The personal and political (laws, policies, and norms) are truly merged when it comes to sexuality. The historical, cross-cultural, and intra-cultural perspectives that we have examined in this chapter clearly show the impact of social norms on sexuality and may help us to appreciate the unique position in which we currently find ourselves. We can define our own sexuality on the basis of personal choices to a far greater degree than was possible for the ancient Hebrews, the early Christians, the Europeans of the Middle Ages, the Victorian Europeans, and North Americans of the 19 th century—and to a far greater degree than is possible for many contemporary non-Western societies. With the increased understanding and acceptance of diversity in human sexuality that developed during the 20th century, we have greater freedoms and responsibilities today.
Yet, the exponential changes in the last century have left us with many unresolved questions. Consequently, in the 21st century we face controversies about social policies, laws, and ethics in almost every area related to human sexuality—many of which are decided by voters, the executive branch of the government, state and federal courts, the U. S. Supreme Court, and school boards (Bernstein & Schaflrner, 2005). We have seen throughout this chapter that social norms, sometimes codified into law, can support or interfere with the individual’s right to privacy and personal choice (Kaiser, 2004; Wildman, 2001).
For example, for many decades the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided funding for family planning and maternal-child health services organizations in the developing world where lack of access to contraceptive services results in millions of unintended pregnancies each year. The unintended pregnancies often result in increased hardship for poverty-stricken families or in abortion—many of them unsafe. Across the globe, eight women die every hour from unsafe abortion (Center for Health and Gender Equality, 2009).
These funds and the women and children who benefit from or suffer without the services they provide have had a long history of vulnerability to politics. USAID funding can be restricted by the president of the United States. In 1984 the Reagan administration established a policy, commonly known as the Global Gag Rule (GGR), which prohibited providing money and contraceptives to any family planning organizations that used their own non-U. S. funds to offer information, referrals, and services related to abortion. Further, the policy defunded overseas organizations if they engaged in advocacy for safe abortion in their own countries (Ipas, 2007).
The 1984 Reagan funding restriction remained in place until Bill Clinton overturned the restriction after his 1993 election as U. S. president. In spite of evidence documenting the Global Gag Rule’s impact of increasing abortion rates, in 2001 President George W Bush’s first act as president was to reinstate the Global Gag Rule. It remained in place until Barack Obama assumed the presidency in 2008 and freed USAID funding from GGR restrictions.
26 CHAPTER 1
The change in presidential administrations will, however, not end controversy and political conflict in international and domestic issues pertaining to sexuality (Cohen, 2012a). ‘Abstinence only" sex education in public schools, federal and state laws regarding gay civil rights and marriage, restrictions on abortion, public funding for sex research, promotion of condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa—these are only a few of the contentious subjects that we will discuss throughout the text.
We hope that your experience grappling with today’s challenges related to sexuality contributes to your sexual intelligence and your personal ability to navigate all the different topics that make up our sexuality.
Summary
Perspectives on Sexuality
CHAPTER 1
The Goals of Sexology
What are the major goals of sexology?
Is applying research findings to control or modify behavior a legitimate aim of sex research?
Nonexperimental Research Methods
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the three nonexperimental research methods used to study sexuality?
Which of the nonexperimental research methods has provided the most data about human sexuality?
The Experimental Method
How do researchers study sexual behavior in laboratory investigations of human sexuality?
What are the advantages and limitations of experimental studies of human sexuality?
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Technologies in Sex Research
How do researchers measure sexual arousal electronically?
Can computers and the Internet aid in gathering sensitive information?
Ethical Guidelines for Human Sex Research
What ethical issues do sex researchers face, and how are they addressed?
Is it ethical to conduct sex research in cyberspace?
Evaluating Research: Some Questions to Ask
To what degree can we rely on the findings of sex research?
What important questions should be asked when evaluating a particular example of sex research?
I am always skeptical of sex studies reported in newspapers, magazines, and books. How can you accurately study something so private? (Authors’ files)
■ A number of social observers have suggested that men who are active consumers of sexually violent films, magazines, and other pornography are likely to adopt abusive attitudes toward women. As a result, they show an increased tendency to commit rape and other abusive acts toward women.
■ Many people believe that a few drinks make sex more enjoyable. After imbibing a little alcohol, they say that their inhibitions relax; they feel more sensual and more friendly toward the person they are with.
■ Early in the last century, Sigmund Freud asserted that women’s orgasms resulting from vaginal penetration are more "mature" than those resulting from clitoral stimulation alone. A common assumption today is that "vaginal" orgasms are superior to clitoral orgasms.
You have probably heard these three assertions before, and you may agree with one or even all of them. But if you were called on to prove that they were true or untrue, how would you go about compiling evidence? Or, as the quotation at the top of this page asks, How do you study sex?
The role of sexology, the study of sexuality, is to test such assumptions in a scientific way, to find out whether they are true or false and to document what underlying relationships, if any, they reveal. This task is not easy. Although intrinsically interesting to most of us, human sexual behavior is also inherently difficult to study because it occupies an intensely private area in our lives. People often feel embarrassed or even threatened when asked to disclose details about their sexual attitudes or behavior to another person, especially to a sex researcher who is a stranger to them. In addition, the subject matter of sexology abounds with myth, exaggeration, secrecy, and value judgments.
Despite these problems, sex researchers are accumulating a growing body of knowledge about human sexual behaviors and attitudes—including the three assumptions with which we began this chapter: Does violent pornography lead to abusive behaviors such as rape? Does alcohol increase sexual pleasure? What are the differences between vaginal and clitoral orgasms? We will revisit these and other questions in this chapter as we discuss the methods used to study sexuality, the kinds of questions appropriate to each method, and the problems inherent in each method. In the process, we will also learn something about evaluating published research.
We hope that in the following pages you will begin to appreciate what we know and what we do not know and how confident we can be about the available knowledge. You may also begin to sense the steps we can take to further expand our scientific knowledge of sexual behavior. Perhaps you will contribute to our understanding of this important area of human experience. We invite you to do so.