CHFD 4050 Final

• Erotic & genital responses produced by the cultural scripts of a society
• Culturally-specific
• Norms change over time
• Basis of procreation & family

• Set of sexual practices & attitudes that leads to the formation in a person's mind of an identity as homo-, hetero- or bisexual
• Concept didn't exist until the 19th century

Sexuality as a continuum

• Our sexual identity is determined by our sexual experiences
• Queer Theory: The view that sexual life is artificially organized into categories that reflect the power of heterosexual norms

• Part of social constructionist perspective
• The view that sexual life is artificially organized into categories that reflect the power of heterosexual norms

• Our sexual identity is determined by our biology
• Mounting evidence for this theory
• Hypothalamus differences
• ”Gay” gene
• Pheromone studies
• Arousal
• Effect of androgens on brain development in utero

Sexual identity is influenced by both social & biological factors

• Likenesses or similarities among marital or relationship partners
• We tend to date and marry those who are similar to us sociographically (with respect to age, religion, race/ethnicity, social class, etc.)

No

• More practical considerations in choosing spouse
• Subject to parental approval

• Bundling
• Unmarried man & woman, fully clothed, slept in same bed together
• Up to the woman to invite a man to bundle or to deny access to bundling; granted only to a favorite lover
• Could lie in bed together, but sexual activity before marriage was not acceptable
• Sexual activity would have been hard since all family slept in the same room, but it was managed

Premarital conception was 30% in 1770s

• Calling & keeping company
• Calling: When woman came of proper age, her mother invited young men to call, usuallyin daylight. 1st callings involved visiting with both mother as a chaperone & daughter. Later, mother might hover in adjacent room
• Keeping Company: Usually was a privilege granted to just one man- woman would not accept other callers; longer periods of time, and often in the evening; sometimes continued after parents went to bed

• Premarital sex was not unheard of
• 13% of US women born before 1890, and 28% born between 1890 and 1899
• Premarital pregnancy increased from 10% of babies born in mid-19th century in decades between 1880 and 1910

• Dating & going steady
• Shifted control to men
• Working class “dated” first, since with urbanization they had no parlors in which to call on women
• Family supervision replaced by peer supervision
• Date required money, which men are more likely to have
• Initiative & responsibility for date and its financing shifted to men
• Primary objective by 1930s and 1940s = enjoyment rather than selecting marriage partner

• Have increased
• 1960: 5% of births
• 2002: 34% of births
• 2007: 39% of births

• Later age at first mariage
• Cohabitation
• Changed social norms regarding sexuality

• Has decreased since 1960
• Currently highest among Hispanics
• 1960: 89 births per 1000 teens (14% of whom were unmarried)
• 2006: 42 births per 1000 teens (16% of whom were unmarried)
• SO in 2006, there are less births but more of them are to unmarried teens

• Condom use has increased through the years
• Most common among black non-hispanic

• Females used more often than other genders
• Less students use them now than in the past (19%)

• 12th graders are dating less than ever, and the trend is continuing to decrease
• More 12th graders have had sex than in the past- this trend is continuing
• 11th graders had had sex in the past, the trend decreased, and now increases again

• Oral sex is more popular than vaginal, but vaginal is still common with an average of 49.9% having participated in it
• Anal sex is also becoming normative (estimates of 11-18% of teens have experienced it)

• Ages 20-59
• 96% have had sex
• 15% abstained until age 21
• Men median number of sex partners: 7
• Women median number of sex partners: 4

• Frequency of sex decreases with age
• Cohabitors have more sex than other marital statuses

% agreeing that extramarital sex is “always wrong: or “almost always wrong": 1972: 84% .... 2002: 94%

• Percent of married people who reported having had another sexual partner (other than theirspouse)
• During marriage: 10% of women, 25% of men
• During past year: 2% of women, 5% of men

• Declining
• 84% married in 1930, 49.7% married in 2005
• 2005- The first time less than a half of US households were married couples

• Unmarried couples living together
• 900% increase since 1970
• In 2002, 54% of US women ages 19-44 have cohabitated before

10% of Americans think it's outdated, while 34.3% of the French believe it's outdated

• More widowed elderly
• Increased divorce rate
• Later age at first marriage
• Increased cohabitation
• Pursuit of careers
• Opportunities for women in the workplace
• Economic changes & recession
• Contraceptive & fertility technology
• Changed culture

• Tend to have lower incomes & levels of education & are less likely to own a home together
• Most marriages are now preceded by cohabitation, but more likely with remarriage
• Most cohabitors are ages 25-44
• Common on the west coast, New England, and Florida
• Law prohibits cohabitation in NC, VA, WV, FL, MI, MS, & ND

• Rising
• 43.1% of opposite-sex cohabiting couples have children under age 18 living with them

• One in which there is a lack of established social norms
• ie- Cohabitation

• More likely to...
• Have egalitarian gender attitudes (but not really behavior patterns)
• Be 2-earner couples
• Keep money separate
• Experience greater declines in perception of relationship fairness & happiness than married couples
• Have sex (than married couples)
• Experience abuse in the relationship
• Have lower levels of happiness & commitment
• Have poorer relationships w/ parents

• 1. An alternative way of being single (Pure relationships)
• 2. A testing ground for marriage
• 3. An alternative to marriage

• Couples who cohabited before marriage have higher divorce rates than couples who didn't
• Exceptions/Qualifiers:
• Those who cohabited only with their future marriage partner alone did not have elevated divorce risk
• Prior cohabitation has a more negative effect on white women’s marriages than onthose of African American & Mexican American women (Why? Cohabiting whites may cohabit because they are unsure of theirrelationship,
• whereas structural barriers (ie- lack of money) may more often be the reason that African American & Mexican American women cohabit)

• Selection Effect: These individuals oriented differently toward marriage to begin with
• There is something about the experience of cohabting that makes an individual orient differently toward marriage

• Greater economic well-being (levels of both income & wealth)
• More frequent & satisfying sex
• Better psychological/mental well-being
• Lower levels of depression
• Better physical well-being/health
• Less likely to engage in risky behaviors (ie- smoking, heavy drinking)
• More likely to engage in healthful behaviors
• **Marriage must be safe & happy for the above to be true**

• Marriage Protection Hypothesis/Experience Hypothesis: There's something about marriage that makes us less likely to engage in risky behavior
• Selection Process into Marriage- Those who marry were already healthier & less likely to take risks/do unhealthy things
• Greater Economic Resources- Married individuals tend to have more financial resources, which results in less stress, better access to healthcare, & more resources when stress does exist

• Men: 1890- 26.1 years ; 1960- 22.8 years ; 2007- 27.5 years
• Women: 1890- 22 years ; 1960- 20.3 years ; 2007: 25.6 years