SOC 210 - The Sociology of Sexual Behavior

1. Define sexual choices that one makes during the course of a lifetime.
2. Outline the transition of sexuality from its association with the sacred, to the scientific, to the secular.
3. Explain what is meant by the sexualization of American society and the factors that brought this phenomenon about.
4. Outline the historical roots of the sexual values that prevail in the U.S. society today.
5. Define cultural variations in human sexuality.
6. Explain the biological, psychological, sociological, and feminist theories of sexuality.
7. Explain the procedures and methods used in sex research and be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of sexual studies conducted to date.
8. Interpret the impact of sex roles on interpersonal sexual relationships.
9. Contrast traditional and current views on individual sexuality (autoeroticism).
10. Identify the social factors that impact on sexual orientation (heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality).
11. Compare and contrast biological, sociological and psychological explanations of sexual orientation.
12. Interpret variations that occur in one’s sexuality from infancy through adolescence and adulthood.
13. Explain the importance of communication to sexual relationships.
14. Use the sociological imagination to understand the basis of love relationships and the dilemmas that often accompany them.
15. Identify the socio-cultural factors that are associated with sexual dysfunctions.
16. Outline the approaches used in sex therapy.
17. Interpret the functions and dysfunctions of commercial sex.
18. Identify the sources of HIV infection, the threat that AIDS poses to straights and gays alike and suggested ways to reduce and/or prevent the spread of HIV and other STDs.
     

1. Making sexual choices
2. Sexual values – their origins and implications
3. Cultural variations in human sexuality
4. Research methods used in the study of human sexuality including the strengths and limitations of classic and more recent sex studies
5. Theoretical perspectives used in the study of human sexuality
6. Human sexual response
7. Gender roles and sexual relationships
8. Individual and interpersonal sexuality
9. Sexual orientations-homosexuality, heterosexuality, and bisexuality
10. Love and sexuality
11. Communication and sexuality
12. HIV infection: myths and realities
13. Abuses and uses of commercial sex
14. Sex and the law

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