Ch4 Sexualities Complete Test Bank

Chapter 4 Sexualities

Chapter Introduction

The chapter opens with a discussion of Eve Ensler’s one-woman play about sex, The Vagina Monologues, a play that is performed more than one thousand times each year in venues around the world. The performances raise awareness of violence against women and raise funds for antiviolence work. This play and others like it show how popular culture sometimes works to transform oppressive images of sexuality.

Sexuality is gendered in that there are different standards, expectations, and experiences of sexuality for women and for men.

Comparing Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors around the Globe

International opinion polls on sexual behavior find that people cluster into four categories, with varying combinations of attitudes about sex between different partners: married, singles, teens, heterosexuals and homosexuals. Sexual behavior does not necessarily match opinions. Some countries with relatively conservative attitudes also have populations whose behavior is inconsistent with those ideas. Sexual satisfaction also varies from one nation to another and between women and men in each nation. Some sociologists argue that national differences in sexual satisfaction are related to ideas about gender equality.

Changing Attitudes Toward Sexuality in the United States

People in the U.S. are more conservative than people in other nations regarding sex, but Americans are less conservative than they were 40 or 50 years ago. Among men, the “cracks in the moral terrain” first appeared in the 1950s, during the “Playboy revolution.” The introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s helped to promote changing sexual attitudes and practices among women.

Feminists challenged the conventional wisdom about sex and campaigned for women’s rights of sexual expression and control of their own bodies. They came together in “rap” groups to share their private troubles and made them public issues. At first the discussions about sex centered on homosexuality and relations with men and a central focus was penetrative sex and the vaginal orgasm. Anne Koedt’s paper “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” challenged the view that vaginal sexual intercourse was the only “right” way to have sex. She argued that this view privileged men’s pleasure and questioned the naturalness of heterosexuality. At the same time, Adrienne Rich contributed the concepts of compulsory heterosexuality and the lesbian continuum to the politics of sexuality. Sexual pleasure and sexual choices, especially lesbianism, were part of the quest for liberation.

Calling, Dating, and Hooking Up

In the early 20th century, dating became the norm, replacing “calling” at a woman’s home under the watchful eyes of her parents. Dating began to change in the 1960s and 1970s as young people increasingly met each other in groups rather than as couples on dates. Attitudes toward sex became more liberal and sexual repertoires broadened. Today college students “hook up.” Hooking up retains some features of the old inequalities, such as male domination, female compliance, and double standards. If orgasm is a measure of the value of these arrangements, hooking up falls short for women. Encounters that did result in orgasm for women involved cunnilingus and self-stimulation. Hooking up is also problematic for men, as it feeds the stereotype that men are insatiable. Also, like women, men are most likely to orgasm when they are in relationships.

The Cult of the Virgin

In the U.S. the identification of morality with virginity persists, despite changes in ideologies and behaviors that appear to have liberalized sexuality. Women in other nations, such as Egypt, India, and South Africa, have also been criticized for their obsession with virginity. This focus is problematic because it defines women solely on the basis of their hymen and because there is little agreement on what actually constitutes virginity. Women are also given the greater responsibility to maintain both theirs and their boyfriends’ chastity. One of the most horrific results of valuing virginity more than women are “honor crimes,” in which women are murdered for what their family has deemed immoral behavior.

Sexual Rights

Sexual rights are a new concern in international human rights forums. Beyond the negative right not to be abused is the positive right to enjoy sex.

The Racial Subtext of the Sexual Double Standard

Black men and women are stereotyped as sexually promiscuous in the media and portrayed as “excessive, deviant, diseased, and predatory.” Black men were restricted and severely punished by white men for actual and supposed sexual encounters with black women. Black women were constructed as sexually aggressive and immoral as a way of blaming them for their own sexual victimization under slavery. Myths about black sexuality justified racial oppression.

Sexualized Images of Black Men

The Bigger Thomas image of black men’s sexuality is connected to sexual violence and the myth of the black rapist. Accusations of rape justified lynching in the U.S. well into the 20th century. The myths have fueled horrific acts of violence against African Americans. The case of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was lynched by a mob for allegedly whistling at a white woman (who recanted her claim decades later), was one case that triggered a response that became an important catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement. The myth of the black rapist, however, persists. A racialized sexual double standard is responsible for the differential treatment of black and white men in the criminal justice system. Few upper-class white men pay for their considerable sexual violence against black and working-class women.

The double standard can be found in research on sexuality in scientific journals and media stereotypes of black men as sexual predators.

Racialized Images of Women’s Sexuality

Images of African American women, First Nations women, and Asian women have all been sexualized in sexist and racist ways in the media. The sexual/racial ethnic stereotypes in the images are played out in the tourist industry, where women are a commodity bought and sold.

Social Class and Sexuality

An example of the intersection of social class, gender, and sexuality is the exotic dance club. In this workplace, women’s sexuality is commodified for the consumption of men customers. In clubs that cater to middle-class tastes, the women are thin, young, tanned, with breast implants and naturalistic makeup. In working-class clubs, the women are more diverse in terms of age, weight, ethnicity, breast size, and hairstyle and wear heavier makeup. Sex is a performance in both types of clubs, but the performance varies by class. Interviews with women and men about men’s sexuality reveal class differences in expectations. Working-class participants believed men’s sex drives were biological and beyond individual control. Middle-class participants believed men’s sexuality was more controllable. The authors of this study believe that these beliefs explain why middle-class men avoid risky sexual behavior more than do working-class men.

What is Your Sexuality?

Although the “standard story” we explored in Chapter 2 suggests that sexuality comes in only one form—heterosexuality—and is an inevitable product of our biological sex, in real people’s lives sexuality comes in a broad range of categories. In the U.S., people believe that whom you have sex with defines your sexuality, but many people have sex with people of the same sex yet still identify as heterosexual.

Lesbian or Bisexual Chic

Women who engage in sex with each other but identify themselves as essentially heterosexual are currently an important part of sexuality in the U.S. Some people would label this as bisexuality, but many lesbians and heterosexuals believe that we must all be either heterosexual or gay/lesbian. Lesbian or bisexual chic refers to women performing homoeroticism for the sexual gratification of men. The belief that women engage sexually with other women for male voyeurs as well as the idea that bisexuality is “just a stage” or a state of denial for gay men and lesbians stigmatize and delegitimize bisexual identities.

Men Who Have Sex with Men

An example of the disconnect between sexual identity and sexual behavior is men who are on the “down low”—that is, men who engage in sex with other men but who don’t identify as homosexual or bisexual. Because of its stigma, especially in black communities, coupled with racist ideologies about black men’s sexuality, many men who have sex with men are reluctant to protect themselves. If health care providers ask only if men are gay or homosexual, they will not know to provide the appropriate health care and health education for these patients. Asking about behavior rather than identity is a possible solution for healthcare providers.

Homophobia

Homophobia is connected to sexism and to the devaluation of anything feminine. Homophobia has been called “a weapon of sexism.” The fear is that gay men will not uphold hegemonic masculinity. Lesbian baiting is a way to control independent women.

Heterosexism

Homophobia may be mislabeled, because it literally means “fear of homosexuals.” Anger and aggression are stronger components of homophobic behavior (see Box 4-3). Also the term refers to individual beliefs and behaviors, not institutionalized biases. The term “heterosexism” directs our attention to institutionalized discrimination against gays and lesbians, which resembles what MacIntosh has identified as the “invisible knapsack” of white privilege (in the case of sexual minorities, heterosexual privilege). For example, black and Hispanic drivers face the problem of racist policing, known as “driving while black (or Hispanic).” White drivers have an advantage (or privilege) because they are pulled over and searched less frequently. The chapter provides a list of heterosexual privileges, such as the right to legally marry (see Boxes 4-4, 4-5).

Competing Perspectives on Gendered Sexuality

Biology One group of scholars has focused on the biological differences between males and females in regard to their experience of sex. This biological emphasis is also part of the research on differences between people who choose same-sex partners and those who choose other-sex partners. Ideas such as the “gay gene” have been strongly criticized for faulty methodology. Moreover, critics question the purpose and value of establishing biological determinism and worry about its consequences.

Sexual Scripts Social constructionists argue that sexuality is a “role” we play according to scripts provided to us by our social context.

How to Be a Heterosexual

Pepper Schwartz lists eight rules for properly playing the role of a heterosexual, according to the conventional script for contemporary heterosexual performance in the United States.

Queer Theory The insult “queer” against gay men and lesbians has been appropriated as a source of pride to unify all sexual minorities. Queerness is subversive because it challenges sexual norms from the position of outsiders. Queer theory is an extension of the idea of sexual scripts. Queer theorists argue that sexuality is entirely socially constructed and that what we think and feel in regard to sex, whom we choose, what we “do,” and how we identify ourselves are all performances rather than natural and biologically based. Judith Butler goes further by noting how roles are scripted to maintain inequality and power. She claims that heterosexuality as well as homosexuality is a performance, not an essence.

Sex for Sale

Sexuality is used to sell products. Sex itself is also bought and sold. In the global market, sex work is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries. In this industry, men are the majority of the consumers and women the majority of the workers.

Pornography

Pornography is a huge international business.

Gendered Porn

Most pornography is targeted at heterosexual men and therefore emphasizes images of heterosexual women. The images suggest that all women want sex from men; women like all the sexual acts that men perform or demand; and any woman who does not at first realize her desire for sex can be easily persuaded with a little force. These themes objectify women, silence women, and victimize women. Pornography may serve as the primary form of sex education for young men.

The Feminist Censorship Debate

Feminists do not agree about what to do about pornography. Some wish to eliminate it because they believe it is abusive toward women. Some agree it is offensive but believe that freedom of speech is too important to support any kind of censorship. A third group believes that pornography is not only tolerable but may benefit women by allowing them to explore their own sexuality more freely.

Sex Workers

Most, but not all, prostitutes are women and most, but not all, of their customers are men.

Legal Prostitution The legality of prostitution varies from one country to the next and even within countries. Sometimes prostitutes are seen as criminals and sometimes they are treated as service workers in legitimate business.

The Feminist Prostitution Debate

Feminists disagree about whether prostitutes are victims or agents. Some organizations are fighting for the right to legal prostitution while others believe prostitution is a form of violence against women. A third position asserts that prostitutes are both victims and agents.

Globalization and Sex Trafficking

Globalization has created a worldwide prostitution industry that moves sex workers from the global South to the global North where their customers live. Controversies around trafficking parallel those regarding sex work in general. Is sex work by immigrant sex workers a form of gender violence or is it a legitimate career choice? Some critics paint a picture of trafficked sex workers, women and children, as sex slaves with little control over their lives and subjected to bondage and abuse. Others suggest that some sex workers choose to be trafficked to improve their working conditions. The global capitalist system is an underlying and invisible issue that must be addressed by those concerned with the globalization of sex work. At the same time, the victim advocacy group Polaris estimates that the majority of those sex trafficked in the United States are U.S. citizens.

Gender Matters

The connection between sexuality and gender is shaped by race ethnicity, social class, nation, and sexual identity, and by the global political economy that commodifies everything, including sexual relationships. Difficult issues include how or whether to regulate pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking. Recent changes in heterosexual sex, such as hooking up, challenge some older rules about sexuality. No matter how the rules change or remain the same, sexuality is shaped by ideologies and social rules.

Short-Answer Essay Questions

1. How did American’s opinions about sex change in the last few decades? What social factors may have contributed to those changes?
2. Why did feminists in the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s believe that orgasm was a key factor in gender equity? What did they believe about orgasm? How did they organize around it? How did they think it related to or represented liberation for women?
3. What is the cult of the virgin and what problems are associated with it?
4. Name three ways sexuality is racialized in the U.S.
5. What are homophobia and heterosexism?
6. What evidence is there that sexuality is plastic, experienced and thought about in very different ways in different societies? Why is this insight important?
7. Outline the differences in the three major approaches to sexuality: biological explanations such as the gay gene, sexual scripts, and queer theory.
8. What are the features of the social script of heterosexuality?
9. What are different feminist attitudes about pornography?
10. What are different feminist attitudes about sex work?

Long-Answer Essay Questions

1. Go to YouTube “Conversations with Women: Masturbation” http://youtube.com/watch?v=I0SycDAOdBc and listen to the interviews of young women about masturbation. What are some of the themes you hear in their discussion? If you were to see a transcript of the video and did not know the gender of the people speaking, would you have known that they were all women? How did their discussion fit into the conventional script about women and sexuality and especially women and masturbation? How did the discussion illustrate the text’s characterization as an area of sexuality that has a double (gender) standard?

2. Take a look at Table 4-1. Summarize the information the table provides. Imagine that you are talking to a friend on the phone who cannot see the table but needs to know what the table says. Describe what the numbers say. Now think about what the numbers might mean. What questions occur to you as you think about how the numbers vary by gender and by region? What further information would you need to gather if you were to “test” some of the speculations you made in trying to answer the question of what the data mean?

3. Look on the Internet to find three feminist organizations that take opposing points of view on pornography. What are the organizations? What do they say about pornography? About censorship? How do they criticize feminists of alternative opinions?

4. Look at the Internet to find feminist organizations that take two opposing points of view on sex work. What are the organizations? What do they say about sex work and sex workers? Should it be legal? Should it be illegal? What protections do they believe should be available for sex workers? How do they criticize feminists of alternative opinions?

5. Go to YouTube and watch the seven-part series on sex trafficking of women http://youtube.com/watch?v=qxtuQbk8Zn8&feature=related

Now go to the website for the NGO global fund for women for more info on sex trafficking.

http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/cms/hot-topics/trafficking/trafficking.html

What evidence do these websites provide for the connection between large social forces and institutions such as the economy, governments, and war and the sex trafficking of women?

Critical Thinking Exercises

1. List sexual “orientations” you can think of that don’t seem to have much to do with the “standard script” of heterosexuality. How are these understood in a heterocentric culture?
2. Look over the “Declaration on Sexual Rights” in Box 4-1. Which of these rights are available in the U.S.? Are they available to every person equally? If not, what would have to happen to make them available?
3. Read Boxes 4-4 and 4-5, “Examples of Heterosexism” and “Examples of Heterosexual Privilege.” Do any of these assumptions, privileges, or rights apply to you? What do you think would change if we weren’t in a heterocentric society? For instance, what else would privileges and rights be based on?

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do The Vagina Monologues and Little Sister demonstrate?
   1. That popular culture can be used to combat oppressive images of sexuality
   2. The importance of novels in the construction of sexuality
   3. The way that popular music can present problematic views of female biology
   4. That the family is central to the reproduction of sexuality in its contemporary manifestations
2. What is the effect of abstinence-only sex education programs?
   1. They work very well: young people who take abstinence vows tend to keep them and to have incomparably low rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
   2. There is no evidence that they work; rather, they spread misinformation and their participants have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
   3. While they do not tend to decrease rates of sexually transmitted diseases in their participants, they do an outstanding job of disseminating information about sexuality to young people.
   4. They have almost no effect, positive or negative: studies show that teens nationwide ignore them altogether.
3. According to Laumann et al.’s study, how do different levels of gender equality correlate to sexual satisfaction?
   1. They do not correlate: sexual satisfaction actually correlates more to socioeconomic status than to gender equality.
   2. In nations where women have relatively more equality with men, women report high levels of satisfaction and men report low levels of satisfaction.
   3. In nations in where women have relatively more equality with men, sexual satisfaction is relatively high for both men and women.
   4. Higher sexual satisfaction for men and women was found to correlate to matriarchal cultures.
4. How are attitudes about sex changing in America?
   1. They have remained relatively constant over the past 50 years.
   2. They have become very liberal in comparison to other nations.
   3. They are liberal in comparison to other nations, but they are becoming more conservative.
   4. They are conservative in comparison to other nations, but they are becoming more liberal.
5. What were some of the tenets of mid-twentieth-century feminist sexual liberation?
   1. Access to birth control and safe, legal abortions
   2. Free sexuality and the right to pleasure
   3. The right to say no to sex and the sexual option of lesbianism
   4. All of the above
6. Is “hooking up” culture an extension of women’s sexual liberation?
   1. Yes: women experience equal satisfaction to men and are effectively equal in these relationships.
   2. Not necessarily: it can offer women some benefits, but it reproduces certain gender inequalities of dating culture.
   3. No: “hooking up” is unequivocally harmful to women, who would benefit from a relationship culture.
   4. Yes, however “hooking up” demonstrates the fallacies of “sexual liberation,” which involved a belief that saying “yes” to sex meant saying “no” to power.
7. What are some ways that the sexual double standard in the United States is racialized?
   1. Both black men and women are hypersexualized in stereotypes of these groups.
   2. Black men are subject to extreme surveillance and punishment with regard to sexual norms.
   3. Both a and b.
   4. Neither of the above: according to the idea of intersectionality, it is a mistake to confuse race with sexuality.
8. What is the flaw of biological frameworks for sexuality?
   1. The research on which they are based is not valid, and they problematically ignore the plasticity of human sexuality.
   2. They authorize homophobic understandings of the origin of sexuality.
   3. They offer claims solely about bodies and ignore emotional, spiritual, and political aspects of sexuality.
   4. They are based almost entirely on studies of animals, and they glean their conclusions from an assumption that animal sexuality correlates precisely with human sexuality.
9. What do pro-sex feminists claim about pornography?
   1. That pornography can have benefits for women; women are sexual agents, subjects and not objects, who make choices and decisions about their bodies and sexualities
   2. That sex is sacred, so pornography degrades it by oppressing and victimizing women
   3. That sexuality is the source of women’s subordination in society, and pornography is an instrument of power that reinforces women’s oppression
   4. That the performances of professional pornography actors allow for a cultural reimagining of feminism, in their unconventional relationship to sexuality and gender.
10. What is the underlying issue of sex trafficking that makes it so difficult to protect sex workers and inhibit the industry?
    1. The reluctance of so many nations to legalize sex work
    2. The reluctance of so many nations to declare sex work illegal
    3. Policy frequently ignores sex workers’ agency, producing a situation in which the program for change corresponds more to the aims of policymakers than to the needs of sex workers.
    4. The global capitalist economy that forces some people to become sex workers and move to nations where restrictive immigration laws prevent them from obtaining other kinds of work
11. In the 1950s, ________ helped to normalize the idea that “real” men could be sexually active and lead enjoyable lives without being married.
    1. Playboy magazine
    2. The women’s liberation movement
    3. The gay liberation movement
    4. The sexual revolution
12. In _________ nations, men rate the importance of sex higher than women do, but but women and men rate their satisfaction with sexual relations at same at 67% and their satisfaction with their own sexual ability the same at 80%.
    1. Middle Eastern
    2. East Asian
    3. African
    4. Western
13. In 1939, 10% of Americans reported that they approved of men and women having premarital sex. Today ________ approve.
    1. 25%
    2. 40%
    3. 69%
    4. 89%
14. The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm rejects the Freudian idea of orgasm through vaginal penetration as superior and “mature” because _________.
    1. it is physically impossible for a person with a vagina to orgasm through vaginal penetration alone.
    2. it prioritizes heterosexual sex that is pleasurable for men
    3. most of Freud’s ideas have been disproven and are no longer relevant to the field of psychology
    4. None of the above.
15. What is compulsory heterosexuality?
    1. The organization of society around heterosexual marriage and families to such an extent that it seems natural and other options become invisible
    2. The evolutionary drive to procreate through heterosexual sex
    3. The decision of women to associate with other women to varying degrees in order to meet their economic, social, and romantic/sexual needs
    4. Laws which enforce heterosexuality by making homosexuality illegal or by making family formation without heterosexuality very difficult.
16. What is Adrienne Rich’s concept describing an array of associations that women can have with other women which allow them to live without reliance upon men and heterosexual marriage?
    1. Intersectionality
    2. Compulsory heterosexuality
    3. Womanism
    4. The Lesbian continuum
17. One result of valuing virginity more than women is greater instances of “_______ crimes,” where women are killed or mutilated for behavior their families find immoral.
    1. honor
    2. down-low
    3. double standard
    4. marriage
18. Anti-miscegenation laws existed in the United States until the 1960s. What did they outlaw?
    1. The buying and selling of alcohol
    2. The buying and selling of alcohol among women
    3. Interracial marriage
    4. The ability of Native Americans to buy land outside of reservations
19. What does the down-low or DL refer to?
    1. Secretiveness surrounding sexual activities among unmarried women in regions of the world where virginity is often a requirement for marriage
    2. Men who have sex with other men but who hide their homosexuality due to cultural persecution
    3. Gay men and lesbians who abstain from sexual activity in accordance with sexual norms but who do not denounce their homosexuality
    4. None of the above
20. Sexuality is constructed differently along the lines of social status, including socioeconomic class. Which of the following is true regarding differences observed in middle-class versus lower-income exotic dance clubs?
    1. Performers in lower-income clubs wore more obvious make-up.
    2. Performers in lower-income clubs were more diverse in terms of weight and body size.
    3. Performers in lower-income clubs were more likely to view men as having little control over their sexual urges.
    4. All of the above.
21. The Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 is often understood as the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States. What did this event entail?
    1. Politician Harvey Stonewall famously overturned California’s anti-sodomy laws.
    2. Patrons at a gay night club, the Stonewall Inn, engaged in a stand-off against police who tried to arrest them under anti-sodomy laws.
    3. Dr. Bruce Stonewall helped stage a revolt inside a conference for the National Psychiatric Association which resulted in homosexuality being declassified as a mental illness.
    4. Activists likened sexism to the oppression of gays and lesbians and built a human barricade preventing people from attending the Miss American pageant.
22. In relationship to the sexual script, sociologist Pepper Schwartz observes that:
    1. there are 8 general rules for successfully performing heterosexuality.
    2. biology is used to naturalize male dominance and female submission.
    3. there are many cultures that do not have social rules for how, when, and with whom individuals should have sex.
    4. how one performs their sexuality is contingent upon their testosterone levels.
23. Which of the following is a theoretical position which sees fixed sexual roles and identities as oppressive constructions and seeks to blur the boundaries between identity categories like gay and straight?
    1. Social Constructionism
    2. Queer theory
    3. Structural Functionalism
    4. Conflict theory
24. Dines and Jensen (2004) find that three themes in the way women’s sexuality is represented in heterosexual pornography. Which of the following is NOT one of the themes identified?
    1. Any woman who does not at first realize her desire for sex can be easily persuaded with a little force.
    2. All women want sex from men.
    3. Women like all the sexual acts that men perform or demand.
    4. Women rarely have orgasms.
25. Which of the following represents a feminist perspective on pornography?
    1. Pornography is degrading to women and abuses many industry workers and should be outlawed.
    2. Making pornography illegal threatens freedom of speech, no matter how damaging a form of media it is.
    3. Pornography may represent possibilities for women’s sexual liberation.
    4. All of the above.