The Physical Side of Human Sexuality

What are the physical differences between females and males?

 The female sexual organs present at birth are the primary sex characteristics of vagina, uterus, and ovaries. The
female sexual organs that develop during puberty are secondary sex characteristics consisting of the growth
spurt, onset of the menstrual cycle, breast development, widening hips, pubic hair, fat deposits, and further
growth and development of the uterus, vagina, and ovaries.
 The primary male sex characteristics are the penis, scrotum, testicles, and prostate gland. The secondary male
sex characteristics are an enlarged larynx (Adam’s apple), deepening voice, facial and chest hair, pubic hair,
coarser skin texture, and a large increase in height.

The Psychological Side of Human Sexuality: Gender

What is gender, and how can biology and learning influence gender-role development?
• Gender is the psychological aspects of being male or female.
• Gender roles are the culture’s expectations for male and female behavior and personality.
• Gender typing is the process by which people in a culture learn the appropriate gender-role behavior.
• Gender identity is a person’s sense of being male or female.
• Gender identities are formed by biological influences, in the form of hormones and chromosomes, as well as
environmental influences, in the form of parenting, surroundings, and culture, on the formation of gender
identity.
• Research has found differences between the function and structures of the male and female brain.
• Some sex differences in the brain appear to be prenatally influenced by the male and female chromosomes.

How do gender roles develop, and how can they be influenced by stereotypes or an emphasis on
androgyny?
• Social learning theorists believe that gender identity is formed through reinforcement of appropriate gender
behavior as well as imitation of gender models.
• Gender schema theorists believe that gender identity is a mental schema that develops gradually, influenced by
the growth of the brain and organization of observed male or female behavior around the schema.
 • Gender stereotyping occurs when people assign characteristics to a person based on the person’s male or female
status rather than actual characteristics.
• Androgyny describes people who do not limit themselves to the male or female stereotyped characteristics,
instead possessing characteristics associated with both traditional masculine and feminine roles.

How do men and women differ in thinking, social behavior, and personality?
• Cognitive differences between men and women include a male advantage in mathematical and spatial skills and
a female superiority in verbal skills. These differences are now less than they were previously.
• Males and females are socially taught to interact differently and express emotions differently. Men tend to talk
with each other in a “report” style, whereas women tend to talk to each other in a “relate” style.

Human Sexual Behavior

What happens in the bodies of women and men during sexual intercourse?
• Masters and Johnson found four phases of human sexual response: arousal, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.

• Masters and Johnson used volunteers, some of whom were prostitutes, and both observed and measured their
physiological responses during all phases of sexual intercourse.

What did the early and most recent surveys of human sexual behavior reveal?
• Alfred Kinsey conducted a series of sexual-behavior surveys in the late 1940s and early 1950s, revealing some
highly controversial findings about the kinds of sexual behavior common among people in the United States,
including homosexuality, premarital sex, and extramarital sex.
 • In the mid-1990s, Janus and Janus published the results of a largescale survey of sexual behavior in the United
States. Their survey results did not differ widely from those of Kinsey but they looked at many more types of
sexual behavior and factors related to sexual behavior than did Kinsey’s surveys.

How do different sexual orientations develop?

• Research suggests that there are biological differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals, and that there
may be genetic influences as well.
• Studies suggest that homosexuality may continue in the genetic pool because homosexuals protect their near
kin, a theory called the kin selection hypothesis.

Sexual Dysfunctions and Problems

How do physical and psychological sexual problems differ?

• Sexual dysfunctions are problems with sexual functioning. They may be caused by physical
problems, stress, or psychological problems.
• Organic or stress-induced dysfunctions are caused by a physical problem or by stress and
can affect sexual interest, arousal, and response.
• These disorders include hypoactive sexual desire, sexual aversion, female sexual arousal
disorder, male erectile disorder, male orgasmic disorder, female orgasmic disorder,
premature ejaculation, vaginismus, and dyspareunia.
• The paraphilias are thought to be psychological in origin and involve sexual behavior that is
unusual or not socially acceptable as a preferred way of achieving sexual pleasure.
Sexually Transmitted Infections
What are sexually transmitted infections, and what can be done to prevent the spread of these disorders?

• Sexually transmitted infections can affect the sexual organs and the ability to reproduce and
may result in pain, disfigurement, and even death.
• Some common bacterial sexually transmitted infections are chlamydia, syphilis, and
gonorrhea. These infections are treatable with antibiotics.
• Viral sexually transmitted infections include genital herpes (caused by the herpes simplex
virus that also causes cold sores) and genital warts (caused by the human papillomavirus).
Neither can be cured and both can lead to complications such as increased risk of cancer.
• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is caused by a viral infection called human
immunodeficency virus (HIV) that is transmitted through an exchange of blood, vaginal
fluid, semen, or breast milk. Having unprotected sex with an infected person, sharing a
needle with an infected person, or giving birth to or breast-feeding a baby while infected are
the methods of transmission.
• AIDS wears down the immune system, opening the body up to infections that, over time,
will result in death.