The Sexual Self

WHAT IS SEXUALITY?
 Sexuality is one of the primary drives behind everyone’s
feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. It affects all aspects of the
human person and, it especially concerns affectivity, the
capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way,
the aptitude for forming bonds with others. Further, it shapes
the brain and body to be pleasure-seeking. However, despite
the known importance of the sexual self in connection to the
totality of the self, many people consider this topic as taboo.
 The Basic Biology of Sexual Behavior
 In males, for example, the testes begin to secrete androgens, male
sex hormones, at puberty. Androgens also increase the sex drive
and not only produce secondary sex characteristics, such as the
growth of body hair and a deepening of the voice. Men are
capable of (and interested in) sexual activities without any regard
to biological cycles because the level of androgen production by
the testes is relatively constant. Given the proper stimuli leading
to arousal, at any time, male sexual behavior can occur.
 The Basic Biology of Sexual Behavior
 Women illustrate a different pattern. The two ovaries begin to
produce estrogens, female sex hormones, when they reach maturity at
puberty. The production of hormones follows a cyclical pattern and is
not produced consistently. The greatest output occurs during
ovulation, when an egg is released from the ovaries, making the
chances of fertilization by a sperm cell highest. The period around
ovulation is the only time the female is receptive to sex in nonhumans,
while the people are different. Women are receptive to sex throughout
their cycles, although there are variations in reported sex drive.
The Basic Biology of Sexual Behavior
 The Basic Biology of Sexual Behavior
 In addition, although the difference may be the result of
society’s discouragement of overt displays of female
sexuality rather than of inborn differences between men
and women, some evidence proposes that males have a
stronger sex drive than females do. It is clear that men
think about sex more than women: while 54% of men
report thinking about sex every day, only 19% of women
report thinking about it on a daily basis.
 The Basic Biology of Sexual Behavior
 It takes more than hormones to cause and produce sexual behavior,
though biological factors “prime” people for sex. The occurrence of a
partner who supplies arousing stimuli leads to sexual activity in
animals. Humans are significantly more adaptable; not only other
people but nearly any object, sight, smell, sound, or other stimuli can
lead to sexual excitement. Because of prior associations, people may
be turned on sexually by the smell of perfume or the sound of a
favorite song hummed softly in their ears. The reaction to a specific,
potentially arousing stimulus, as we shall see, is highly individual—
what turns one person on may do just the opposite for another.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 In a sense, you would be right if you
were to argue that the major human sex
organ is the brain. Much of what is
considered sexually arousing in our
society has little or nothing to do with
our genitals; instead, it is related to
external stimuli that, through a process
of learning, have come to be labeled as
erotic or sexually stimulating.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 For example, there are no areas of the
body that, when touched, will
automatically produce sexual arousal.
Areas of the body that have an
unusually rich group of nerve receptors
are particularly sensitive, not just to
sexual touch but to any kind of touch,
are called erogenous zones.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 The information sent to the brain
by the nerve cells is essentially the
same as that sent when a sexual
partner touches that spot when a
physician touches a breast or a
penis. What differs is the
interpretation given to the touch.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 Sexual arousal is likely only
when a certain part of the body
is touched in what people define
as a sexual manner and when a
person is receptive to sexual
activity.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 There is a good deal of agreement
within a society or culture about what
usually represents an erotic stimulus,
although people can learn to respond
sexually to almost any stimulus. Breast
size is frequently the standard by which
female appeal is measured in many
Western societies, but in many other
cultures, breast size is irrelevant.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 There is a good deal of agreement
within a society or culture about what
usually represents an erotic stimulus,
although people can learn to respond
sexually to almost any stimulus. Breast
size is frequently the standard by which
female appeal is measured in many
Western societies, but in many other
cultures, breast size is irrelevant.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 Sexual fantasies also play a significant role
in people’s lives. People often have
fantasies of a sexual nature during their
every day, nonsexual activities.
Furthermore, during sexual intercourse,
most people fantasize about sex. These
fantasies often include having sex with
someone other than one’s partner of the
present moment.
 Physiological Aspects of Sexual Excitement:
What Turns People On?
 Although men appear to fantasize
about sex more than women do, men’s
and women’s fantasies differ little from
each other in terms of content or
quantity. But both men and women
wish they engaged in more oral sex, had
vaginal intercourse more frequently
than they actually do, and kissed more.
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 We all contribute to some basic aspects of sexual
responsiveness, although the kinds of stimuli that create
sexual arousal are, to some degree, unique to each
individual. According to pioneering work done by William
Masters and Virginia Johnson (1966), sexual responses go
after a regular pattern consisting of four phases: excitement,
plateau, orgasm, and resolution, based on their studies
about behavior in carefully controlled laboratory settings.
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 The first phase can last from just a few minutes to
more than an hour; an arousing stimulus begins a
sequence that prepares the genitals for sexual
intercourse, and this phase is called
EXCITEMENT.
 The penis becomes erect when blood flows into it
in males. The clitoris swells because of an increase
in the blood supply to that area, and the vagina
becomes lubricated in a female. A “sex flush,” a
red rash that typically spreads over the chest and
throat, may also experience by women.
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 The second phase is where the body’s
preparation for ORGASM. During this
stage, as the penis and clitoris swell with
blood, the maximum level of sexual arousal
is attained. Women’s heartbeat and blood
pressure rise, breathing rate increases, and
breasts and vaginas expand. As the body
prepares itself for the next stage, which is
the orgasm, muscle tension becomes greater.
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 However, it is hard to explain the feeling of
orgasm beyond saying that it is an intense, highly
pleasurable experience; the biological events that
accompany the feeling are fairly straight forward.
Rhythmic muscular contractions occur in the
genitals every eight-tenths of a second when the
orgasm stage is reached. The contractions expel
semen, a fluid containing sperm, from the penis—
a process known as ejaculation in males.
Breathing and heart rates reach their maximum
for women and men.
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 After orgasm, people move into the
last phase of sexual arousal, which is
called the RESOLUTION STAGE. The
body returns to its resting state,
reversing the changes brought about
by arousal. The blood pressure,
breathing, and heart rate go back to
normal; the genitals resume their
unaroused size and shape.
The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 The Phases of Sexual Response:
The Ups and Downs of Sex
 Male and female responses differ significantly during the resolution
stage; these differences are depicted in the photo. Women can cycle
back to the orgasm phase and experience repeated orgasms. Females
go into the final resolution stage, and then they return to their pre-
stimulation state. In contrast, it is generally thought that men go into
a refractory period during the resolution stage. Men are not capable
of developing an erection during the refractory period. Therefore,
men are not capable of having another ejaculate and orgasm. The
refractory period may last from a few minutes to several hours; in
the elderly, it may continue for several days.(Goldstein, 2000).
 Surveying Sexual Behavior:
What’s Happening Behind Closed Doors?

 The vast variety of sexual practices remained shrouded in

ignorance, based on most of recorded history. However, a series
of surveys on the sexual behavior of people in the United States
was launched by a biologist Alfred Kinsey in the late 1930s. The
result was the first broad attempt to see what people were doing
sexually. It was highlighted by the publication of Kinsey’s
landmark volumes, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Kinsey,
Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human
Female {Kinsey et al., 1953).
 Surveying Sexual Behavior:
What’s Happening Behind Closed Doors?

 The first major systematic effort in learning about

human sexual behavior was Kinsey’s research. Tens of
thousands of people were interviewed by Kinsey and his
colleagues. The interview techniques they developed in
which their ability to prompt sensitive information
without causing humiliation is still looked upon as a
model for other sex researchers.
 Surveying Sexual Behavior:
What’s Happening Behind Closed Doors?

 On the other hand, the samples of Kinsey reflected an over-depiction

of young people, well-educated individuals, urban occupiers, college
students, and people living in Indiana and the northeast (Kirby,
1977). Furthermore, it is unclear how representative of his data are
of people who refused to participate in the study, as with all surveys
involving volunteer participants. Similarly, it is not easy to assess
how accurately people’s descriptions of what they are doing private
counterparts their actual sexual practices, because no survey
observes behavior directly.
 Surveying Sexual Behavior:
What’s Happening Behind Closed Doors?

 The work of Kinsey put the stage for later surveys. But due to
political causes (the use of government funding for sex surveys is
contentious), surprisingly few comprehensive, large-scale,
representative surveys—either in the United States or in other
countries—have been carried out since Kinsey did his initial
work. However, we now have a complete picture of
contemporary sexual practices—to which we turn next, by
examining the frequent results gleaned from different models of
subjects.
 MASTURBATION: SOLITARY SEX
 According to physicians 100 years ago, sexual self-stimulation, often
using the hand to rub the genitals, would lead to an ample range of
physical and mental disorders, ranging from hairy palms to insanity
which they called masturbation. However, most of us would be wearing
gloves to hide the sight of our hair-covered palms because masturbation
is one of the most frequently practiced sexual activities if those
physicians had been correct. Some 94% of all males and 63% of all
females have masturbated at least on one occasion among college
students, the rate of recurrence ranges from “never” to “several times a
day”
 MASTURBATION: SOLITARY SEX
 Men and women usually start to masturbate for the first time at
different ages.
 Furthermore, although there are differences in frequency according
to age, men masturbate considerably more often than women. Male
masturbation most common in the early teens and then declines;
females both begin the utmost frequency later. There are also some
racial distinctions: African-American men and women masturbate
less than whites do (Oliver & Hyde, 1993; Pinkerton et al., 2002;
Das, Parish, & Laumann, 2009).
 MASTURBATION: SOLITARY SEX
 The view in which masturbation is often considered an
activity to engage in only if no other sexual outlets are
existing, bears little connection to reality. Close to
threefourths of married men (age 20 to 40) report
masturbating an average of 24times a year, and 68% of the
married women in the same age cluster masturbate an
average of 10 times a year
 MASTURBATION: SOLITARY SEX
 Attitudes toward it still mirror some of the negative views of yesteryear,
despite the high incidence of masturbation. For instance, one survey
found that around 10% of people who masturbated tend to experience
guilt; People considered their behavior perverted, 5% of the males and
1% of the females. Most experts on sex view masturbation as a healthy
and rightful—and harmless— sexual activity, despite these negative
attitudes. In addition, masturbation is seen as providing a means of
knowledge about one’s sexuality and a way of discovering changes in
one's body, such as the appearance of precancerous lumps