first fluorescence (emancipatory movements)
• After WW2 leading role for Americans
- Kinsey. He was the first social scientific sex researcher that we now of. His books,
especially about the sexuality of the human female, were very controversial at the
time and he was scorned for these books. This was particularly true because of the
diversity of sexual behaviors, also of homosexual behaviors and desires but also lots
, of paraphilic desires and behaviors that he showed to be prevalent amongst
Americans and people just couldn’t believe it at the time.
- Money
- Masters & Johnson. Masters was a medical doctor. They did research in the
labaratory and they studied the physiology of sex. They published their first book in
1966.
• Simone de Beauvoir: La Deuxième Sexe (1949): “On ne naît pas femme : on le devient.”
Gender: evolution of a concept
• John Money (1953): ‘all the non-genital and non-erotic activities that are defined by the
conventions of society to apply to males or to females’ (so the social counterparts of the
biological sex)
• 50ies and 60ies USA: used in clinical work with transgenders
• 70ies: feminist antithesis to biological determinism
• From modern to postmodern perspectives
- Gender as individual attribute
- Gender as social norm
- Gender as process: ‘doing gender’ = the continuous, daily enactment of gender roles
and the sexual double standard
The 60ies and 70ies
• Many (sexual) taboos disappear
- 2nd feminist wave, the introduction of the contraceptive pill, sexual revolution
• ‘Discovery’ Human Sexual Response Cycle (HSRC)
- 1966: Masters & Johnson Human sexual response
-
• Emergence social-constructionist perspectives
• 1974: homosexuality deleted from DSM
• Growing attention for sexual violence
• Sexology still mainly focused on adults
, The 80ies and 90ies
• Increasing migration, VN conventions, strengthening Human Rights perspectives
• 1981 discovery HIV (outbreak resulted in an immense change in the atmosphere of for
instance sexual healthcare and sexual behavior)
• Increasing medicalisation (1998 Viagra) and its criticisms (Selling sickness. So much
money is earned with Viagra)
• Nature-nurture debates intensify
• Adoption concept ‘sexual health’; ‘SRHR’ (Sexual reproductive health and rights) on the
rise
• Hesitantly, young people are acknowledged as sexual beings (closely linked to HIV. If you
want to prevent risks you have to look at what people are doing, not what they should be
doing)
Sexual rights
• Sexual rights are human rights (WHO, IPPF, WAS)
• Sexual rights comprise reproductive rights
• Refer to :
- ‘freedoms from’ discrimination & stigma, coercion & violence
- ‘freedoms to’ :
- a satisfying sex life
- adequate information and education
- supplies, medicine, health care (aw abortion care)
- Self determination irt sexual partners, sexual orientation, relationships and living
arrangements, reproduction (timing and number of children)
Era 2.0
• Far-reaching globalisation
- As world population reached 7 billion; 43% under 25 years of age
- Technologisation, mediatisation, commercialisation
• Sexual risks (unplanned pregnancy, STI’s, HIV, sexual violence) central to research on
young people’s sexuality
• Moral panics about young people and sexuality
- Related to rise of ‘new’ media
- Supposedly harmful sexualisation
- Fear of downfall ‘childhood innocence’
- Felt need to protect adolescent girl in particular
Are children sexually innocent?
• After Freud, attention for children’s sexual feelings relegated to the background
• Convictions that children are a-sexual, innocent and vulnerable, but evidence of their
sexual interest, excitement and desire
• Uneasiness, rejection, negative reactions from parents and others
• Framing children as sexual innocents makes them vulnerable!
- Deprives them of necessary knowledge and skills
- Innocense is eroticised
Hoorcolleges 1 tot en met 7
Hoorcollege 1:
Definitions:
• Sex/seks: short for sexuality, often narrowly understood as: activities towards sexual
arousal
• Sex/sekse: set of biological characteristics defining human beings as male or female
• Gender: social-cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity, and connected processes
and effects (not biological, but social)
World of health definition of sexuality (2006):
- “…a central aspect of being human throughout life (regardless ones age), that
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, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships.
- While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always
experienced or expressed (many societies, if not all, put heavy limitations on
the expression of sexuality: sexual norms) .
- Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social,
economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.”
Sexual health (WHO, 2006):
• …a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to
sexuality;
• It is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.
• Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual
relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual
experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
• For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons
must be respected, protected and fulfilled.
• ‘Outcomes’ mostly studied are much narrower: STIs/HIV; unplanned pregnancies;
sexual violence; sexual function and satisfaction (pleasure is much studied recently)
Sexuality: an important issue
• Highest happiness and deepest sorrow…
• Entwined with gender roles and women’s social position (Its norms about sexuality that
keep women in the kitchen and girls from school. So sexuality is important in women’s
participation in society)
• Important health issue (sexual violence); high costs SHC (Somatic health care) and MHC
(Mental health care)
• Likewise for education, policing and jurisdiction; high costs
• Interwoven with (other) important issues:
, - Population, ecological relevance (Population density and the ecological pressure that
comes with it)
- Human rights, ‘sexual justice’, civilization (The level of civilization of a society may be
measured with the way it deals with sexuality; discrimination and priviliges)
- Global health, burden of disease
Sexuality is a lever in adolescent development
• Independence from parents
• Development of personal morality
• Identity development
• Development of the capacity for meaningful intimate relationships
• Crucial in finding the balance between autonomy and connectedness
• Adolescent intimate relationships a training ground for adulthood
• Sexuality functions as a crowbar/ as a lever to development of identity and intimacy
The social regulation of sexuality...
• Is of all times; degree of moral restriction varies
• Affects women and non-heterosexuals primarily
• A variety of explanations: protection patriarchal power; fear of chaos & anarchy;
evolutionary perspective (paternal insecurity); historical perspective; pure misogyny
• Tightening of rules during the 19th century; Victorian era (Industrialization. Strong
emphasis on masculinity and on differences between genders)
• Children and youth seen as a-sexual
• Codes less strict first half 20th century (democratization, equalization, emphasis on
women’s rights, first feminist wave)
• Rise of contraceptive care and sexological science
Scientific developments first half 20st century
• From religious-moral to medical-psychiatric
• German psychiatrists laid foundation sexology:
- von Krafft-Ebing
- Hirschfeld
- Freud. He introduced Libido, which directs all human developments through a
number of unconscious processes and sublimation
- Reich. He stressed that sexuality needs to be liberated for people to become free.
Sexual freedom was a pre-condition for total human freedom. Reich should be seen
as one of the founders of anarchism in general.
• WW2 ends first fluorescence (emancipatory movements)
• After WW2 leading role for Americans
- Kinsey. He was the first social scientific sex researcher that we now of. His books,
especially about the sexuality of the human female, were very controversial at the
time and he was scorned for these books. This was particularly true because of the
diversity of sexual behaviors, also of homosexual behaviors and desires but also lots
, of paraphilic desires and behaviors that he showed to be prevalent amongst
Americans and people just couldn’t believe it at the time.
- Money
- Masters & Johnson. Masters was a medical doctor. They did research in the
labaratory and they studied the physiology of sex. They published their first book in
1966.
• Simone de Beauvoir: La Deuxième Sexe (1949): “On ne naît pas femme : on le devient.”
Gender: evolution of a concept
• John Money (1953): ‘all the non-genital and non-erotic activities that are defined by the
conventions of society to apply to males or to females’ (so the social counterparts of the
biological sex)
• 50ies and 60ies USA: used in clinical work with transgenders
• 70ies: feminist antithesis to biological determinism
• From modern to postmodern perspectives
- Gender as individual attribute
- Gender as social norm
- Gender as process: ‘doing gender’ = the continuous, daily enactment of gender roles
and the sexual double standard
The 60ies and 70ies
• Many (sexual) taboos disappear
- 2nd feminist wave, the introduction of the contraceptive pill, sexual revolution
• ‘Discovery’ Human Sexual Response Cycle (HSRC)
- 1966: Masters & Johnson Human sexual response
-
• Emergence social-constructionist perspectives
• 1974: homosexuality deleted from DSM
• Growing attention for sexual violence
• Sexology still mainly focused on adults
, The 80ies and 90ies
• Increasing migration, VN conventions, strengthening Human Rights perspectives
• 1981 discovery HIV (outbreak resulted in an immense change in the atmosphere of for
instance sexual healthcare and sexual behavior)
• Increasing medicalisation (1998 Viagra) and its criticisms (Selling sickness. So much
money is earned with Viagra)
• Nature-nurture debates intensify
• Adoption concept ‘sexual health’; ‘SRHR’ (Sexual reproductive health and rights) on the
rise
• Hesitantly, young people are acknowledged as sexual beings (closely linked to HIV. If you
want to prevent risks you have to look at what people are doing, not what they should be
doing)
Sexual rights
• Sexual rights are human rights (WHO, IPPF, WAS)
• Sexual rights comprise reproductive rights
• Refer to :
- ‘freedoms from’ discrimination & stigma, coercion & violence
- ‘freedoms to’ :
- a satisfying sex life
- adequate information and education
- supplies, medicine, health care (aw abortion care)
- Self determination irt sexual partners, sexual orientation, relationships and living
arrangements, reproduction (timing and number of children)
Era 2.0
• Far-reaching globalisation
- As world population reached 7 billion; 43% under 25 years of age
- Technologisation, mediatisation, commercialisation
• Sexual risks (unplanned pregnancy, STI’s, HIV, sexual violence) central to research on
young people’s sexuality
• Moral panics about young people and sexuality
- Related to rise of ‘new’ media
- Supposedly harmful sexualisation
- Fear of downfall ‘childhood innocence’
- Felt need to protect adolescent girl in particular
Are children sexually innocent?
• After Freud, attention for children’s sexual feelings relegated to the background
• Convictions that children are a-sexual, innocent and vulnerable, but evidence of their
sexual interest, excitement and desire
• Uneasiness, rejection, negative reactions from parents and others
• Framing children as sexual innocents makes them vulnerable!
- Deprives them of necessary knowledge and skills
- Innocense is eroticised
