Sociology Now, Census Update

344 CHAPTER 10SEXUALITY

born bisexual. In the United States, the Kinsey reports

were the first large-scale investigation into sexual behav-

ior. Kinsey found a gulf between what people professed

morally and how they behaved. He also found that

those from a higher socioeconomic status had more

sex, 70 percent of male respondents had visited a pros-

titute, affairs were not uncommon, women enjoyed sex,

and there were high numbers of same-sex sexual expe-

riences. The National Health and Social Life Study in the

1990s found much lower incidences of those same

behaviors.

4.What are the characteristics of sexual behavior and iden-

tity among Americans? Men and women are raised with

different attitudes toward desire, behavior, and identity.

There is a double standard with regard to men, who are

socialized to see sex as an end in itself, and women, who

are socialized to see sex as part of a relationship. In

recent years, men’s and women’s sexual behaviors and

attitudes have increasingly converged. On college cam-

puses, hooking up is the new form of dating. The cam-

pus sexual marketplace is organized around same-sex

groups interacting in casual settings. One important gen-

der difference occurs in nonconsensual sex where

women are more likely to be victims and men more likely

to be perpetrators. Societies with higher gender equality

report greater satisfaction with sex.

5.How does inequality manifest with regard to sexuality?

Heterosexuality is considered the norm, and the most

legitimate form of sexuality. Homophobia, a presump-

tion that homosexuals are inferior, and heterosexism, or

institution-based unequal practices, are both encoun-

tered frequently. Homosexuality is illegal in some states,

and homosexuals can not marry in most of the United

States. Gay people are discriminated against, are stigma-

tized, and are sometimes the victims of hate crimes. Like

other minority groups, homosexuals formed a subcul-

ture, which arose with other social movements in the

1960s. Homosexuality has now become a part of main-

stream culture, and those negative repercussions are

declining.

6.How does globalization reproduce sexual inequality?

Sex tourism is a global industry serving wealthy men

traveling in foreign countries. This has gone on for

centuries and has now become an industry. In the glob-

alization of prostitution, sex workers are often victims

of kidnapping and violence. Young people are abducted

and forced into slavery. This phenomenon reinforces

inequality between countries and inequality between

men and women. Pornography is another globalized

phenomenon whose definition is changing and subjec-

tive. Pornography, prostitution, and sex tourism have all

increased with the ease of the Internet and globalization.

Key Terms

Asexual (p. 325)
Bisexuality (p. 323)
Heterosexism (p. 335)
Heterosexuality (p. 322)
Homophobia (p. 335)
Homosexuality (p. 322)

Hooking up (p. 332)

Masculinization of sex (p. 332)

Pedophilia (p. 325)

Pornography (p. 340)

Sex (p. 316)

Sex tourism (p. 339)

Sexual behavior (p. 317)

Sexual identity (p. 322)

Sexual script (p. 316)

Sexual socialization (p. 316)

Sexuality (p. 316)

10.1 Extramarital Sex

These are actual survey data from the General Social Survey, 2004.

How wrong do you think it is to have sex with a person other than one’s

spouse?In 1973, 70 percent of respondents said it was always wrong to have sex

with a person other than one’s spouse. In 2004, those numbers were higher, at

slightly over 80 percent. In both years, and in the years in between, more women

than man were likely to say it was always wrong, and more men than women to say

it was never wrong.

What

does

America

think

?