A third underlying assumption of empirical investigations of adoles­cent sexuality is that the construct of sexuality is completely a property of the individual. Empirical investigations have not examined the adolescent couple as a unit of analysis. This is surprising in light of the fact that the girls’ sexual behaviors, which are of such great concern […]

A second assumption of empirical discourse on adolescent sexuality is that sexual behavior is synonymous with the act of heterosexual inter­course. The empirical literature casts an ahistorical, static portrait of ado­lescent sexuality that begins with intercourse and ends in pregnancy (Wed­dle, McKenry, &. Leigh, 1988). This orientation stems, in part, from viewing adolescent girls’ sexuality […]

There are three major assumptions that underlie the majority of em pirical research on adolescent sexuality and shape the nature of the ques tions researchers ask, the design of the studies, and, thus, the state of our knowledge base about adolescent sexuality. We feel it is important to ex amine these assumptions and their implications […]

DEBORAH P. WELSH, SHARON S. ROSTOSKY ANDMYRA CHRISTEN KAWAGUCHI Adolescent girls’ sexuality is of great interest and concern to devel­opmental researchers, theorists, policymakers, educators, health care pro­viders, parents, and adolescents themselves. One reason for this interest is that adolescence is a crucial time when many biological, psychological, and social changes occur. These changes, and their […]

Gender has come to mean a great deal in the last three decades of feminist theory and scholarship, yet the sociopolitical realities of gendered lives and gendered sexualities are invisible in most research dictated by the sexological model. It’s not just that men and women are different, and researchers have to document and analyze sex […]

A prime challenge to the sexological model lies in taking on how its penchant for looking for universal principles has led us to ignore how sexual lives are different depending on social circumstances. Variables af fecting sexual values and scripts such as class, age, socio-economic situa tion, religion, ethnicity, and assimilation are not prominent in […]

The last quote about the thrillingly positive impact of Masters’ and Johnson’s research on women alerts us to the importance of seeing sex research in the context of its time as we analyze its impact on women’s sexual experiences and ideas. In our fast-changing world, so many things seem old-fashioned that may have been new […]

Davidson and Layder (1994) propose that “on the one hand, popular beliefs about sex are shaped by the findings of [sex] research, on the other, research into sexuality is powerfully influenced by the moral and normative values of the society in which it is undertaken” (p. xi). This circular re­lationship will make it extremely difficult […]

What has been the impact of the sexological model? The primary influence has been on the parameters of sex research—what’s been in­cluded and what’s been excluded. The elements of the model provided the assumptions and norms that shaped sexology. Issues for sexology were those suggested by the model: working out the various elements of biology […]

Sex research focuses on the conduct (mostly) and subjective experi­ence (somewhat) of individuals, whether revealed through survey, ques­tionnaire, interview, observation, or measurement. This is an exceptionally important element of the sexological model that is invisible, never dis­cussed, completely taken for granted, and can be considered an aspect of our psychological century’s focus on (some may […]