In Making Sex by Thomas Laqueur, the author analysis sexual differences throughout the 18th century reviewing physicians, scientist, biologist and how society understood the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Laqueur brig us two sex models; the one-sex model and the two-sex model. He explains who we transition from the one-sex model to the two-sex model. How this two models had impacted our society and created an impact in history had it to do with the fact that a lot of evidence was drawn from science. Laqueur also explains how society constructed sex. He takes this investigation in very detail as he explains and investigates sexual differences.
The one sex model is explain the female reproductive system using the males as a basic model. According to Laqueur, the anatomy of the female body was often explain as what it lacks in comparison to the male body. The female body, in fact its reproductive systems and genitalia were seeing as imperfect. Female’s reproductive system was an inverted version of the male’s reproductive system. “In this world the vagina is imagined as...
In How Sex Changed by Joanne Meyerowitz, the author tell us about the medical, social and cultural history of transsexuality in the United States. The author explores different stories about people who had a deep desired to change or transform their body sex. Meyerowitz gives a chronological expiation of the public opinion and how transsexuality grew more accepted. She also explained the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and the law. In there the author also address the importance of the creation of new identities as well as how medication constrain how we think of our self. The author also explain how technological progress dissolve the idea of gender as well as how the study of genetics and eugenics impacts in the ideas about gender/sexuality and identity. But more importantly how technology has change the idea of biological sex as unchangeable.
The sexual lifestyle of women during the medieval time period was quite different among married and single women. Medieval women were not accurately informed of their sexual organs due to bad medical research. They thought they must perform sexual acts on a regular basis to preserve themselves. The third-century writer Galen was looked upon as an authority for medical information on sexual activities. Galen stated that, “a woman’s womb was ‘cold’ and needed constant warming by ‘hot’ sperm” (Time Traveler’s 55). One would assume that hu...
Irigaray, Luce. “That Sex Which is Not One.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 1467-1471.
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
Volpe, Edmond L. "James's Theory of Sex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Portrait of a Lady: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Peter Buitenhuis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
"Sex & Sexuality in the 19th Century." Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum, Web Team. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2014.
In the book History of Sexuality: An introduction, Volume 1 by Michel Foucault, he discusses the “repressive hypothesis” which he had developed. Sexual repression was due to the rise of the bourgeois. He suggests that the repressive hypothesis is important for discourse on the revolution of sexuality. Foucault has recognized the repressive hypothesis as a form of discourse. The repressive hypothesis has power to repress the debate of sexuality. Foucault mentions that society has created control over how people talk about sex over time. In the 17th century with the rise of the bourgeoisie, there had been control on the discourse of sex. In the 18th century, sex was studied for the means of regulating the demographic of the population. Sex lives
During the High Middle Ages, sexuality—at least the way the term is used in modern times—was not necessarily a concept that they focused on, or was it? Many know of the Church’s stance on virginity in unmarried women and clerical abstinence, but we do not think if the other facets that make up what we today know as human sexuality. Sexuality affected both men and women, both virginal and the unchaste alike, and molded the way that society in the High Middle Ages functioned. Much of the proof of sexuality during the time period is sourced in literature from the time period, including those of the religious persuasion, and have been immortalized in song and tradition as well. Even grave events such as those of the demonization of women during the several infamous witchcraft trials that have happened throughout
Post-modern feminism questions the very origins of gender, sexuality, and bodies. According to post-modernism, the emphasis or de-emphasis of difference by cultural and liberal feminists is meaningless, because the difference itself and the categories difference creates are social constructions. Fausto-Sterling's post-modernism, however, depicts this social construction in a unique manner; she attempts to illustrate the role of science in the construction of gender, sex, and bodies. In doing so she discusses three main ways in which science aids in the social construction of sex: first, new surgical technology allows doctors to literally construct genitalia; second, socially accepted biases affect the way scientists design, carry out, and analyze experiments and results; and third, bodies can be physically changed by the social conditions of their environment.... ...
Luce Irigaray, ’ article, “This Sex Which is Not one,” can be succinctly summarized by the following key points. First, the author mentions the way women are seen in the western philosophical discourse and in psychoanalytic theory. She also talks about the women’s sexuality in many ways. ”Female sexuality has always been concepualtized on the basis of masculine parameters.” Women are seen in qualitatively rather than quantitatively. “Must this multiplicity of female desire and female language be understood as shards, scattered remnants of a violated sexuality? A sexually denied?” Freud mentions that the clitoris is a small penis. The female parts are always seen as a commodity for men. Women don’t need men’s object to pleasure themselves
The idea of ‘one-sex’ bodies (a form of thought in Ancient Greece) began to be replaced in the 18th century with the “biological differentiation between men and women” (Mottier, 33). While a gender hierarchy remained, male and female bodies were now seen as biologically and fundamentally different. With the changes of thought during this period, a biological model of sexuality also came about. In the 19th century, the concept of ‘sexual inversion’ became popular (Mottier, 38). Homosexuals were viewed as suffering from gender disorders; they were not criminals, but abnormal and in need of a cure (Mottier, 39). What do all of these developments have to do with sexual behaviors becoming known as sexual identities?
From birth, one's sexuality is shaped by society. Cultures institute behaviors that are to be seen as the societal norms, which work to constantly reinforce societal expectations of how genders should act in relation to one another. Although some may argue that one's sexuality is an innate characteristic resulting from genetic makeup, there is a large amount of evidence pointing to its social construction instead. Through the power differences between males and females, established gender roles, and drastic economic shifts, society establishes sexuality and reinforces the behaviors that are expected of its citizens.
In order to grasp the concept of social construction of gender, it is essential to understand the difference between sex and gender. Biologically, there are only two reproductive genital organs that are determinants of sex: the vagina and the penis. Sex is established solely through biological structures; in other words, genitalia are the basis of sex. Once a sex category is determined, gender, a human categorization socially attached to sex, is assigned based on anatomy. Gender typically references social or cultural differen...
The question fundamental to the philosophy of sex is the question probing into the nature of sexual activity. What is sex? Many have postulated on the subject, but have only further clouded the waters surrounding the subject. There are a multitude of philosophical answers addressing the question of sex ranging from the natural to the phenomenological to everywhere in between. It is essential to the discussion that a proper definition of sex be established before addressing any other issues. I plan to establish a proper definition of sex with an account of sexual perversion and then continue on discussing the nature of cybersex, infidelity, and love.