Sexuality Through the Life Cycle

Sexuality Through the Life Cycle

This chapter deals with the human's sexual development through all stages of life, and analyzes past and current theories of psychosexual development. The author begins by describing the long-held view of the sex drive, which supposedly influenced arousal and was hypothesized as an agent for driving procreation and much of human activity in the search of sex, thus perpetuating the species through built in individual desires. As sexual desire and sexuality are better understood form an objective light, however, this view has lost credence. Throughout the chapter, the author details the ways in which both experience and biological factors affect human sexuality, beginning at a very early age and continuing throughout the entire lifespan until death. Adolescence is still seen as a highly formative time for all individuals, and puberty is a major part of psychosexual development, but it is not the beginning of human sexuality as many might believe, just as passing into old age does not mark the end of human sexuality, sexual desires, or sexual activity.

The author strikes an excellent balance in this chapter between the physical (biological, physiological, chemical, etc.) factors at work in human psychosexual development and the psychological and experiential aspects of this development. This leads to a view of human sexuality as something that is both innate and universal yet undoubtedly learned and unique to each individual in certain aspects. Most importantly, perhaps, the author notes that human sexuality is in a state of near constant adjustment for most individuals.

Chapter 7: Sexual Individuality and Sexual Values

Building on information and principles from the preceding chapter, in this chapter the author attempts to provide a preliminary view as to how individual sexual preferences and values develop. He acknowledges early on in the chapter that studies into this area of sexuality are still very much in their early stages, and that the short answer is it is unknown exactly why some people might become gay or lesbian while others are attracted to the opposite sex, or why other sexual preferences and values develop as well. Also, like human sexuality as a whole, the sexual identity of an individual -- which can be said to be the sum of their sexual attitudes, preferences, values, and desires -- is not static, but rather is a dynamic feature of human life that undergoes regular if not constant adjustment and change by individuals. Many different factors pertaining to the development of sexual attitudes and values are discussed, including religion, family upbringing, overall political views, and others.

As with the preceding chapter, one of the most notable things in this section of the textbook is the degree of variability and the rate of change that can occur in the development of an individual's sexual identity and sexual values. The author delves into several hot-button issues such as homophobia, abortion, and general sexual rights of underprivileged classes, dealing with them all in a highly objective and yet deeply informative manner. What emerges is the sense that regardless of one's own individual feeling's and values, sexuality is ultimately subjective -- even if we don't know exactly what forces it is subject to.

Chapter 11: Contraception and Abortion

In this chapter, the author turns his personal yet objective voice to two very sensitive issues in the world of today's sexuality. The ability to prevent a pregnancy from taking place has existed, with varying degrees of certainty and success, for many centuries, and has also been considered a highly controversial topic since it was first conceived (no pun intended). Many religious views, especially, suggest that sexual pleasure exists only to encourage procreation, and that non-procreative sexual acts (such as intercourse involving contraception of any sort) is immoral. Abortion is even more sensitive, with non-religious views also condemning the practice as nothing short of murder. Both of these issues, the author points out, are highly tied to the sexual and political freedom of women in society, as being able to control the timing and/or frequency of one's pregnancies can be (and often simply is) essential to the development of other area's of the woman's life.

These issues are highly politically complex, and the author makes it clear in this chapter that these issues are no less psychologically complex for the individuals that must make choices regarding them. The ability for these issues, especially that of abortion, to polarize society is quite large, and individual values and sentiments are often lost in the larger picture, it seems. Like other sexual values, the author attempts to make it clear that thoughts, attitudes, and practices of contraception and abortion can and do develop and change over time, and they form highly important parts of an individuals social and psychosexual identity in the modern world.

Chapter 12: Solitary Sex and Shared Sex

After long discussions on theory, development, and psychological as well as social issues in sexuality, this chapter delves more explicitly into actual sexual practices without losing sight of the psychology or the other factors of sexuality that influence these behaviors. The author covers the physical act of masturbation in both males and females and discusses the inner motives and drives to engage in this behavior, as well as dispelling several myths surrounding the activity (such as that only those without sexual partners are "reduced " to pleasuring themselves). He discusses other sexual practices, from vaginal intercourse to oral sex and a variety of others, with an equally descriptive and explanatory lens, outlining both the physicality and the psychology possibly at work in each of the various acts discussed, as well as the overall differences in the mind between providing sexual satisfaction for oneself, and sharing in the provision and receipt of satisfaction with another.

The author's ability to retain a highly objective and calmly explanatory style while discussing fairly explicit sexual acts is a large part of this textbook's success overall, and this is definitely demonstrated in this chapter. He makes it clear that each of the sexual acts described can be enjoyed by partners as long as sexual identities and values are permissive of the behavior, refraining from either positive or negative judgment in his descriptions but instead simply acknowledging the psychological facts or trends that have been witnessed. Some of the findings, such as the men think about and engage in sexual activity more often on average, are unsurprising but still informative.

Chapter 18: Sexual Dysfunction and Their Treatment