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Gender and Sexuality | |
Definitions
Term sex in ordinary language is ambiguous
In sociology sex refers to physiological differences, gender to psychological, cultural, and social differences, sexual orientation to behavior.
Five Natural Categories of Sexes:
1. Male
2. Female
Three intersexed sexes (4% of all children born):
3. Herms or True Hermaphrodites: one testis and one ovary.
One XY and one XX chromosome (information about chromosomes were only implied for true hermaphrodites by Anne Fausto-Sterling 1993. "The Five Sexes" The Sciences March/April).
4. Merms or Male Psydohermaphrodites: testes and some aspects of female genitalia, but no ovaries.
Two XY chromosomes
5. Ferms or Female Psydohermaphrodites: have ovaries and some aspects of male genitalia, but no testes. two XX chromosomes
This groundbreaking research establishing the five sexes was conducted by Anne Fauso Sterling
Required reading: Two Sexes are not enough online reading by Anne Fauso Sterling http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/fs.html
For the curious student
The Greek sculpture of Hermaphrodites
Sexual Behavior leads to Sexual Identities
Ten Sexual Identities (Textbook)
male and female forms of
There are many more sexual orientations that define sexual identities: exhibitionist, voyeur, sadist, masochist, peodphile, zoophile, sodomist (beastiality), necrophilis..., others still invent:
Less prevalent behaviors define identities for which the mainstream culture does not (yet) have a label. Someone engaged in "watersports" (urination), has a much harder time to develop an identity than a heterosexual or homosexual person.
Labels for their identities help people in their identification.
Example: Bisexual is a relatively new term.
People organize themselves to achieve self identification. An example on the net is Headspace, a student group for the education about Bondage Dominance Sado Masochism (BDSM). They are "dedicated to distributing information about safe BDSM play, and to providing opportunities for members to socialize and play." http://php.indiana.edu/~bdsmers/
Studies of sexual behavior
Famous empirical studies of sexual behavior in conflict
Problems with Sexuality in a Christian Culture
Studies of sexual behavior have shown that: "In the West, Christianity has been important in shaping sexual attitudes. In societies with rigid sexual codes, double standards and hypocrisy are common. The gulf between norms and actual practice can be tremendous (Giddens Textbook p.151)."
Examples:
A) Teenage pregnancy rate in Lubbock
B) Newspaper article about STDs
Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in Lubbock and the U.S. in rates per thousand
| Lubbock 1995 | U.S. 1995 | |
| Chlamydia | 500 | 200 |
| Gonorrhea | 250 | 150 |
Stigmatization of sexual-erotic identities: cultural examples and consequences
EPA profiles
Evaluation: good, nice - bad, awful
Potency: big, powerful - little, powerless
Activity: fast, noisy - slow, quiet
Figure 1: Quadratic Curve Estimated in the Regression of Evaluation on Sexual Eroticism in Germany and America.
Billboard Advertising in Germany (2001)
Picture by Dr. Andreas Schneider
Billboard Advertising in Pecos Texas (1998)
Picture by Dr. Andreas Schneider
Carrier of the Olympic Fire Texas Tech
University in front of Library 2002
Picture by Ralph-Uwe Mosbacher
Bronze in Public Park Switzerland 2000
Picture by Dr. Andreas Schneider
Assignments:
Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider2/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2006 Andreas Schneider