LORI JOY B.

YU
BSA – 2C

IV. What is Sexuality?

Human Sexuality is the total of our physical, emotional and spiritual responses, thoughts
and feelings. Sexuality is more about who we are than about what we do.

Dimensions of Human Sexuality

Biological dimension:
 Gender
 Genetics
 Reproduction
 Fertility control
 Sexual arousal and response
 Physiological cycles and changes
 Physical appearance
 Growth and development
Psychological dimension:
 Emotions
 Experiences
 Self-concept
 Motivation
 Expressiveness
 Learned attitudes and behaviors
 Body image
Sociocultural dimension:
 Religious influences
 Multicultural influences
 Socioeconomic influences (income, education)
 Ethical influences
 Media influences
 Political influences
How do these dimensions influence us?
 Cultural values or beliefs
 Social forces
 Biological factors
 Psychological forces

a. Psychosocial dimensions of sexuality

 Psychological Domains:
o Self-Awareness
- Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self,
including traits, behaviors, and feelings. Essentially, it is a psychological
 state in which oneself becomes the focus of attention. Self-awareness is
one of the first components of the self-concept to emerge.
o Sexual Self Awareness
- Is about moving from an outside-in experience of our sexuality to an
inside-out experience. It is about understanding our inheritance so that
we can determine our legacy. It is about the kind of sexual healing that
allows us to honor the erotic as one of the pleasures of being human.
o Sexual Self
- Refers to the totality of oneself as a sexual being, including positive and
negative concepts and feelings. According to theorists, sexual self-concept
is described well along three dimensions: sexual self-esteem, sexual
depression, and sexual preoccupation.
- Defined as an individual’s evaluation of his or her own sexual feelings and
actions-is proposed as an important predictor of contraceptive behavior
among teenagers, and a scale measuring the concept is described.
 Social Domains
o Others Awareness
o Sexual Attraction
- Is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such
interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual’s ability to
attract the sexual or erotic interests of other people, and is a factor in
sexual selection or mate choice.

b. Discovering human sexuality

 Sexual Identity:
- An inner sense of oneself as a sexual being, including one’s identification in
terms of gender and sexual orientation.
o Bisexual
o Asexual
o Homosexual
o Heterosexual
 Sexual Orientation:
- One’s erotic, romantic, and affectional attraction to the same sex, to the opposite
sex, or to both.
o Heterosexual
o Homosexual
o Bisexual
- Formed by complicated network of factors:
o Social, cultural, biological, economic, political

V. Types of Sexuality
a. Heterosexual
- A person attracted to people of the opposite sex.
b. Homosexual
- A person attracted to people of the same sex.
 c. Bisexual
- The word ‘bi’, meaning ‘two’, refers to a person’s attraction to both genders
(male and female).
d. Pansexual
- ‘Pan’, meaning ‘all-inclusive’, refers to a person’s attraction to multiple genders.
Some pansexual people describe their attraction as being based on chemistry
rather than gender, but everyone is different.
e. Asexual
- Asexuality is the absence of sexual attraction. For example, some asexual people
are in romantic relationship where they never desire sex, and some are not in
romantic relationship at all.

VI. Introduction to Sexual Harassment: Understanding Sexual Behaviors

a. Sexual Behaviors
- Factors contributing to sexual behaviors
- Components of sexual behaviors
b. Human sex drive
- Libido is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is
influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex
hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act upon the nucleus
accumbens (primarily testosterone and dopamine, respectively) regulate libido
in humans. Social factors, such as work and family, and internal psychological
factors, such as personality and stress, can affect libido. Libido can also be
affected by medical conditions, medications, lifestyle and relationship issues, and
age (e.g., puberty). A person who has extremely frequent or a suddenly increased
sex drive may be experiencing hypersexuality, while the opposite condition is
hyposexuality.
- A person may have a desire for sex, but not have the opportunity to act on that
desire, or may on personal, moral or religious reasons refrain from acting on the
urge. Psychologically, a person's urge can be repressed or sublimated.
Conversely, a person can engage in sexual activity without an actual desire for it.
Multiple factors affect human sex drive, including stress, illness, pregnancy, and
others. A 2001 review found that, on average, men have a higher desire for sex
than women.
c. Erotic mold
d. Sensorium
- The totality of those parts of the brain that receive, process and interpret
sensory stimuli. The sensorium is the supposed seat of sensation, the place to
which impressions from the external world are conveyed and perceived. The
sensorium also refers to the entire sensory apparatus of the body.
e. Sexual Gratification
- A behavior or act committed to stimulate the sexual interest or desire of the
actor or actors.