Changes of Sexual Norms Sexual attitudes have significantly changed over the last 50 years, not so much sexual behavior but societys attitude towards it. After the World War II and in the 1950s sexual behavior was a very taboo subject and was not openly discussed. Sex was conducted behind closed doors and in the confines of marriage. Sex was mainly for reproductive purposes and pleasure was not of a great importance. When a woman got pregnant outside of marriage and the father was around, they were made to marry (shotgun wedding); however, this brought great shame on the family. Adoption and unmarried mothers homes were in existence and the church normally ran these. Children born to these mothers were put up for adoption. Church influence and values were very strong and church leaders had a lot to say about the way family life was conducted.
Alfred Kinsey conducted a major investigation in the 1940s and in 1950s in the USA of sexual behavior and faced condemnation from many religious organizations for being immoral. He persisted and eventually obtained sexual life histories of 18,000 people, which allowed getting quite accurate picture of the existing situation. Kinseys aim was to describe peoples sexual behaviors. This would allow a gap that can exist between publicly accepted attitudes and actual sexual behavior of an individual. Sexual attitudes had undoubtedly become more permissive over the last 30 years. The 1960s brought openly declared attitudes more into line with the realities of sexual behavior.
The Term Paper on Adolescent Sexual Behavior
Introduction Adolescent sexual behavior refers to sexual feelings, behavior, and development in adolescents. It is a stage of human sexuality. The sexual behavior of adolescents is influenced by their culture’s norms and mores, their sexual orientation and the issues of social control. Sexuality is a cultural issue. For humans, sex is a matter of cultural meaning and personal choice than ...
Social movements challenged the existing order of society. The New Left and Hippie Lifestyles broke with existing sexual norms, free love and pre-martial sex was adopted in their cultures and later had a strong influence on the development of societys attitude towards sex. Drugs were available and many people lost their inhibitions while under the influence, which also was a significant factor in losing social concern about sexual behavior. In 1970s Kinsey and his colleagues were to find whether 1960s brought any changes to the culture of sexuality. During this time, Klassen has conducted the research on sexual views. It revealed that still majority of Americans were holding conservative views regarding sex.
In 1967, the Abortion Act entitled women to legal abortion on medical and social grounds, although this was a very limited service on the NHS but many private clinics opened. This and the contraceptive pill played a great part in women becoming more sexually adventurous, as fear of becoming pregnant was taken away gradually. Societys views on abortion were very negative at the time, and even today, there are still very mixed attitudes on this subject. Despite the societys negative attitude towards abortion, sexual attitudes were changed. The 1970s and 1980s marked change in the public perception of homosexuals. High media profile of performers such as David Bowie and Quentin Crisp brought the idea of men wearing make up. A lot of sexual practices and preferences were brought out into the openswinging, wife swapping, and transvestism. Many clubs were started to accommodate this.
The biggest change in attitude to sexual behavior came in the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 80s just when peoples prejudices were beginning to adjust and accept the gay community along came mass media on AIDS. AIDS was first seen as a gay disease, and this made gay men stay in monogamous relationships, besides it had caused total disapproval of gay relationships. Media started to campaign on safe sex, and as more research evidence was gathered, heterosexuals were told that they were at risk. These led people being more aware of their sexual behavior or not worry and think, It will not happen to me. Homosexuals were often seen as threatening by the straight community.
The Term Paper on Oral Intercourse Sexual Penis Sex
GLOSSARY OF SEXUAL TERMS AAC/DC... BISEXUAL ACTIVE... THE AGGRESSIVE SEXUAL PARTNER AGATE... A SMALL PENIS ANA LINGUS... KISSING, LICKING AND PENETRATION OF THE ANUS BY THE TONGUE ANGEL... MALE WHO PAYS FOR SEXUAL ACTS ANUS... THE OPENING OF THE RECTUM AROUND THE WORLD... THE ACT OF KISSING THE ENTIRE BODY AS A PRELUDE TO SEX ASEXUAL... ABSENCE OF SEXUAL FEELING ASS... THE BUTKS ASSHOLE... THE ...
Attitudes have changed in their perception of gays with gay bars and clubs in most big cities. Lesbian communities are less organized and they tend to mix with the straight community more. Media has, with the storylines in soap operas about gay and lesbian characters brought this lifestyle into many homes on television where families can discuss the issues making it easier for people to reveal the truth about real sexual identity. It was very difficult and almost impossible to come out some 10-20 years ago for a gay of lesbian, but even today this problem still exists, which shows that society is not ready yet to accept homosexuals, even though gays had obtained more rights than ever before. It seems that soon there will be legislation allowing homosexuals to marry, which would be absolutely impossible some 20 years ago. With people being more open and discussing sexual behavior more, many youngsters are engaging in sexual practice earlier.
This leads to problems, as their body is ready but in the vast majority, their minds are still immature. Teenage pregnancies seem to be the norm and society just accepts this. The percentage of adolescent females reported having sex almost reached the number that of males. Besides, today loosing virginity is not considered as something unacceptable but rather normal. Interesting fact was that the majority of respondents felt that pre-marital sex was wrong, however they were experiencing it. Men had sexual experience more frequently than women did.
Today pre-marital sex is socially accepted and is considered a normal thing, but is disapproved in different religions. Almost everyone nowadays had experienced pre-marital sex. However, people become more concerned about choosing a right partner, because of risks of obtaining STD. Pre-marital sex existed before sexual revolution, but it happened rarely and was disapproved by majority of society. It is possible to conclude that sexual norms undergone significant change. In cinema and theatre scenes are shown which previously would have been completely unacceptable, while pornographic material is readily available to most adults who wish to obtain it. This is a vivid example of changes of sexual norms over the last 40 years. Prostitutes have been around all the time, but some have changed from women earning a living to children and drug addicts.
The Term Paper on Sex In Society
Sex in Society Sex plays a major role in today's society. From television, radio, music, and advertisements, to video games, the Internet, and even art and pictures, all forms of media use sex to help sell their products. With the public being exposed to so many different types, the overuse and exploitation of sex is common. Is sex a useful tool, or a ploy to get the attention of the public? ...
Some members of society have accepted that prostitutes are around and also will be (it is one of the oldest professions) and are campaigning to legalize it and centralize them in one area so that it can be properly controlled, rather then walking the streets and being in residential areas. Although sexual behavior has not really changed through the years, attitudes have changed. Societies have gained in confidence in their sexual behavior and societies are more acceptable of peoples preferences. Double standards are still present but not as much as before. Pre-martial sex has risen, and some old fashioned values are starting to reappear, as more is being discovered about sexual diseases and society just being able to make up their own minds about their own sexual behavior. While it is true that sexual behavior (acts) has not changed, the moral attitude has.
What was once hidden behind closed doors we can now watch on television most every night and every day on various TV shows and we accept it absolutely natural. Some children today know as much or even more about sex than adults knew 40 years ago. Therefore, we all need healthy attitudes towards sex, but personally, I do not think that popularization of sex on television is the best way to provide children with information about it, which can influence sexual development of young individuals in the future in the way that will be hard to predict.
Bibliography:
John Scanzoni, Contemporary Families and Relationship, p.49-94 www.hi-ho.ne.jp/taku77/refer/sexnorm.htm James B. Nelson, Needed: A Continuing Sexual Revolution, (www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/sh owarticle?item_id=950).
