Human Sexualities 12/13

Annual Editions: Human Sexualities 12/13, Thirty-Fourth Edition Preface Series Correlation Guide Topic Guide Internet References Unit 1: Social and Cultural Foundations Unit Overview 1. Breastfeeding Is Not Obscene, Catherine Marshall, EurekaStreet.com, October 23, 2009 While in our culture breasts are viewed as sexual objects, author Catherine Marshall believes that the act of breastfeeding is an outcome of a mother's love and generosity to her child. Marshall states that Western society's belief in the perversion of public breastfeeding obscures the benefits derived from it such as improvement of infants' health, intellectual outcomes, and environmental advantages. 2. Rise of the Desperate House Husband, Gaby Hinsliff, New Statesman, December 21, 2009-January 3, 2010 Increasingly, social, cultural and economic changes have resulted in a reversal of roles for some couples, in which the husband becomes the primary caregiver while the wife is the family breadwinner. Yet, these changes, which mirror those that occurred during the Great Depression, may not be permanent. 3. Gendercide, The Economist, March 6, 2010, pp. 77-80. This article explores the reasons behind the international epidemic of female infanticide-gendercide. The extent of this problem is nothing less than shocking. 4. Death by Gender, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Dissent, Spring 2010 In "honor societies," girls and women are denied the protections that outside affiliations and affection might provide. Deviation from the rules imposed by male authorities may label a female as "contaminated" and elicit harsh sanctions-including death. Girls and women must be tightly controlled because their value in the marriage market depends on their "virtue." 5. Evulvalution: The Portrayal of women's External Genitalia and Physique across Time and the Current Barbie Doll Ideals, Vanessa R. Schick, Brandi N. Rima, and Sarah K. Calabrese, Journal of Sex Research, 47, 1-9. 2010 This qualitative research article reports findings from an analysis of Playboy centerfolds from 1953 to 2008. The authors report that the representation of the female genitalia perpetuate a "Barbie Doll ideal." The results of this study are truly thought provoking. 6. Female Power, The Economist, January 2, 2010 In this article The Economist focuses on issues around gender and power related to various social arrangements, including the world of work. The topics covered in this article intersect broadly with the study of gender, intimate relationships and the world of work. 7. Estranged Spouses Increasingly Waiting out Downturn to Divorce, Donna St. George, Washington Post, Monday, March 22, 2010 Divorce is often difficult, and shifts in the world economy can have an impact on our most intimate relationships. Estranged couples now find themselves trapped in houses they are unable to sell, protecting their financial interests as they attempt to co-exist with their estranged, even ex-spouse. 8. Sexual Behavior in the United States: Results from a National Probability Sample of Men and Women Ages 14-94. Debby Herbenick et al., Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7 (suppl 5), 255-265, (2010). The results of an important new study on the lifetime prevalence of sexual behaviors among a national probability sample of men and women in the United States are reported in this scientific journal article. This study finds a significant amount of diversity in both solo and partnered sexual behaviors. Unit 2: Biological Foundations Unit Overview Part A. Reproductive Capacities 9. Starting the Good Life in the Womb, W. Allan Walker, and Courtney Humphries, Newsweek, September 17, 2007 Choices that women make while they are pregnant may have a life-long impact on their baby. This article suggests ideas for mothers to improve their baby's chances to grow into healthy adults. 10. Women in Developing Countries 300 Times More Likely to Die in Childbirth, Sarah Boseley, The Guardian, January 15, 2009 Women in developing countries may lack basic access to health care and often die in childbirth from preventable causes. Lack of access to basic reproductive health care is linked to the roles and status of women. 11. Effects of Prenatal Social Stress on Offspring Development: Pathology or Adaptation?, Sylvia Kaiser, and Norbert Sachser, Current Directions in Psychological Science, April 2009 This article describes how prenatal stress can affect development in humans and animals. Social instability and stress can cause hormonal changes for the fetus that may lead to masculinized effects in daughters and decreased masculinization in sons. 12. A Man's Shelf Life, Mark Teich, Psychology Today, September/October 2007 As men age, their fertility decreases. That's not the only reproductive challenge men face as they get older. Some birth defects increase in frequency with paternal age. Potential parents need to know the information discussed in this article. Part B. The Sexual Body, Attraction, Pleasure, and Desire 13. Pubic Hair Removal among Women in the United States: Prevalence, Methods, and Characteristics, Debra Herbenick et al., J Sex Med 2010;7:3322-3330. Social trends related to the removal or alteration of pubic hair has received increasing attention in the media. This study provides an interesting scientific overview of women's pubic hair removal. 14. Scents and Sensibility, Elizabeth Svoboda, Psychology Today, January/ February, 2008 While sexual attraction is often not well understood by many, researchers have found that scent may be an important component of who we are attracted to. Physical attraction may actually be based, in part, on smell. This article discusses interesting developments into research on the "chemistry" of attraction. 15. The Orgasmic Mind, Martin Portner, Scientific American Mind, April/May 2008 Sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm involve complex physiological, cognitive, and affective phenomena. This fascinating article explores the complexities of desire and orgasm through scientific research on the brain. 16. Women's Vibrator Use in Sexual Partnerships: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey in the United States, Debra Herbenick et al., Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 36, 49-65. Scientific research can provide important insight into sexual behaviors that may be useful to medical and mental health professionals working with couples in clinical settings. This study examines the prevalence and general use of vibrators within relationships, a topic about which professionals previously had little scientific data. Unit 3: Sexualities, Education, and Development Unit Overview 17. At UC Santa Barbara, Sex as a Matter of Course, Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2009 Larry Gordon reports on a large lecture human sexuality course taught by a husbandwife team at the University of California's Santa Barbara campus. The professors' approach provides students with a unique educational experience. The course and the professors themselves have become a campus institution. 18. Exploring Sexuality Education Opportunities at In-Home Sex-Toy Parties in the United States, Christopher Fisher et al., Sex Education,10(2), 131-144, 2010 Many opportunities for sexuality education exist outside of formal classroom walls. Sex education may take place within many other contexts, including in-home sex toy parties. 19. Teenage Fatherhood and Involvement in Delinquent Behavior, Terence P. Thornberry, Carolyn A. Smith, and Susan Ehrhard, The Prevention Researcher, November 2004 This paper investigates the relationship between teenage fatherhood and various indicators of deviant behavior. By using a large sample of students, first interviewed in the 7th or 8th grades and again when they were 21 years old, the authors are able to explore the link between teenage fatherhood and delinquent behavior along the adolescent life course. 20. Truth and Consequences at Pregnancy High, Alex Morris, New York Magazine, May 18, 2009 The rate of unmarried teen parenting in the United States is rising, after a decade of decline. Approximately 60 percent of adolescent moms drop out of school and 64 percent live in a culture of poverty. Most have no health care, eat junk food, and live dangerously during pregnancy. Response to an online survey showed that 20 percent of girls in the United States want to become teen moms. This article describes the negative outcomes for these women. 21. Religiosity and Teen Birth Rate in the United States, Joseph M. Strayhorn, and Jillian C. Strayhorn, Reproductive Health 6.14 (September 2009). This study examines various sources of publicly available data on religiosity, income, birth rates and abortion. The results are interesting, and give additional information that may be useful to sex educators and other health professionals who work with young people. 22. No Kids, No Grief: The Case against Having Kids, Anne Kingston, Maclean's, August 3, 2009 Being a parent can create a multitude of financial, career, relationship, and personal challenges. More and more people today are choosing to be child-free. But is this decision respected and validated by our society? Social reactions to people who choose to be child-free are revealing. 23. Role Reversal, Sara Eckel, Working Mother, February/March 2010 The stress of the recession with career losses is changing family life. Men do more cleaning and caring for children. Over one-half of employed workers in the United States are women. Problems of bruised egos and low self-esteem occur with gender role-reversals. Some emotions, such as empathy, make marriage easier. 24. An Affair to Remember, Melinda Henneberger, slate.com, June 10, 2008 Elderly people, including those in institutional settings, still experience the need for emotional and physical intimacy. These needs may be at odds with prevailing cultural beliefs about sex and the elderly. Unit 4: Intimacies and Relationships Unit Overview 25. The Expectations Trap, Hara Estroff Marano, Psychology Today, March/April 2010 This article addresses improving happiness and satisfaction in marriage. It appears that married people tend to see any unhappiness they experience as a failure of their partner to satisfy their needs. It's common for couples to search for perfection because people believe that they are entitled to the best option there is. Spending time together in challenging activities is suggested to couples to enhance the feelings of closeness and satisfaction with the relationship. 26. Making Relationships Work: A Conversation with Psychologist, John M. Gottman, Harvard Business Review, December 2007 John Gottman has devoted his entire career to the study of human relationships, particularly marriage. In this interview, Gottman reveals what makes marriages work and what contributes to their failure. 27. Where Is Marriage Going?, Anthony Layng, USA Today, January 2009 Expectations about "traditional" marriage are tied to a surprisingly recent, and culturally specific, version of marriage. This article discusses the evolution of marriage and suggests that marriage will continue to change and adapt to the demands of current society. 28. Contributing to the Debate over Same-Sex Marriage, Gwendolyn Puryear Keita, Monitor on Psychology, April 2009, Vol. 40, No. 4 Dr. Gwendolyn Puryear Keita, APA Executive Director for the Public Interest, provides the position of the American Psychological Association regarding the major impact of stigma on well-being, the benefits of marriage, and the lack of difference between lesbian and gay parents and heterosexual parents. 29. The Polygamists, Scott Anderson, National Geographic, February 2010, vol. 217, No. 2 This intimate look inside a fundamentalist polygamist community describes attitudes, standards, and beliefs related to plural marriage from the insiders' perspective of members of the community. 30. Kinky Sex Makes for Happy People, Pieta Woolley, Striaght.com, November 22, 2007, http://www.straight.com/article-119275/kinky-sex-makes-for-happy-people This article reports on a variety of sex scenes in a large urban North American setting. Sexual variations or "kink" and sexual diversity are key themes that shine through in this piece. Unit 5: Gender and Sexual Diversity Unit Overview 31. Women's Rights as Human Rights: The Promotion of Human Rights as a Counter-Culture, Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, UN Chronicle, No. 2/3 2008 The denial of women's rights has a long history. In the 1970s steps to address gender disparity culminated in the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). While CEDAW has been ratified by most countries, its provisions are routinely ignored, often on religious or cultural grounds. 32. The End of Men, Hanna Rosin, Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2010 Rosin argues that patriarchy has always been civilization's basic organizing principle with only a few exceptions. For the first time in human history, this is now rapidly changing, as women may have distinct advantages over men in some arenas. 33. Gender Bender, Sadie F. Dingfelder, APA Monitor on Psychology, April 2004 The author describes recent research evidence on the role of genes and prenatal hormones in gender identity and gender-related behaviors. These findings help illuminate the interplay between nature and nurture in boys' and girls' behaviors. 34. Goodbye to Girlhood, Stacy Weiner, The Washington Post, February 20, 2007 This article describes the troubling trend in the way women and girls are depicted by the media. Pop culture images are targeting younger girls, potentially influencing the development of eating disorders, lower self-esteem, and depression. 35. (Rethinking) Gender, Debra Rosenberg, Newsweek, May 21, 2007 Debra Rosenberg opens the window on people who are born one gender but feel that they are the other gender. Some use surgery and/or hormones to bring their bodies into compliance with their identity. Their stories are riveting and their lived experiences raise many questions about gender. 36. Progress and Politics in the Intersex Rights Movement: Feminist Theory in Action, Alice D. Dreger, and April M. Herndon, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, vol. 15, no. 2 , 2009 The history of the intersex rights movement has been successful in many important ways. This article explores the politics of intersex rights and feminism. 37. Finding the Switch, Robert Kunzig, Psychology Today, May/June 2008 Is a homosexual orientation influenced by biological processes? Research on the influence of genetics and hormones on the development of homosexuality is explored in this article. Scientific evidence suggests that there are multiple developmental pathways to homosexual orientations, including multiple biological influences. 38. Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents, Charlotte J. Patterson, American Psychologist, November 2009 Does parental sexual orientation affect child development? After years of research, little difference in children has been found between parents living in a same-sex and those living in an opposite-sex relationship. This article argues that sexual orientation should not be used as a sole or even significant criterion for determining child custody. Unit 6: Sexual Health and Well-Being Unit Overview Part A. Problems and Interventions 39. New Mammogram Guidelines Raise Questions, Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press, November 17, 2009 A government task force announced that women in their 40s don't need mammograms, contrary to the American Cancer Society's long-standing guidelines. The panel of physicians and scientists determined that getting screened for breast cancer that early in life may actually cause more harm than good, leading to too many false positives and unneeded biopsies and surgeries without significantly increasing women's chances of surviving the disease. 40. Health Behaviors, Prostate Cancer, and Masculinities: A Life Course Perspective, John Oliffe, Men and Masculinities, January 1, 2009 This article examines the intersections of gender, health, and illness using a retrospective life course method. This study goes beyond behaviors and health consequences, to look at the impact of the social construction of masculinity on health. 41. Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Females and Males: Risk and Resilience, Katherine Presnell, Sarah Kate Bearman, and Mary Clare Madeley, The Prevention Researcher, September 2007 The study of gender and health is especially important and interesting in the area of body image. This important selection looks at body dissatisfaction in boys and girls, including some consequences that everyone should know. Part B. Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV Disease 42. Condom Use Rates in a National Probability Sample of Males and Females Ages 14 to 94 in the United States, Michael Reece et al., Journal of Sexual Medicine 7 (suppl 5), 266-276, 2010 Many myths and inaccuracies exist about the use of condoms today, yet they are an essential component of health education and disease prevention. This important scientific study examines condom use among sexually active males and females in the United States. 43. Hooking Up and Sexual Risk Taking among College Students: A Health Belief Model Perspective, Teresa M. Downing-Matibag, and Brandi Geisinger, Qualitative Health Research, vol. 19, September 2009 "Hooking up" on university campuses is not new. However, the sexual risk taking behaviors of college students during "hook ups" needs further research. This qualitative study yields interesting information about an understudied phenomenon. 44. Rationing Antiretroviral Therapy in Africa-Treating Too Few, Too Late, Nathan Ford, Edward Mills, and Alexandra Calmy, New England Journal of Medicine, April 30, 2009 The current approach to antiretroviral therapy in Africa is less than optimal, even though access to these drugs is at an all-time high. The drugs are often started too late and poorly tolerated. The authors argue for a different approach that is not inconsistent with the current emphasis on reaching the widest number of patients as cheaply as possible. 45. HIV Plan B, Justine Sharrock, Mother Jones, May/June 2008 Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment can prevent HIV infection in many people who are at-risk of becoming infected after a suspected or known exposure. PEP is FDA approved, but not always available to those who need it. High cost and lack of knowledge are among the reasons why some people may have limited access to it. 46. Who Still Dies of AIDS, and Why, Gary Taubes, New York, June 16, 2008 Even though highly active anti-retroviral therapies are widely available, HIV can still trump modern medicine and kill. Everyone should know the information in this article. Unit 7: Sexualities and Social Issues Unit Overview 47. Flower Grandma's Secret, Susan Wicklund, Ms., Fall 2007 A physician specializing in reproductive health and abortion is about to go public on national television. She now must visit her grandmother to tell about her medical specialty.The doctor soon discovers that her grandmother has been keeping a long-held secret of her own. 48. Porn Panic!, C. Brian Smith, The Advocate, May 2009 The porn industry has new and tougher challenges, including a saturated market, amateur porn stars, and users sharing content from pay sites with internet groups. These are but a few of the new challenges taking a bite out of profits within the porn industry. 49. Does Proximity to Schools Tempt Former Sex Offenders?, Cynthia Calkins Mercado, and Brian H. Bornstein, Monitor on Psychology, vol. 39, no. 8, September 2008 To date, there is still little research on the utility of residency restriction statutes for sex offenders. However, a recent study failed to show that sex offenders who re-offend live closer to schools and parks than those who do not re-offend. 50. The Face of Domestic Violence, Sarah Elizabeth Richards, Ladies' Home Journal, March 2010 This is a first-person account of a young woman, a victim of domestic violence, who stayed with a husband who beat her over and over again. She explains what she went through and why she believed it would all get better. 51. Options for Reporting Sexual Violence: Developments over the Past Decade, Sabrina Garcia, and Margaret Henderson, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2010 52. Domestic Abuse Myths, Raina Kelley, Newsweek Web Exclusive, March 9, 2009 Even when it involves rich and privileged celebrities, incidents of domestic violence are accompanied by myths and mistaken assumptions about choices both parties make. Domestic violence is, in fact, underlain by elements of power, control, and domination. 53. Male Rape Myths: The Role of Gender, Violence, and Sexism, Kristine M. Chapleau, Debra L. Oswald, and Brenda L. Russell, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, May 1, 2008 Do males and females differ in their acceptance of rape myths? What factors impact the acceptance of rape myths? This article reports on research that sheds some light on these issues. 54. Effects of Sexual Assaults on Men: Physical, Mental, and Sexual Consequences, Richard Tewksbury, International Journal of Men's Health, vol. 6. no. 1, Spring 2007 This interesting article reviews the research literature on the physical, mental, and sexual consequences of sexual assaults on men. This review will provide the reader with an excellent overall understanding of what we know about the effects of sexual assaults on men to date. Test-Your-Knowledge Form