Chapter 1 Outline

Why Study Human Sexuality?

• The Meaning of the Word “Sex” Has Broadened
• Sex Is about Relationships
• Sex Is about Identity

Study questions: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

There Are Many Approaches to the Study of Sexuality

• Biomedical Research Focuses on the Underlying Mechanisms of Sex
• Psychiatry Is Concerned with Mental “Health” and “Sickness”
• Box 1.1: Sex in History: Freud and Hirschfeld: Contrasting Theories on Sexual Orientation
• Psychologists Have Taken Diverse Approaches to Sexuality
• Box 1.2: Cultural Diversity: The Fattening Room
• Sociologists Focus on the Connection between Sex and Society
• Sociologists May Take an Ethnographic Approach
• Feminists Emphasize Women’s Sexual Rights
• Sex Research Is Becoming a Discipline in Its Own Right
• Box 1.3: Society, Values, and the Law: Declaration of Sexual Rights

Study questions: 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59

Sex Education Faces Significant Obstacles

• Box 1.4: Society, Values, and the Law: Sex Education: United States and Canada Compared
• The Political Controversy Reflects Social Divisions
• Ethical Systems Can Be Sex-Negative or Sex-Positive

Study questions: 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68