“An awesome examination of human sexuality, encompassing biological,

social, psychological, cultural, and global perspectives. The book’s compre-

hensive scope captures every aspect of human sexuality from its mammalian
beginnings, including human physiology, sexual practices, sex and gender
identities, its relation to kinship, marriage and the life cycle, sexually trans-
mitted diseases, and contemporary factors such as reproductive technology,
internet pornography, and sexual violence. The authors explore various con-
troversies regarding sexuality, providing balanced judgements based on aca-
demic research in industrial and nonindustrial societies. A Must Read!”
— Serena Nanda, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology,
City University of New York; author of Gender Diversity:
­Crosscultural Comparisons and Love and Marriage:
Cultural Diversity in a Changing World

“This collaborative volume updates the team’s popular textbook covering top-
ics from A-frame orgasm to zygote transplantation. Most sexuality textbooks
focus primarily on biological or psychological aspects. In contrast, this book
truly presents a holistic overview of human sexuality in its social contexts and
cross-cultural variability, attending as well to variations in sexual orientation
and gender diversity, while clearly explaining the physiology and psychology.
Ideal for anthropology of sexuality courses, the clear descriptions of anthro-
pological and sociological concepts also suit this book for a general sexuality
course or as a general reference.”
— Timothy M. Hall, MD PhD, Assistant Clinical
Professor, UCLA Dept. of Family Medicine
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Human Sexuality

This groundbreaking second edition of Human Sexuality continues its broad

and interdisciplinary goal of providing readers with a comprehensive overview
on sexuality as a core part of our individual identities and social lives.
Edited by anthropological experts on the subject, this unique textbook
integrates evolutionary and cultural aspects to provide a fully interdisciplinary
approach to human sexuality that is rare in this area of scholarship. Fully
updated throughout in line with developments in the field, this second edition
includes fresh material exploring new sexual identities, sexual violence and
consent, Internet pornography, conversion therapy, polyamory, and much
more. In addition to providing a rich array of photographs, illustrations, tables,
and a glossary of terms, this textbook explores:

• pregnancy and childbirth as a bio-cultural experience

• life-course issues related to gender identity, sexual orientations, behaviors,
and lifestyles
• socioeconomic, political, historical, and ecological influences on sexual
behavior
• early childhood sexuality, puberty, and adolescence
• birth control, fertility, conception, and sexual differentiation
• HIV infection, AIDS, AIDS globalization, and sex work.

Utilizing viewpoints across cultural and national boundaries and taking into
account the evolution of human anatomy, sexual behavior, attitudes, and
beliefs across the globe, Human Sexuality, Second Edition, remains an essential
text for educators and students who wish to understand human sexuality in all
of its richness and complexity.

Anne Bolin, PhD, is a Professor Emerita from Elon University, diplomate with
the American Board of Sexology, a certified sex researcher, and former co-chair/
co-founder of the Human Sexuality and Anthropology Interest Group.

Patricia Whelehan, PhD, CST, CAC-CA, NY, is a Professor Emerita from

SUNY Potsdam, a certified HIV Test Counselor in California and New York,
and a certified sex therapist, mentor, diplomate, and clinical supervisor with
the American Board of Sexology.
Muriel Vernon, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of anthropology from Elon
University. She is the founder of followthefuture.org and currently specializes
in cellular agriculture education.

Katja Antoine, PhD, is Program and Research Developer at the UCLA Center
for the Study of Women.
Human Sexuality
Biological, Psychological, and
Cultural Perspectives

Second Edition

Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan,

Muriel Vernon, and Katja Antoine
Second edition published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan, Muriel Vernon, and Katja Antoine
The right of Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan, Muriel Vernon, and Katja Antoine
to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2009
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bolin, Anne, author. | Whelehan, Patricia, author. |
Vernon, Muriel, author. | Antoine, Katja, author.
Title: Human sexuality: biological, psychological, and
cultural perspectives / Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan,
Muriel Vernon, and Katja Antoine.
Description: Second edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. | .
Identifiers: LCCN 2020044454 (print) | LCCN 2020044455 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367219796 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367219789 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429269158 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex. | Sex customs. | Sex (Biology) | Sexual health.
Classification: LCC GN484.3 .B64 2021 (print) |
LCC GN484.3 (ebook) | DDC 306.7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044454
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044455

ISBN: 978-0-367–21979-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367–21978-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429–26915-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by codeMantra
Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

List of Tables xiv
List of Box xv
About the Authors xvi
About the Contributors xviii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxii

1 Introduction 1
Chapter Overview 1
The Anthropological Perspective 1
Summary 18
Thought-Provoking Questions 19
Suggested Resources 19

2 Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Approaches 20

GE O RGI NA S. H A M MO C K

Chapter Overview 20
Anthropological Perspectives in Contrast 20
Definitions of Human Sexuality 30
Biological Definitions and Dimensions 33
Sexual Violence 41
Summary 45
Thought-Provoking Questions 45
Suggested Resources 45

3 The Evolutionary History of Human Sexuality 47

W E N DA R . T R E VAT H A N

Chapter Overview 47
Arboreal and Terrestrial Adaptations 51
viii Contents
Evolution of the Brain 54
Evolution of the Human Family 55
Evolution of Intimacy 60
Female Sexuality 61
Human Evolution: A Synthesis 65
Summary 66
Thought-Provoking Questions 66
Suggested Resources 67

4 Introduction to the Hormonal Basis of Modern

Human Sexuality 68
Chapter Overview 68
Definitions of Auxiliary Terms and Concepts 69
Summary 78
Thought-Provoking Questions 79
Suggested Resources 79

5 Modern Human Male Anatomy and Physiology 80

Chapter Overview 80
Secondary Sex Characteristics 81
Primary Sex Characteristics 85
Summary 93
Thought-Provoking Questions 94
Suggested Resources 94

6 Modern Human Female Anatomy and Physiology 95

Chapter Overview 95
Secondary Sex Characteristics 97
Primary Sex Characteristics 100
Menstrual Cycle 112
Reproductive Technology 120
Summary 122
Thought-Provoking Questions 123
Suggested Resources 123

7 Fertility, Conception, and Sexual Differentiation 124

Chapter Overview 124
Fertility and Infertility 124
Conception 131
Intersexuality 134
Summary 137
Thought-Provoking Questions 137
Suggested Resources 137
 Contents ix
8 Birth Control, Abortion, and Methods of Birth Control in
Cross-Cultural Contexts 138
Chapter Overview 138
Birth Control: Practices and Prevalence in Industrialized and
Nonindustrialized Nations 138
Abortion 164
Traditional Methods of Birth Control in Cross-Cultural
Context 176
Summary 186
Thought-Provoking Questions 186
Suggested Resources 187

9 Pregnancy and Childbirth 188

Chapter Overview 188
The Fetus 189
The Pregnant Female 190
Birthing Models 194
Postpartum 198
Summary 200
Thought-Provoking Questions 200
Suggested Resources 200

10 Sexuality through the Life Stages, Part I: Early Childhood

Sexuality 201
Chapter Overview 201
Definitions 201
Incest Taboos 211
Theories of Childhood Sexuality 223
Cultural Relativism and Childhood Sexual Behavior 224
Summary 229
Thought-Provoking Questions 230
Suggested Resources 230

11 Sexuality through the Life Stages, Part II: Puberty and

Adolescence 231
Chapter Overview 231
Puberty and Adolescence: A Bio-Cultural Phenomenon 231
Puberty Rituals: Initiation Ceremonies as Rites of Passage 236
Female Genital Cutting 240
Male Insemination Rites 245
Adolescent Sexual Behavior in NonIndustrialized Countries 248
Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Industrialized Countries 255
Adolescent Fertility and Sterility 265
x Contents
Sex Education in the United States 268
Comparison and Contrast: Preparation for and
Transition to Adulthood 273
Summary 276
Thought-Provoking Questions 277
Suggested Resources 277

12 Sexuality through the Life Stages, Part III: Adult Sexuality 279
Chapter Overview 279
Experiencing Sexuality and Human Sexual Response (HSR) 279
The Cross-Cultural Spectrum: Indigenous and NonIndustrialized
Sexuality 280
Theories of Sexology in Industrialized Society 286
Overview of US Sexual Attitudes 299
Problems in Sexual Response: Diagnosis and Disagreements 300
Hookup Culture 312
Sex and Social Media 315
Parenting Styles 316
Summary 319
Thought-Provoking Questions 320
Suggested Resources 320

13 Sexuality through the Life Stages, Part IV: Sexuality

and Aging 321
Chapter Overview 321
Sexuality and Aging 321
Aging Men in the United States 325
Aging Women in the United States 329
Hormone Replacement Therapy/Menopausal Hormone
Treatment (MHT) 331
Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives on Menopause 334
Cross-Cultural Ideologies of Aging 340
Summary 346
Thought-Provoking Questions 346
Suggested Resources 347

14 Sexual Identities, Preferences, and Behaviors 348

Chapter Overview 348
Sexual Identities 348
Causes of Sexual Orientation 350
Summary 362
 Contents xi
Thought-Provoking Questions 362
Suggested Resources 363

15 Sex, Sexuality, and Gender 364

Chapter Overview 364
Gender Identities and Gender Roles 364
Transgender People 365
Gender Variance: Cross-Cultural Gender Diversity 374
Cross-Cultural Gender Roles: Traditions and Changes 385
Summary 387
Thought-Provoking Questions 388
Suggested Resources 388

16 Sexual Health: HIV, AIDS, and Sexually

Transmitted Diseases 389
Chapter Overview 389
Introduction 389
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 395
Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS 395
Modes of Transmission and Co-Factors 401
Biomedical Aspects of HIV/AIDS 402
HIV Testing 405
Sex and HIV/AIDS 409
Drugs, Needles, and HIV/AIDS 410
Women and HIV/AIDS 413
Political and Economic Dimensions of HIV/AIDS 414
Summary 418
Thought-Provoking Questions 418
Suggested Resources 418

17 Global Aspects of Sex and Sexuality 420

Chapter Overview 420
Globalization 420
Globalization and Sexuality: Trafficking 422
Sex Work 423
Sex Work in Industrialized Societies 425
Sex Work in NonIndustrialized Societies 427
Globalization, Sex Work, and HIV/AIDS 432
Summary 438
Thought-Provoking Questions 438
Suggested Resources 438
xii Contents
18 Summary and Conclusion 440
Chapter Overview 440

Notes 445
Glossary 449
References 480
Index 555
Illustrations

1.1 The individual in society 3

1.2 Culture as architecture 15
3.1 The place of humans in the biological taxonomy of
living organisms 49
3.2 How natural selection works on traits 50
4.1 Female reproductive system 70
4.2 Venn diagram: sexual cycle/reproductive cycle 72
4.3 H-P-G axis graphics for female 74
4.4 H-P-G axis graphics for male 75
5.1 Penis—with and without foreskin 86
5.2 Male internal reproductive sexual anatomy 86
6.1 Range of female breasts from the adolescent period 99
6.2 Vulva: external anterior and internal anteriolateral view 101
6.3 Clitoral hood and clitoris 102
6.4 Female reproductive system: drawing of the internal sexual
anatomy 110
6.5 Menstrual cycle diagrammatically 115
7.1 Complete diagram of a human spermatozoa 126
9.1 Embryo seven weeks after conception 189
9.2 Stages of childbirth 192
9.3 Thirty-minute-old infant 193
10.1 Kinship variations 208
11.1 Percentage of high school students who ever had sex from
2007–2017 259
11.2 Methods of contraception ever used among females aged
15–19 who had ever had sexual intercourse 261
11.3 Trends in the prevalence of sexual behaviors and HIV
testing, CDC. 262
11.4 Percentage of high school students who used a condom the
last time they had sex 264
11.5 Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15–19, by race and
Hispanic origin of mother, 1990–2017 267
Tables

4.1 Comparative anatomy 73

4.2 Hormones involved in H-P-G axis functioning 77
7.1 Summary of anomalies of prenatal differentiation 136
8.1 Contraceptive methods among married and in-union
women ages 15–49 by world region, percentage of
population, and type 143
8.2 Health and economic indicators in countries with a high
unmet need for family planning 154
8.3 Laws and abortion policies by state as of November 2019 169
8.4 Reported abortions, by known weeks of gestation, age group,
race, and ethnicity of women who obtained abortions—
selected reporting areas, United States, 2015 172
8.5 Examples of legal trends in international abortion 173
16.1 Common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs): mode of transmission,
symptoms, and treatment 391
16.2 Regional/global HIV/AIDS statistics 396
16.3 United States HIV/AIDS statistics 2017 397
16.4 AIDS cases by age 397
16.5 Simple comparison of men and women living with HIV/
AIDS in 2016 398
16.6 HIV tests: amount of time needed for accuracy, detection of
HIV/AIDS 403
17.1 Sexual tourism 430
Box

8.1 Birth control methods guide 144

About the Authors

Anne Bolin is an Emerita Professor of Anthropology

at Elon University, Elon, North Carolina. Her book,
In Search of Eve: Transsexual Rites of Passage (Bergin
and Garvey), received a CHOICE Magazine Award
for an Outstanding Academic Book for 1988–1989.
With co-author, Patricia Whelehan, she has pub-
lished Perspectives on Human Sexuality (State Univer-
sity of New York Press, 1999.) In 2003, she authored
Athletic Intruders: Women, Culture and Exercise, with
Jane Granskog (State University of New York Press).
With co-author Patricia Whelehan, she published the
first edition of Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological and Cultural
Perspectives, (Routledge/Taylor and Francis, 2009). Along with Patricia
Whelehan, she was a senior editor of The International Encyclopedia of
Sexuality, (Malden, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell 2015). She has been a
Diplomate with the American Board of Sexology, a certified sex re-
searcher, Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, former co-
chair/co-founder of the Human Sexuality and Anthropology Interest
Group. She is the recipient of the Elon University Distinguished Scholar
Award and the Elon Medallion for Meritorious Service and Loyalty.
Patricia Whelehan is a Professor Emerita of Anthropol-
ogy and was the campuses’ AIDS Education Coordina-
tor at SUNY-Potsdam. She is the editor of Women and
Health: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Bergin and Garvey/
Greenwood Publishers, 1988), co-author of Perspectives
on Human Sexuality with Anne Bolin (SUNY-Press,
1999) and Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological and
Cultural Perspectives (Routledge/Taylor and Francis,
2009); and author of An Anthropological Perspective on
Prostitution: The World’s Oldest Profession (Edwin Mel-
len Press, 2001). Her textbook, The Anthropology of
AIDS: A Global Perspective (University Press of Florida) was published in
2009. She and Dr. Anne Bolin were senior co-editors of the International
Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality (Malden, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
 About the Authors xvii
In 2007, she received the President’s Award for Excellence in Service.
In 1999 and 2008, she received the Phi Eta Sigma award for Outstanding
Teacher of the year, and in 2008 she was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, a
national honor’s society that recognizes scholarly distinction. In 2018, she
was awarded The Moher Downing Distinguished Service Award, AARG,
Section of SMA.
Muriel Vernon received her PhD in Anthropology from
the University of California Los Angeles. She is an As-
sistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of
Sociology and Anthropology at Elon University in Elon,
North Carolina. She has conducted research on trans-
gender health and MSM demographics.

Katja Antoine received her PhD in Anthropology from

the University of California Los Angeles. Her research
centers on issues of racism and sexism in the US enter-
tainment industry and pop-culture discourse. She is
Program and Research Developer at the UCLA Center
for the Study of Women.
About the Contributors

Georgina S. Hammock is a social psychologist who specializes in the study of

violence. She received her doctorate from the University of Georgia. Since
that time she has studied violence between strangers, violence between
intimates, conflict in intimate relationships, and the perception of violent
encounters. She has published and presented this work both nationally and
internationally. Most recently she has focused on the study of intimate vi-
olence with a concentration in the new area of psychological aggression.
Her work in this area can be found in the journals Violence and Victims,
Aggression and Violent Behavior; Aggressive Behavior, Journal of Applied So-
cial Psychology, and the International Review of Social Psychology. She also
worked recently with her colleague, Deborah Richardson, to edit a special
issue on non-direct aggression for the International Review of Social Psychol-
ogy. Presently, she is an Assistant Professor at Augusta State University.
Wenda R. Trevathan is Regents Professor of Anthropology at New Mexico State
University, where she has been on the faculty since 1983. She received her
PhD in anthropology from the University of Colorado and is a biological an-
thropologist whose research focuses on the evolutionary and biocultural fac-
tors underlying human reproduction including childbirth, maternal behavior,
sexuality, and menopause. She is the recipient of the Margaret Mead Award
from the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied
Anthropology (1990) and is the author of Human Birth: An Evolutionary Per-
spective (1987). She also publishes in the area of evolutionary medicine, most
significantly the two edited books (with E. O. Smith and J. J. McKenna) Evolu-
tionary Medicine (1999) and Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives
(2007), published by Oxford University Press. She is a co-author on a series of
textbooks in physical anthropology published by Wadsworth Press (Jurmain
et al.). Awards she has received include the New Mexico Professor of the
Year, awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
(1994), the Westhafer Award for Excellence in Research at New Mexico State
University (1998), and the Donald C. Roush Excellence in Teaching Award,
also from New Mexico State University (1999). She was a Fulbright Senior
Scholar to the University of San Carlos in the Philippines in 1999–2000. Her
current research includes cortisol in mother-infant interaction and stress, sex-
uality, and mood during the menopause transition.
Preface

This preface is a welcome to all our potential readers—students, professors,

and researchers—of human sexuality. For those of you who teach or conduct
research in human sexuality, you may be wondering why there is the need for
yet another undergraduate human sexuality text, especially since there are sev-
eral fine books on the market dealing with US sexual behavior and attitudes.
We believe that since most of the current undergraduate texts are not writ-
ten by anthropologists, there are dimensions of human sexuality that are
not covered by these. Most noticeably, Human Sexuality: Biological, Psycho-
logical, and Cultural Perspectives does not focus on a view of sexuality as an-
chored in Euro-American behaviors; nor do we wish to inculcate a view of
nonindustrialized peoples as “exotic others.” Euro-American behaviors and
beliefs are as exotic and alien to people in other cultures as theirs are to us,
or even to people of previous generations in our own culture, as their behav-
iors are to us. This book incorporates an anthropological perspective that is
unique and different from most of the available literature. For those unfamiliar
with anthropology, this perspective is intrinsically an interdisciplinary one
emphasizing the intersections of biological, psychological, and cultural aspects
of human sexuality, hence the title. Specifically, Human Sexuality: Biological,
Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives integrates evolutionary, cross-cultural,
and bio-cultural dimensions of human sexuality. We examine patterns of sex-
uality as they occur in a variety of cultures, including our own, as opposed to
a conflict/issues approach of many late-twentieth century US sexuality texts.
Translated, this means that we look at modern human sexual behavior as
having evolved from a primate heritage. It has changed through time and
space physically and behaviorally as a means of adapting to our specific needs
as a large-brained, upright organism, which depends on learning as its primary
survival (adaptive) strategy. We compare ourselves to our nearest relatives—
the non-human primates—and to other human groups to gain a better un-
derstanding and insight into what we share as a human species, as well as
carryovers from our primate heritage. We integrate, as much as possible, the
biological and learned aspects of sexuality through the life cycle from concep-
tion through old age.
The twenty-first century brings us daunting challenges as a species, mem-
bers of groups, and as individuals. HIV infection and AIDS are global,
xx Preface
pandemic health concerns that governments and health agencies realize are
ongoing concerns. HIV infection cross-culturally and in the United States is
spread primarily through sexual contact. There is neither a cure nor a vac-
cine available in this, the fourth decade of the pandemic, although vaccine
trials continue and pre- and post-exposure prophylactics are now available to
many individuals. Thus, prevention of infection through education coupled
with behavior and attitude changes which are geared to the specific needs,
perceptions, and values of people at risk and groups seriously impacted by the
disease continue to be important. Interventions need to occur at the individ-
ual, societal, and global level. These necessitate a cross-cultural, holistic, and
relativistic anthropological approach.
We are a human community. Twenty-first century technology that includes
computers and satellite communication, as well as industrialized societies’
medical technology, which can be available on a worldwide basis, makes
diversity (i.e., a variety of value systems, behaviors, and perceptions) a real-
ity of United States and international life. To survive, we need to appreci-
ate, understand, and accept difference and use it to enhance our humanity
as individuals, groups, and a species. Meeting these challenges also involves
a cross-cultural, comparative anthropological perspective. Therefore, our ap-
proach in this book has both theoretical as well as applied dimensions in try-
ing to understand ourselves as sexual beings.
To do this, however, we have recognized certain limits to this text. One, we
do not cover every aspect of modern US sexuality. Two, this is not a book on
twenty-first century US sexual behavior. Although we include US sexuality as
part of human sexuality, we do not focus primarily on it. Simultaneously, we
include sexual behaviors and attitudes of nonindustrialized people through
time and space. We try to incorporate sexuality as part of their worldview and
socio-cultural life—as integrated and related to political, economic, and social
structures.
Those sexual behaviors and aspects of the life cycle that we discuss are those,
which are human (found in all human groups) although arranged, defined, and
constructed according to the specific demands of a given group. For example,
fertility issues, pregnancy, and childbirth are pan-human concerns. We discuss
how the United States and other societies culturally define and manage these
life cycle issues. Childhood sexuality is also part of human sexuality. So, we
examine how various cultures, including our own, channel and regard child-
hood sexuality as a prelude to adult sexuality. Transgender identities include
socio-sexual roles found cross-culturally and in the United States. They are
defined, structured, and responded to very differently in the United States
than in the nonindustrialized and international societies in which they occur.
On the other hand, fetishes and paraphilias (focusing exclusively on particu-
lar objects or body parts as the primary or only means of sexual arousal) appear
not to be particularly widespread cross-culturally. They are not dealt with in
this book. While they are not dealt with specifically, we do provide an import-
ant framework for furthering the understanding of such Euro-American-based
 Preface xxi
categories, or “culture-bound” syndromes. We aim for a better understanding
of human sexuality—that which we share as a species and not exclusively what
occurs in middle-class US society.
Given this interdisciplinary perspective, instructors, researchers, and stu-
dents may use Human Sexuality in a variety of ways. It can be used as a basic
text with supplemental or recommended readings in US sexuality courses. Or,
it may be used as a supplemental text for those most comfortable in dealing
with human sexuality as it occurs in the United States in this relatively new
century. It can also serve as a resource for researchers and teachers who want
to incorporate evolutionary or cross-cultural data as part of their writing and
teaching.
We hope the approach taken here will be of use and value to you in your
understanding of this highly varied and data-rich topic of human sexuality. By
understanding human sexuality, we have a greater appreciation of and may be
able to develop a broader tolerance of the diversity that comprises our species.
One final caveat is in order that relates to the speed with which science
progresses. There is a necessary time lag in the publication of a manuscript,
so that when a book comes into print it cannot, by virtue of the production
process, contain the most recent findings in the months prior to its publication
date. Scientific research surges forward at a rapid rate in our postmodern world.
As a consequence, we would like our readers to be aware that new scientific ev-
idence and cultural developments will continue to occur as Human Sexuality:
Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives is published.
The second edition of the book includes the addition of two new authors.
Muriel Vernon, the new third author, and Katja Antoine, the new fourth au-
thor, updated and edited the 2009 edition to be slightly more concise and re-
organized some of the chapters in terms of topics. While chapters 1 through 6
remain relatively unchanged, chapters 7 through 9 cover the human reproduc-
tive cycle from fertility and conception to pregnancy and childbirth. Chapters
10 through 13 cover human sexuality through the life cycle from childhood to
old age. New topics include hookup culture and social media as well as sexual
harassment. Chapter 14 addresses sexual preferences, behaviors, and identi-
ties. Chapter 15 covers the relationship between sex, sexuality, and gender,
and includes transgender people. Chapter 16 addresses STIs and HIV/AIDS.
Chapter 17 focuses on Globalization and Sexuality. Chapter 18 includes a brief
summary and conclusion.
Acknowledgments

In this second edition of Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological and Cultural

Perspectives, we honor those who worked with us on the first edition as a group.
These included our interns from our respective institutions, our university col-
leagues who offered substantial encouragement, the students in our anthro-
pology of human sexuality courses, as well as the institutional support Elon
University provided to Anne Bolin. Anne Bolin would like to thank Greg
Babcock, her spouse, high school sweetheart, and partner who has provided
her with an environment filled with love and harmony in which to work.
We want to thank Muriel Vernon and Katja Antoine for being willing to
revise, update, and improve this edition under the mentorship and editing
work of both Anne Bolin, Emerita Professor of Anthropology at Elon Uni-
versity, and Patricia Whelehan, Emerita Professor of Anthropology at SUNY-
Potsdam. We also want to thank the interns at Elon who worked with Muriel
and Katja in preparing chapters and associated materials for our review. And,
once again, Linda Martindale provided her excellent editing efforts and man-
uscript preparation. Textbooks are a massive undertaking and we are indebted
to all of you.
Muriel Vernon wants to thank Elon’s Faculty Research and Development
Committee for a course release to work on the second edition of this book.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to Linda Martindale who helped
us again in 2020 with the formatting of the manuscript for the second edi-
tion of the book. I am most grateful for Elon student research assistants who
have helped me immensely to find updated resources for the second edition
of the book. First, I would like to thank Morgan Maner who worked with me
after she graduated from Elon. Morgan Maner received her master’s degree
from King’s College London in Global Health and Social Justice where she
examined transgender people’s experiences of marginalization in primary care
clinics. Her research interests include trauma-informed care, health systems,
and minority health. Presently, she is studying medical sciences at Brown Uni-
versity with aspirations to attend medical school. Secondly, I would like to
thank two current Elon students, Caroline Snyder and Alexandra Mangan,
for taking on the revision of the chapter on STIs and HIV/AIDS under my
supervision. Caroline Snyder was born and raised in Atlanta Georgia and at-
tended Elon University in North Carolina. She majored in Biology and in
 Acknowledgments xxiii
Public Health. In the future, she plans to pursue further education in the
field of genetic counseling and public health. Alexandra Mangan was born in
Chicago, raised in Vermont and attended Elon University in North Carolina.
She majored in Human Service Studies with minors in Psychology and Wom-
en’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. She spent a semester in Amsterdam, where
she conducted research on the use of fashion amongst the undocumented im-
migration population that identifies as LGBTQ+ and organized a fashion show
to convey her findings. In the future, she plans to pursue further education in
the field of global health. Lastly, I would like to thank Hannah Boone, our stu-
dent department worker, who helped us find updated book and website sources
found at the end of select chapters.

I, Katja Antoine, want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Muriel Vernon

for inviting me to participate in this project, and to Anne Bolin and Patricia
Whelehan for welcoming me as a contributor. I would also like to thank Linda
Martindale for her editing and manuscript preparation. Lastly, I wish to ex-
press my love and appreciation for my partner, Roland McFarland, for being
patient and feeding me when I spent weekends deeply immersed in revisions.
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
1 Introduction

Chapter Overview
1 Introduces human sexuality from a biological, psychological, and cultural
perspective.
2 Discusses how the social control of human sexuality forms the fundamen-
tal basis for the functioning of human groups and group life.
3 Discusses ethnographic and comparative approaches to the cultural
patterning of human sexuality. Highlights anthropologists such as
Malinowski, Benedict, Mead, Ford and Beach, Martin and Voorhies, and
Frayser.

The Anthropological Perspective

In one ruling by the Supreme Court, sex was declared “a great and mysterious
motive force in human life [that] has indisputably been a subject of absorb-
ing interest” (in Demac, 1988: 41). As children, we hear our parents speak
euphemistically about the “birds and the bees,” and as adolescents we may
share late-night discussions with our friends about the “secrets” of intimacy;
as adult North Americans, our concerns are expressed in an array of new
“self-help” books on the subject, which flood the market every year. Problems
with human sexuality, such as sexual addictions and sexual desire disorders
(lack of interest in sex), have captured the imagination of the television, ra-
dio, and Internet news media as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders-V-TR (2000), the “Bible” of diagnostic criteria for men-
tal health professionals in the United States since 1968 (Tiefer, 2004: 133).
Obviously, the subject enthralls more than just Dr. Phil and Oprah; con-
troversies abound around sex-related issues, such as same-sex marriage and
abortion, in the United States. In addition, questions arise concerning the
impact of rising HIV rates globally and how access to sexually charged con-
tent through the Internet will affect human sexual expression today and in
the future.
Our intent is to offer a unique way of understanding ourselves as sexual be-
ings through the perspective of anthropology. Some of our readers may not be
familiar with what anthropology entails and might be wondering what exactly
2 Introduction
Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark or Holland’s Krippendorfs Tribe has to do with
a serious anthropological approach to sex. For those of you unfamiliar with an-
thropology, we welcome and invite you to explore an exciting new viewpoint
that you will find very interdisciplinary in approach. Anthropology is probably
the most interdisciplinary of all the fields engaged in studying sexuality (also
referred to as sexology). Sexology spans the social and biological sciences as
well as the humanities. For those of you majoring or minoring in anthropology,
we hope that our book inspires you to conduct further research on the subject
of human sexuality.

Sex as Biology, Psychology, and Culture

Confusion about what anthropology is stems from the interdisciplinary na-
ture of the field. An anthropological approach is one that incorporates an
understanding of humans as both biological and cultural beings. The term
bio-cultural is often used to describe this perspective. However, we are not
suggesting that these are the only two dimensions for interpreting sex; indeed,
sex has a very important psychological component as well. As anthropologists,
we regard the psychological component as part of how culture shapes our per-
sonalities in characteristic ways yet also allows for the diversity of individuals
as unique genetic entities. There is a feedback relationship between culture,
psychology, and the individual.
Therefore, to express the complexity of the relationship between biology
and culture to human beings, we have added the psychological dimension to
our mix, hereby highlighting the contributions of psychology and psycholog-
ical anthropology to the study of human sexuality. This accentuates the im-
portance of the individual in society by emphasizing her/his relationship to the
cultural context, including personality, motives, attitudes, values, perceptions,
and emotions. It is because of these individual differences that cultures are so
dynamic and ever-changing. Human beings are not just robots, blindly en-
acting their cultural scripts; they innovate, invent, resist, subvert, rebel, and
negotiate just as they may reproduce and subscribe to aspects of their cultures
(Basirico and Bolin, 2002). We have reframed our bio-cultural terminology as
“biological, psychological and cultural” to better reflect the role of individuals
within society (see Figure 1.1. For further discussion, see Chapter 2).
Although a biological, psychological, and cultural approach in anthropol-
ogy may not be appropriate for all subjects anthropologists might research,
such a view lends a fuller and more complete understanding for a number of
topics. Biological, psychological, and cultural perspectives are widespread in
fields such as medical anthropology, biological anthropology, the anthropol-
ogy of sex and gender, psychological anthropology, and clinical anthropology.
The interweaving of biology, psychology, and culture into a bio-psycho-
cultural perspective is the distinguishing feature of this book and the theme
that unifies the diversity of studying human sexuality through an anthropo-
logical lens. The term “sex” has many meanings. Sex is part of our biology. It is
 Introduction 3

Psychological
Attributes

Genetics Individual Culture

Figure 1.1 The individual in society.

Source: Anne Bolin with Elon University Department of Instructional and Campus Technolo-
gies, 2006.

a behavior that involves a choreography of endocrine functions, muscles, and

phases of physical change. It is expressed through the “biological sex” of people
classified as male or female (Katchadourian, 1979). Despite this physiological
component, the act of sex cannot be separated from the psychological and
cultural context in which it occurs, thereby incorporating meanings, symbols,
myths, ideals, and values. Sex expresses variation across and within cultures,
and among individuals.
An anthropological definition of sex is necessarily broad and includes the
cultural, psychological, and biological aspects of sex. We shall offer you a defi-
nition of sex but urge you to remember that defining sex is far more com-
plex than our definition suggests. For example, our definition cannot limit
sex to only those behaviors resulting in penile-vaginal intercourse; in doing
so, we would eliminate a variety of homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual
behaviors that are obviously sexual but not coital. Therefore, we shall define
sex as those behaviors, sentiments, emotions, and perceptions related to and
resulting in sexual arousal, as defined by the society or culture in which it
occurs. We qualified our definition by referring to cultural definitions of sex-
ual behaviors since these differ a great deal among ethnic groups and cross-
culturally. For example, “petting,” as we know it in industrialized societies, is
not universal, that is, it is not necessarily considered a form of arousal among
all other peoples of the world. As you read this book, you will begin to broaden
your understanding of yourself, your own society, and the multicultural world
in which we live.

Anthropological Perspectives on Human Sexuality

The study of human sexuality is cross-disciplinary. Six major perspectives
dominate the study. They include the biological, with a focus on physiology,
hormones, and anatomy; the psychosocial, which emphasizes the develop-
mental aspects of sexuality and the interaction of the effect of cognitive and
4 Introduction
affective states with social variables on the individual; the behavioral, which
stresses behavior over cognitive and emotional states; the clinical concern
with sexual problems and dysfunctions; the sociological, with a focus on social
structures and the impact of institutions and socioeconomic status factors on
sexual behavior; and the anthropological, which includes evolutionary and
cultural approaches, with emphases on sexual meanings and behaviors within
the cultural context. Culture is the shared reality of people that includes both
ideas and patterned behaviors within a group, community (geographical and
ideological), and/or region. Therefore, by culture, we mean the skills, attitudes,
beliefs, and values underlying behavior as well as the behaviors themselves.
These are learned by observation, imitation, and social learning. This prelimi-
nary definition is elaborated upon further in this chapter and Chapter 2.
In today’s global community, it is increasingly important for us to incorpo-
rate multicultural perspectives into our knowledge base. Since this approach
is at the heart of anthropology, we offer a brief historical overview of some of
the more well-known cultural anthropologists who have shaped the study of
human sexuality. The contributions of anthropologists studying the evolution
of human sexuality are discussed in Chapter 3.
Anthropology as a discipline developed in the nineteenth century. From its
inception, anthropologists have been interested in the role of human sexuality
in evolution and the organization of culture. Darwin, most well-known for
the biological theory of evolution (see Chapter 2 for definition and Chapter
3 for discussion), also formulated theories on culture that included ideas on
human sexuality. These were presented in The Descent of Man and Selection
in Relation to Sex (1874 [1871]). Darwin argued that morality is what separates
humans from animals. In his theory of morality, he regarded the regulation
of sexuality as essential to its development. According to him, marriage was
the means for controlling sexual jealousy and competition among males. Over
the course of moral evolution, restrictions on sexuality were first required of
married females, then later all females; finally, males restricted their own sexu-
ality to monogamy. Darwin’s approach incorporated notions of male sexuality
and assertiveness, and female asexuality. These views reflected Darwin’s own
cultural beliefs about sex and gender (Martin and Voorhies, 1975: 147–149).
Other nineteenth-century anthropologists also produced theories of social
evolution that included the regulation of sexuality. John McLennan (1865),
John Lubbock (1870), and Louis Henry Morgan (1870) conceived of societies
as having evolved through stages. These stages represented increasing restric-
tions on sexuality as societies progressed from the allegedly “primitive” stages
of promiscuity to modern “civilization,” characterized by monogamy and pa-
triarchy (Martin and Voorhies, 1975: 150). These theories were flawed in that
they regarded European culture as superior and viewed social evolution as an
unwavering linear trend of “progress.”
The twentieth century brought new approaches to the study of human sexu-
ality as anthropology shifted from grand evolutionary schemes with little rigor
to empirically oriented studies. This transition led to a new methodology, for
 Introduction 5
which anthropology has gained acclaim. Bronislaw Malinowski is the acknowl-
edged parent of the anthropological research method known as ethnography.
Ethnography is the research method of participant-observation in which the
anthropologist becomes entrenched in the lives of people in their research
community. The ethnographic method serves as the basis for an ethnography,
the detailed study of the culture of a particular group of people. Malinowski
is known for his analysis of sex as part of the ethnographic context. His
groundbreaking work titled The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Mela-
nesia: An Ethnographic Account of Courtship, Marriage and Family Life Among
the Natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea was first published in
1929. Although others in the 1920s wrote about indigenous peoples and their
sexuality, their approaches, unlike Malinowski’s, were not based on firsthand
research but rather on missionary and travelers’ reports or short-term field proj-
ects (Weiner, 1987: xiii–xiv). Malinowski’s two-year term living with the Mel-
anesian Trobriand Islanders and his scientific and systematic methods of data
collection left an important legacy for the field of anthropology and the study
of human sexuality.
Malinowski was interested in the relationship of institutions such as kin-
ship to cultural customs, including sexual behaviors. His perspective stressed
the importance of the cultural context and emphasized how social rules or-
dered sexuality among the Trobriand Islanders. What appeared to Europeans
as unrestrained sexuality were in fact highly structured premarital sex rules
and taboos based on kinship classification (Weiner, 1987: xvii). Malinowski
seriously challenged the dominant nineteenth-century cultural evolutionism
of McLennan, Lubbock, and Morgan. He rejected the notion that early human
life was represented by sexual promiscuity. The Trobriand Islanders illustrated
that even the most non-technologically complex peoples regulated their de-
sires through systems of kinship. Rather than promiscuity as a prior condition,
Malinowski focused on the patterning of sexual relations in creating the fam-
ily (Weiner, 1987: xxv–xxvi).
He was also influenced by another trend impacting anthropology: that of
psychoanalysis. He was impressed with the psychoanalytic openness to the
study of sex but was critical of Sigmund Freud’s theory of the incest taboo and
the Oedipus complex. In a nutshell, Freud’s argument is that little boys uncon-
sciously experience a desire to marry/have sex with their mothers and want to
murder their fathers, whom they regard as rivals. In Sex and Repression in Sav-
age Society (1927), Malinowski “argued that Freud’s theory of the universality
of the Oedipus complex needed revision because it was culturally biased. Freud
based his theory on the emotional dynamics within the patriarchal western
family” (Weiner, 1987: xxi). This resulted in a heated debate with psychoan-
alyst Ernest Jones. Malinowski again argued that the Oedipus complex was a
result of the European patriarchal family complex. The Trobrianders presented
quite a different picture from the European nuclear family; their culture is a
matrilineal one—that is, people traced their ancestral descent through their
mother’s family. This produced different family dynamics, leading Malinowski
6 Introduction
to conclude that the Trobrianders were free of the Oedipus complex. Unfor-
tunately, his work did not influence the psychoanalytic position to any great
degree. For a more detailed discussion, see Chapter 10.
Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead loom large in the history of anthro-
pology and in their respective contributions to the study of sex. Both were
students of Franz Boas, the parent of US anthropology. Benedict’s contribu-
tion continues to be felt today. Her perspective, in revised form, is embedded
in contemporary anthropology in the concepts of ethos (the “approved style
of life”) and worldview (the “assumed structure of reality”) (Geertz, 1973:
126–141). Benedict’s Patterns of Culture, published in 1934, offered an ap-
proach in which cultures were regarded as analogous to personalities. She
stressed how each culture produced a unique and integrated configuration.
This was known as the configurational approach and was popular in the
school of thought known as culture and personality (Benedict, 1959: 42–45).
Benedict was deeply committed to diversity and to those relegated to the
margins of society. This was demonstrated in her concluding chapter, in which
she reiterated points from her paper “Anthropology and the Abnormal” (1934).
She was concerned with individuals whose temperaments did not match their
cultural configuration and the psychic costs to those, such as homosexually
oriented people, who were “not supported by the institutions of their civiliza-
tion” (in Bock, 1988: 52). She proposed that “abnormality” was not constant
but rather is culturally constituted. She suggested what, at that time, was a
radical view: tolerance for non-normative sexual practices, such as homosex-
uality. Implicit in her view is the idea that sexuality is no different than any
other social behavior; it is culturally patterned. Benedict argued that “in a
society that values trance, as in India, they will have supernormal experience.
In a society that institutionalizes homosexuality, they will be homosexual” (in
Singer, 1961: 25). She challenged prevailing notions of homosexuality as pa-
thology. In 1939, she concluded, in Sex in Primitive Society, “that homosexuality
was primarily social in nature, shaped by the meanings of gender and sex roles”
(Dickermann, 1990: 7).
For the study of human sexuality, Benedict’s major contribution was the
idea that sex—which is a part of culture—is patterned, fitting into the larger
society, the cultural whole, or the gestalt. The configurational approach was
certainly not without flaws, and anthropology has moved beyond regarding
cultures as personalities. However, Benedict left an important legacy for an-
thropology in her emphasis on patterning, cultural holism, and sensitivity to
difference. For the field of sexology, Benedict was bold and unafraid in her
perspective on sexual variation.
Margaret Mead was also an important and powerful figure in anthropology
and sexology. Before her death in 1978, she was more widely recognized for
her work than any other anthropologist in the world. In numerous books and
articles, Mead addressed the subject of sex and gender. Although her contribu-
tions are many, we shall focus on her first book, Coming of Age in Samoa (1961
[1928]), investigated when she was not yet twenty-four-years old.
 Introduction 7
Mead was a proponent of cultural constructionist explanations of human
behavior. She explained this approach by saying:

It was simple—a very simple point—to which our materials were orga-
nized in the 1920s, merely the documentation over and over of the fact
that human nature is not rigid and unyielding, not an unadaptable plant
which insists on flowering or becoming stunted after its own fashion,
responding only quantitatively to the social environment, but that it
is extraordinarily adaptable, that cultural rhythms are strong and more
compelling than the physiological rhythms which, they overlay and
distort. . . . We had to present evidence that human character is built
upon a biological base which is capable of enormous diversification in
terms of social standards.
(in Singer, 1961: 16)

In Coming of Age in Samoa, her commentary addressed female adolescence

in Samoa as well as in the United States. She proposed that the turbulence
of US girls’ adolescence was not typical of adolescence throughout the world.
Mead was responding to a popular biological theory of adolescent “stress and
storm,” believed to be caused by the changes in hormones during puberty
(not unlike the “raging hormones” view of adolescence and PMS popular
in today’s media). Her study of Samoan adolescence provided a very differ-
ent picture. Unlike US adolescence, the Samoan youth did not experience a
period of turbulence and high emotion. Based on evidence of a carefree Sa-
moan adolescence, Mead reasoned that the conflict experienced by US teen-
agers was due to cultural influences rather than hormones. The latter part of
Coming of Age in Samoa explained the strife of US adolescence as a cultural
phenomenon. Mead offered explanations that emphasized the importance of
culture in shaping behavior. For example, she identified the importance of
rapid culture change in US society as contributing to the turmoil so typical
of adolescence.
In contrast, Mead argued, the Samoan girls’ adolescence was conflict free.
This was due to Samoan culture, which was relatively homogeneous and ca-
sual. So casual that according to Mead, the young woman:

defers marriage through as many years of casual love-making as possible…

The adolescent girl’s total interest is expended on clandestine sex adven-
tures… to live with as many lovers as possible and then to marry into one’s
village…
(Mead, 1961 [1928]: 157)

Samoan society was one in which extremes in emotion were culturally dis-
couraged. It was characterized by casualness in a number of spheres, in-
cluding sexuality, parenting, and responsibility. In contrast to industrialized
culture, a young Samoan woman’s sexuality was experienced without guilt.
8 Introduction
She concluded that the foundation of this nonchalant approach to sex and
conflict-free adolescence could be explained by the following:

• A dearth of deep feeling between relatives and peers.

• A liberal attitude toward sex and education for life.
• An absence of conflicting alternatives.
• A lack of emphasis on individuality.

In this work, she established the importance of the study of women when little
information was available (Howard, 1993: 69). She also challenged notions of
biological reductionism that, even today, are too often used to support status
quo politics.
Despite the magnitude of Margaret Mead’s contribution to anthropology,
and her recognition as a public figure who brought anthropology out of the
halls of academia into the mainstream United States, she was not without her
detractors. Since her death in 1978, Coming of Age in Samoa has been at the
center of a heated debate in anthropology launched by Australian anthropol-
ogist Derek Freeman in his book Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and
Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth in 1983 and his subsequent 1999 book
The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead: A Historical Analysis of Her Samoan Re-
search. Derek Freeman argued strongly for a very different Samoa from the one
studied by Mead. Based on his own research in Samoa from 1940–1943 and ex-
tensive subsequent research in the 1960s, Freeman took issue with the picture
of the easygoing family life, low affect, and positively sanctioned premarital
sex, citing punitive family relationships, competition and aggression, sexual
jealousy, and a stormy puberty. His explanations are in direct opposition to
those of Mead; he weighed in on the “biology is destiny” spectrum arguing
for instinctive and innate interpretations of his findings. Freeman, however,
did not disagree with Mead’s depiction of adolescent casual attitudes toward
adolescent sex (in Barnouw, 1985: 98–99). In his second attack, he argued
that Mead’s two key informants deliberately lied to her. Just as Freeman has
critiqued Mead, other anthropologists have found much lacking in Freeman’s
evidence (Cote, 2000; Ember, 1985; Holmes, 1987), yet others have argued that
they were both partially correct (Abramson, 1987; Shankman, 1996; Ember
and Ember, 1994).
The different conclusions can be attributed to several factors, including
the gender of the fieldworker, which can have a decided effect on developing
rapport and on the kind of data collected (Holmes, 1987). There was also a
fourteen-year gap in time between when Mead finished her research in 1926
and Freeman started his in 1940. Samoan culture had changed a great deal
since the 1920s with the impact of missionization, colonialism, increasing
Euro-American contact, globalization, and the expansion of capitalism, which
undoubtedly affected Freeman’s interpretation of Samoan adolescent behavior
(Ember, 1985: 88; Ember and Ember, 1994; Shankman, 1996). Mead worked
primarily with adolescent girls while Freeman’s main sources were senior men
 Introduction 9
whose knowledge of what teenage girls were experiencing was undoubtedly
limited. Abramson’s research supports the view that adults opposed premarital
sex, but in spite of this, Samoan adolescents had frequent premarital sex (in
Bates and Fratkin, 2003: 65–66). Not only did Mead and Freeman rely on dif-
ferent populations for research, but they also studied on different islands whose
history of colonization varied as well. Mead studied in American Samoa while
Freeman worked mostly in the Independent State of Samoa (Ember, 1985: 87).
Shankman has argued that the disagreement may lie in the vantage point
of comparison. Thus, compared with the United States at the time, Samoan
premarital sexuality may have indeed been more common and open (Ember
and Ember, 1994). In addition, Freeman has criticized Mead for too heavy a
reliance on her two key informants and not collecting enough divergent views.
However, Cote (2000) and Shankman (1996: 564) have critiqued Freeman’s re-
search on the same grounds: that he has selectively used information that sup-
ports his stance while ignoring evidence which substantiated Mead’s claims.
The general consensus by anthropologists is that Mead may have over-
stressed the homogeneity of Samoan culture and adolescent experiences, but
her general stance, that culture is a tour de force in shaping the expression
of gender and influencing biological differences in the sexes to a very strong
degree, is supported by the huge range of variation in the expression of gender
found cross-culturally. Finally, Freeman claims to “Unmake… an Anthropo-
logical Myth” by focusing his critique on one of her earliest works undertaken
when she was just twenty-four-years old and by ignoring an entire lifetime of
research publications. As such, this is a rather extreme claim. Indeed, this on-
going debate confirms one of our favorite quotes by Margaret Mead: “Sooner or
later I am going to die, but I’m not going to retire” (Brainy Quotes).

[Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict’s] view of culture as a pattern or config-

uration of homogenous and integrated elements, often linked with a unified
theme, lacks the dimensions of contemporary theories. Now anthropolo-
gists think that culture is never simple, uniform or well integrated. It is a
messy, complicated, and often contradictory set of differences or oppositions
that may exist side by side within the same group claiming the same terri-
tory, history, or worldview. This is why, today, we can talk of a female culture
and a male culture with complex and contradictory ethnic, national and
world cultures.
(Ward and Edelstein, 2006: 62)

Although the approaches of Malinowski, Benedict, and Mead contributed to

the creation of the ethnographic study of sexuality with an emphasis on the
cultural, Clellan S. Ford and Frank A. Beach’s Patterns of Sexual Behavior de-
serves credit in 1951 for offering the first synthetic study that incorporated
biological, cross-cultural, and evolutionary considerations. Their work is dis-
tinctive for its inclusion of homosexual and lesbian data; a trend continued
in Gregerson’s 1994 The World of Human Sexuality: Behaviors, Customs and
10 Introduction
Beliefs. According to Miracle and Suggs (1993: 3), Ford and Beach’s book is
“[t]he single most important and provocative work on sexuality to date… It
also provided the intellectual—if not the methodological—foundation for the
subsequent work of Masters and Johnson” (see Chapter 12 for a discussion of
Masters and Johnson). Patterns of Sexual Behavior integrated information from
190 different cultures as well as provided comparative data on different species
with an emphasis on the primates (humans, apes, and monkeys). Their work
includes an encyclopedic collection of sexual behavior cross-culturally. For ex-
ample, Ford and Beach offer discussion and information on sexual positions,
length (time) of intercourse, locations for intercourse, orgasm experiences,
types of foreplay, courting behaviors, frequencies of intercourse, methods of
attracting a partner, among numerous other topics.
Ford and Beach’s study of human sexuality employed the cross-cultural
correlational method. This is a statistical method for comparing attributes
(variables) in large samples of diverse cultures (Cohen and Eames, 1982:
419). This approach is valuable for testing hypotheses about human sex-
uality, establishing patterns and trends, and formulating generalizations.
Their study relied on ethnographic data that is collected and coded in
the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF). HRAF is a rigorous classifica-
tion scheme for information on the world’s societies containing descriptive
ethnographic data. Categories of information for 350 societies, based on
a 900,000-page database of more than 7,000 books and articles are coded
and available to researchers. These data are digitized (Bernard, 1994: 343).
A caveat for the student researcher is that the HRAF data for a particular
society may not take into account historical context and culture change,
particularly the more recent impact of globalization (Scupin and De Corse,
1998: 307).
The cross-cultural correlational statistical method was subsequently used
by Martin and Voorhies in Female of the Species (1975). Like Ford and Beach,
Martin and Voorhies included evolutionary and biological issues. Their fo-
cus was broader in that they were interested in the relationship of human
sexuality to gender status/roles, social organization, and type of subsistence
(how people make a living). Martin and Voorhies tested hypotheses to ar-
rive at generalizations about the relationships of these factors. In a sample
of fifty-one foraging societies, Martin and Voorhies found that 30 percent
of them allowed premarital sexual experimentation (1975: 188-189). This
pattern was related to matrilineality (where descent is traced through the
mother’s side of the family) and matrilocality (where the couple resides in
the community of the wife’s mother). Their studies of horticultural groups
also revealed a statistical correlation between matrilineal societies and sex-
ual permissiveness toward premarital sex, while patrilineal (tracing descent
through the father’s side) societies tended to control female premarital sexual
behavior (1975: 246-247).
There are many research applications for this methodological approach
to sexological research. For example, Schlegel and Barry in Adolescence: An
 Introduction 11
Anthropological Inquiry (1991) report that premarital restrictiveness occurs
in societies in which a dowry is given (wealth from the bride’s family is in-
cluded in the marriage transaction). They conclude that “[f]amilies guard their
daughters’ chastity in dowry-giving societies in order to protect their prop-
erty (dowry) against would-be social climbers and to ensure that they can use
their daughters’ dowries to attract the most desirable sons-in-law” (Schlegel
and Barry, 1991: 116). Chastity rules guard against a lower-status man impreg-
nating a higher-status woman and thereby making claim on her dowry and
inheritance by trapping her into marriage. In this way, property exchange and
status considerations are factors in restricting premarital sexuality (Schlegel
and Barry, 1991: 117-118). Davis and Whitten report that the general pattern
found in HRAF studies such as these is that sexual restrictions tend to be as-
sociated with complex societies (1987: 74).
Frayser’s Varieties of Sexual Experience (1985) continues the tradition
spawned by Ford and Beach, incorporating the cross-cultural correlational
approach with biological and evolutionary concerns. Frayser presents an in-
tegrated model in which human sexuality is regarded as “a system in its own
right, related to but not subsumed by social, cultural, psychological, and bi-
ological factors” (Frayser and Whitby, 1987: 351). For Frayser, although the
cross-cultural record reveals an almost infinite variety in sexual expression,
there is continuity with our evolutionary past. In regard to evolution, Frayser
examines cross-species sexuality, particularly that of our close relatives, the
nonhuman primates. For example, she points out that human sexuality is dis-
tinguished by unique sexual and reproductive attributes, including the poten-
tial for sexual arousal that is not limited to estrus (“heat”) and the evolution
of the female orgasm. These capabilities are present in our relatives to a lim-
ited extent but emerge full blown in humans and are linked to extraordinary
amounts of nonreproductive sexual behavior among humans in comparison
with other animals.
Frayser has distinguished the social and cultural aspects of human sexu-
ality in terms of the social system defined as “patterned interactions.” The
social system is contrasted to the cultural system, which Frayser defined
as the “patterned beliefs and meanings” that influence sexual expression
(Frayser, 1985: 7). This model is one in which the biological, the social, and
the cultural system converge to influence the sexual system. It is a valuable
approach for understanding sexual patterning and for recording the conti-
nuities and heterogeneity within and between cultures. However, it should
be noted that anthropologists’ definitions for the social and cultural system
are often quite divergent. For example, many anthropologists do not limit
their definition of the cultural system to the ideological realm but include
behaviors as well. Others define the social system functionally as “institu-
tions,” recurrent patterns that fulfill human needs such as the family and
religion (Bates and Fratkin, 2003: 45). See the last section of this chapter,
“The Patterning of Human Sexuality,” for a more detailed discussion of the
culture concept.
12 Introduction
Sex as Culture
The regulation of human sexual expression as to “when, where, how, and who”
may serve diverse socio-cultural goals. George Peter Murdock’s pioneering study,
Social Structure (1949), offers us a classic approach to the different ways that the
regulation of sexuality contributes to the organization of cultures. In all societies,
sexual access among members of a society is regulated. The most obvious exam-
ple of this is the incest taboo. With an almost universal prevalence, the incest
taboo prohibits sexual access between siblings and between siblings and their
parents. Even in those societies that have allowed incest, regulations surround
it that are integrated in the wider social organization and belief system. The ex-
ceptions include Hawaiian royalty, the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and nobility,
and Inca emperors. These elites, usually brothers and sisters, were regarded as so
powerful and sacred that only their very close relatives had the equivalent status
to qualify as a mate and to perpetuate the lineage. Such sexual unions and mar-
riages were not allowed, however, for the population at large (Murdock, 1949: 13).
Rules for sexual access also extend beyond the immediate nuclear family.
Exogamy is a rule requiring that people marry outside their group, while en-
dogamy specifies marriage within the group, but not the immediate family.
These rules create kin groups through different kinds of restrictions on sexual
access. Rules of exogamy and endogamy are defined by reference to marriage.
This illustrates how sexual ideologies are integrated in the social organization
of kin groups; but one should not make the error of thinking that sex and
marriage are always equated. This is a mistake often found in the literature on
human sexuality, but one seldom made by the people involved in extramarital
affairs. “Marriage is a publicly recognized union between two or more people
that creates economic rights and obligations within the group… and guar-
antees their offspring rights of inheritance” (Crapo, 1987: 148). It is regarded
as an enduring relationship and includes sexual rights (Ember and Ember,
1988: 13). Murdock (1949: 8) offers clarification:

Sexual unions without economic co-operation are common, and there

are relationships between men and women involving a division of labor
without sexual gratification, e.g., between brother and sister, master and
maidservant, or employer and secretary [sic], but marriage exists only
when the economic and the sexual are united in one relationship, and
this combination occurs only in marriage.

Ford and Beach’s pioneering Patterns of Sexual Behavior (1951) proposed that
sexual partnerships consist of two types: mateships defined in the same way as
marriages; and liaisons, “less stable partnerships in which the relationship is
more exclusively sexual” (1951: 106). Sexologists and anthropologists generally
subdivide human liaisons on the basis of their premarital or extramarital char-
acter (Ford and Beach, 1951: 106).
The regulation of sexual partnerships makes it possible to define groups of
people by relationships based on offspring and kinship. These kin relationships
 Introduction 13
are formalized through marriage systems. Sexual prohibitions function to
“minimize competition among relations and to increase the bonds of cooper-
ation and friendship between neighboring groups” (Crapo, 1987: 61). Because
descent is important for a number of reasons such as inheritance, obligations,
and affiliations, we can regard sexual unions as having the potential to shape
kin group formation; sexual access therefore defines kin groups. The impor-
tance of sexuality is socially recognized through marriage as an institution
with sexual rights and obligations. But it should be kept in mind that there
is a great deal of sexual activity that occurs prior to and outside marriage, in-
cluding sexual activities between people of the same sex, ritual and ceremonial
sex, as well as a host of other encounters including affairs, “one-night stands,”
and “hooking up.”
Societies differ as to their tolerance of premarital and extramarital activities
and the conditions under which they are acceptable and/or prohibited. Ac-
cording to Broude and Greene’s (1976) survey of the cross-cultural record, in
69 percent of the societies studied, men commonly participated in extramar-
ital sex, and in 57 percent of the societies women did so as well. This leads us
to another thorny issue for sex researchers, the contrast between ideal and real
culture. The ideal culture or normative expectation is that 54 percent of the
societies surveyed allow only men to have extramarital sex, while 11 percent
allow it for women. But the data suggest that many more people worldwide
actually violate this ideal, particularly in the case of women.
In summary, human sexuality is a central force in the origin of kin groups.
In Murdock’s words: “All societies have faced the problem of reconciling the
need of controlling sex with that of giving it adequate expression” (1949: 261).
The regulation of sexual relations is the basis for descent and inheritance,
critical factors for human societies in the maintenance of social groups. Yet sex
and marriage do not necessarily “go together” like a horse and carriage. Sex is
not the central factor in the bonding of two individuals through marriage. To
think so is to engage in a bias shaped by recent modern US views of marriage.
Sex is indeed critical for kin groups and their perpetuation; although sex is a
right and an obligation in marriage, it is not necessarily the basis upon which
marriages are made. Economic cooperation emerges as an important factor
in marriage both in evolutionary terms and in the cross-cultural record. This
will become more evident in our discussion of “The Patterning of Human
Sexuality.”

The Patterning of Human Sexuality: The Biological,

Psychological, and Cultural Perspective
This section emphasizes the relationship between biology, psychology, and
culture. These three dimensions necessarily have a psychological component
as well. As stated earlier, the psychological theme emphasizes the importance
of individuals’ relationship to their cultural context. And from a biological
perspective each person has a unique genetic heritage (with the exception of
14 Introduction
identical twins). This aspect is elaborated upon more in Chapter 2. Human
sexuality has a foundation in human biology, which provides us with certain
inherited potentialities. “The inherited aspects of sex seem to be nearly form-
less.” It is only through culture that sex assumes form and meaning (Daven-
port, 1977: 161) (see Figure 1.1).
Our human biological wiring is very different from what we think of as
animal instinct. For example, the drive for food that allows us to survive is
fulfilled through learning how to get food; in some cultures people collect food
by fishing, and in others, they go to the grocery store. The desire for sex is also
shaped by culture and is very unlike a mating instinct. When a female ani-
mal comes into heat, she naturally and necessarily (through hormonal mecha-
nisms) becomes sexually responsive and follows her mating instinct. Humans,
however, may ignore their drives and or desires. For example, Buddhist monks
traditionally deny their sexuality in order to live in celibacy as required by
their religion (Ruan and Lau, 2004: 187).
Others delay sexuality until marriage, which may not occur until their
twenties or later. For example, in the Irish community of Inis Beag, Messenger,
whose research spanned 1958–1966, found that the average age of marriage
was thirty-six for men and twenty-five for women (Messenger, 1971).
Human biological predispositions are not “rigidly determined…. They
may orient us in particular directions in pursuing certain goals, but they do
not determine our behavior in a mechanical fashion without learned expe-
riences” (Scupin and De Corse, 1992: 164). This biological underpinning to
our sexuality and other behaviors is part of what is called an open biogram,
“an extremely flexible genetic program that is shaped by learning experiences”
(Scupin and De Corse, 1992: 164). Humans acquire their culture through the
process of socialization. This capacity to learn and to adapt to one’s environs
is a part of our unique bio-cultural and psychological evolution as humans. We
can say that our biology sustains us as cultural beings by providing us with an
unusual aptitude for learning.
Sexual behavior is culturally patterned; it is not accidental or random but
is interconnected and/or integrated to varying degrees (this itself is of interest
to anthropologists) within the broader context of culture and is intermeshed
in a web of other cultural features as we have seen in our discussion of sex,
marriage, and kinship. A number of cultural characteristics are associated
with patterns of human sexuality. These may include: the level of technology,
population size, religion, economics, political organization, medical practices,
kinship structure, degree of acculturation and culture change, gender roles,
power and privilege (stratification). Consequently, larger cultural patterns are
important in shaping reproductive and nonreproductive sexual behaviors and
values in a society. Sexuality is patterned across cultures in relation to these
variables as well as within a culture. Davenport suggests that sex is molded
by the “internal logic and consistency of the total culture. As one sector of
culture changes, all other sectors that articulate must undergo adjustments”
(1977: 162). However, as we noted, cultural systems are never simple and the
 Introduction 15
interconnections between the elements of culture are often intertwined with
oppositions and contradictions.
Cultures are systems that exist within particular environmental and histor-
ical contexts. We have discussed the biological basis of human sexuality; we
offer now an overview of the cultural basis of human sexuality. To comprehend
how sexuality is embedded in culture necessitates an understanding of the cul-
ture concept. We can think of culture in terms of architecture1 (see Figure 1.2).
In Figure 1.2 the basement represents our biology as humans, including our
evolution and physiology. The floor in Figure 1.2 is the foundation for under-
standing that cultural variation rests in how humans have adapted to their
environments. This includes how people make a living, their technologies, and
economics. There are a number of ways people have found to survive in the
world. Anthropologists have classified societies in terms of foraging, horticul-
ture, agriculture, pastoral (herding), industrial, and postindustrial adaptations.
Adaptation to the environment impacts the social system including social
organization and social structures, which may be likened to the frame of a
house. The social system is the means that people adapt to one another. It
includes social organization and its elements including kinship and marriage,
and various institutions and structures such as religion and political organi-
zation. The social system is influenced by how people make a living through
demographics; the relations of work, such as age, gender, and kinship; who

Ideology THE ROOF

and value
system

Social systems

THE FRAME

Adaptations to the environment—how

humans make a living in a FLOOR
particular ecosystems

Human biology—
BASEMENT
evolutionary adaptation

Figure 1.2 Culture as architecture.

Source: Anne Bolin with Elon University Department of Instructional and Campus Technolo-
gies, 2006.
16 Introduction
controls the means of production; and the power relations of society. Societies
have been classified in terms of their social systems as bands, tribes, chiefdoms,
preindustrial states, and nation states.
The roof of our building may be conceptualized as the ideological value
system. This is the system of meanings and beliefs in a culture. It includes
expressive elements of culture like art, music, rituals, myths, folklore, and cos-
mology. It is the meanings and beliefs behind and sustaining the patterning of
cultures such as marriage norms, gender roles, courtship, etc. The foundation,
the frame, and the roof are all interrelated parts of the cultural whole.
Human sexuality is part of that cultural whole. We may first encounter it
in the basement in terms of our evolution and our unique human physiology.
To grasp human sexuality as part of a cultural matrix we may locate it in any
of our architectural levels. For example, in investigating beliefs about human
sexuality, we might begin with our roof (ideology and the value system). We
may observe that a particular culture has very few restrictions on premarital
sex. In this culture, premarital sex among adolescents may be regarded as an
amusement (Schlegel and Barry, 1991: 21), as part of an experiential kind of
sex education, or perhaps as a way to find a marriage partner. In short, there
are numerous meanings and beliefs around premarital permissiveness among
cultures which allow and encourage its practice.
In order to see how the meanings behind premarital sex are part of the
interconnections within a cultural system, we will want to investigate how pre-
marital sex relates to the broader social system. As we saw earlier, Martin and
Voorhies (1975) found a correlation between matrilineal social organization
and premarital permissiveness, while patrilineal social organization was cor-
related with restrictions on female premarital sexuality. From this correlation,
explanations may be proposed. After reading about the relationship between
premarital sexuality and matrilineality/patrilineality, what explanation can
you think of to account for this difference?
To be even more rigorous in our investigation of premarital sexual permis-
siveness requires an analysis of the foundation of culture: adaptation to the
environment or how people make a living and survive in a particular locale.
For example, agricultural systems are associated with higher populations, strat-
ification, and greater social complexity. Earlier we noted in the work of Da-
vis and Whitten (1987: 74) that the greater the socio-cultural complexity, the
more likely there are to be premarital restrictions on sexuality.
Since subsistence type is associated with complexity, it has been argued that
foragers and matrilineal horticulturists are more likely to be sexually permis-
sive than agriculturalists (Martin and Voorhies, 1975). This approach allows us
to see the connections between sexual practices, kinship, social organization,
and how people make a living. To understand how permissiveness or restric-
tions influence individuals and their sexuality, the psychological dimension
may be brought in. Ethnographic studies often provide insights into how the
cultural system influences individuals in terms of motives, emotions, and feel-
ings. For example, the Mead (1961 [1928]) and Freeman (1983, 1999) debate
 Introduction 17
includes this psychological dimension. Individual expressions of jealousy and
casual affect (feelings) toward sexual encounters were emphasized by Mead
and contested by Freeman.
Our analysis could go even further and include the biological. For example,
research into premarital permissiveness among foragers will reveal that adoles-
cent sterility may be a variable to be considered (see Chapter 11). Adolescent
sterility is a period of infertility among young females after the onset of men-
arche. They are not fertile until their late teens or early twenties. If premarital
sex is allowed in societies in which this occurs, young people may explore
their sexuality without the consequences of pregnancy and responsibilities of
parenthood.
We offer this architectural approach to culture and sex to illustrate that
culture is a complex whole in which the parts are interrelated. One can be-
gin anywhere in our biological, psychological, and cultural architecture and
explore human sexuality. Some researchers prefer limiting their research to
one area; for example, Masters and Johnson’s investigations of human sexual
response have focused on the biological. Others, such as the anthropologists
cited, may be more interested in the relationship between beliefs and premar-
ital sex practices and how these are related to social organization. Yet others
may want a bigger picture and explore how premarital sex norms are related to
the types of subsistence adaptation.
In offering this overview of culture, it should be remembered that what the
ethnographic study reveals represents a particular point in time. Cultures are
not static entities, and change is ongoing. Immigration has been going on for
2 million years ever since Homo erectus (one of our hominid ancestors) left
Africa and went as far as China carrying with her/him tool traditions and
cultural practices. Anthropologists no longer assume that tribal peoples lived
unchanging isolated lives for thousands of years.

The indigenous Australian people of Arnhem Land had a long history

of contact with Macassan (Indonesians from Sulawesi) mariners. The
Arnhem Land aboriginal people learned to make sea-going dugouts from
the Macassans who came to fish for trepang (sea slugs). In exchange for
their help collecting the trepang, they were given cloth, iron, glass, and
pottery. This exchange occurred for hundreds of years, beginning around
1720 (some suggest possibly 300 years earlier) and continually occurred
until 1906 when government regulations ended it. This cultural encoun-
ter left a cultural legacy in terms of art, oral history, development of a
trading language, and the exchange of genes. Some went willingly with
the Macassans, while others, such as Yolgnu women, were abducted, and
others were forcibly traded (Nannup, n.d.; Singh, et al., 2001: 69).
18 Introduction
Thus, cultures are dynamic and even the most traditional culture does not re-
main static. This is due to a number of factors. Because individuals are not all
the same, they actively negotiate their culture through lived experiences and
consequently change occurs. In addition, as humans modify their environ-
ments, their populations may grow, and the demand for technologies to solve
new problems caused by the changing circumstances occurs. Human groups
have never lived in isolation, and contact with other peoples leads to culture
change as well. Culture is a dynamic and ever-changing process. However, a
strong argument can be made that the rate of change has been dramatically
increased as a result of colonialism, and more recently globalization with the
expansion of capitalism worldwide. Indigenous and tribal peoples have been
particularly impacted by globalization. In terms of human sexuality, culture
change, colonialism and globalization have huge implications for issues in sex-
uality, particularly as these are related to women. In the barred text, Yolgnu
women were abducted and traded (this is referred to as trafficking). For further
discussion of the globalization of sex and trafficking see Chapter 17.
These are the kinds of opportunities for understanding human sexuality of-
fered by a biological, psychological, and cultural perspective. We hope this ap-
proach will allow students and other readers a greater awareness of themselves
as sexual beings, a greater understanding of themselves as cultural creatures,
and an appreciation of our evolutionary past and biological heritage.

Summary
1 Human sexuality is a biological, psychological, and cultural experience
and phenomenon.
2 Human sexuality is a means used by human groups to achieve socio-
cultural goals, such as the creation of kin groups.
3 A variety of anthropological perspectives and their proponents were in-
troduced, including Malinowski, Benedict, Mead, Ford and Beach, Martin
and Voorhies, and Frayser.
4 We concluded that human sexuality has several components, one in
human biology, which provides us with certain potentials and limitations,
and the other in culture, wherein our sexuality is learned and integrated
in the broader cultural context.
5 Emphasis was placed on the importance of the individual in society through
her/his relationship to the cultural context including motives, personality,
attitudes, values, perceptions, and emotions. It is because of these individ-
ual differences that cultures are so dynamic and ever-changing.
6 We discussed the value of a biological, psychological, and cultural per-
spective for understanding human sexuality.
7 We offered discussion of the culture concept, including discussion of the
dynamic elements of culture and introduced the importance of culture
change for understanding human sexuality.
 Introduction 19
Thought-Provoking Questions
1 After reading this chapter, reflect on how your views about human sexu-
ality have been affirmed, challenged, or expanded?
2 What did you learn about human sexuality in this chapter that was
unexpected?
3 What makes anthropological perspectives on human sexuality unique?
4 What are some of the ways in which human sexuality is shaped by culture?
Can you think of any sexual or related behavior that is completely nat-
ural? Would you regard breastfeeding as completely natural without any
cultural influences?

Suggested Resources
Books
Holmes, Lowell Don. 1987. The Quest for the Real Samoa: The Mead/Freeman Contro-
versy and Beyond. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey.
LaFont, Suzanne, (ed.). 2003. Constructing Sexualities: Readings in Sexuality, Gender
and Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Websites
American Anthropological Association. http://www.aaanet.org.
International Academy of Sex Research. http://www.iasr.org/.
National Sexuality Resource Center. http://www.cregs.sfsu.edu.
Center for a Public Anthropology. http://www.publicanthropology.org/index.htm.
2 Biological, Psychological, and
Cultural Approaches
Georgina S. Hammock

Chapter Overview
1 Compares and contrasts psychological, sociological, and biological per-
spectives of human sexuality.
2 Presents anthropological concepts, terms, and definitions. Specific exam-
ples from the fields of physical anthropology and cultural anthropology
that are relevant to our understanding of sexology are offered.
3 Provides a definition of and discusses the scope of human sexuality.
4 Offers the importance of a relativistic perspective of human sexual
expression.
5 Discusses sexual violence from various socio-cultural and legal perspectives.

Human behavior is an incredibly complicated phenomenon. Indeed, it is argu-

ably one of the most complicated topics that science has tried to understand and
explain. Many factors and variables influence human behavior and identifying
all of the various sources of influence is quite difficult. Therefore, it is not surpris-
ing that different disciplines are devoted to the study of human behavior. Human
sexual behavior is no different. In Chapter 1, various perspectives were discussed
that shape the study of human sexual behavior. These perspectives cross several
different disciplines including the biological, psychosocial, behavioral, clinical,
and sociological, with an emphasis on anthropological factors in the explana-
tion of sexual behavior. All of these perspectives are important to developing a
thorough understanding of the various forces and factors that influence sexual
behavior and the many different viewpoints that must be considered.
In this chapter we present an in-depth discussion of the anthropological
perspective. Further, anthropology is contrasted with the disciplines of biol-
ogy, sociology, and psychology in order to highlight its unique contribution to
the study of human sexuality. In addition, key sexological terms and defini-
tions are presented.

Anthropological Perspectives in Contrast

Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the anthropological perspective in-
corporates psychological, sociological, and biological views into a holistic
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 21
approach. Holism is defined as an all-embracing outlook that “refers to the
study of the whole of the human condition; past, present, and future; biology,
society, language and culture” (Kottak, 2002: 4). Because of its interdisciplin-
ary nature, the anthropological approach incorporates psychological, sociolog-
ical, and biological views but is not limited to any one viewpoint. It is precisely
because of anthropology’s interdisciplinary nature and its holistic approach
with its interest in spanning great periods of time and vast distances, that it
includes but varies from the strictly biological, sociological, and psychological
approaches to human sexuality. These latter approaches tend to emphasize
contemporary twenty-first-century Euro-United States sexuality and to focus
on only one dimension (i.e., the biological, sociological, or psychological). For
anthropology, our scope is all of humankind. We study and compare a wide
range of peoples and societies from the ancient to the contemporary whose
technologies vary from simple to complex, along multiple dimensions includ-
ing the biological, psychological, and the socio-cultural.

Biological
The biological perspective focuses on the physiological basis of sexual behav-
ior. Biological perspectives on human sexuality stress what are referred to as
essentialist views of human sexuality. Essentialist views look at instinct as an
“essential” attribute of sexuality and regard reproduction as the core of that in-
stinct. Katchadourian and Lunde (1975: 2–3) have challenged this perspective
of human sexuality and counter that:

The incentive is in the act itself, rather than in its possible consequences
[reproduction]. Sexual behavior in this sense arises from a psychological
“drive,” associated with sensory pleasure, and its reproductive conse-
quences are a by-product (though a vital one)… [O]ur sexual behavior in-
volves certain physical “givens,” including sex organs, hormones, intricate
networks of nerves, and brain centers.

To reduce human sexuality to an instinct to reproduce ignores the importance

of other variables such as symbolic, cognitive, and affective factors in moti-
vating sexual behaviors. In addition, such a perspective ignores the role of the
group and shared cultural meanings in the survival of the species.
The biological view is, however, important for our understanding of human
sexuality. As females and males, the physiology of our sex (and this is far more
complex and continuous than might be expected) serves as the basis for our
discussion of the endocrinology and anatomy of sex in Chapters 4–6, but even
these biological features must be placed in a cultural context. For example, we
might ask if the sexual cycle of people in the United States, which is believed
to peak in males around eighteen or nineteen years of age and in females be-
tween the ages thirty-five and forty, is not shaped by cultural factors. Evidence
suggests that this is the case (see Hyde, 1982: 342, 353). The perspective of
22 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
anthropology is one that regards biology and culture as tandem developments
in human history. Anthropology emphasizes the importance of cultural sys-
tems and learning as central features in human evolution.

Sociological
The sociological tradition in sexual science is characterized by research that
focuses on contemporary sexuality in Europe and the United States and/or
usually emphasizes industrialized nations. It looks at the importance of “social
learning, social rules and role playing” in the expression of human sexual-
ity (Musaph, 1978: 84), and stresses patterns of social interaction. The survey
method remains the most popular sociological research technique used for
collecting sexological data (Katchadourian, 1985: 11). Sociological research
has provided a valuable contribution to sexology through its attention to the
intersection of class, status group, and the sexual experience. This approach is
evident in such classic works as Komarovsky’s Blue Collar Marriage (1962) and
Rubin’s Worlds of Pain (1976).
Anthropology and sociology are very compatible perspectives. There are,
in fact, a number of anthropologists whose sexological interests are primarily
in studying US culture. The anthropologist, in contrast to the sociologist, is
trained to maintain a comparative and bio-cultural view with reference to
the cross-cultural record regardless of the research topic; whether it is study-
ing childbirth or middle-aged women (Brown and Kerns, 1985; Jordan, 1993;
Trevathan, 1987). Although the sociological perspective tends to focus on the
importance of social structure and patterns of interaction, the anthropological
one additionally integrates the significance of beliefs in understanding human
behavior. This is essential in overcoming our own industrial society’s cultural
biases about sex that can creep into research. It is therefore useful in the study
of sexology in the United States to sustain a broader frame of reference includ-
ing structure, meaning, and cultural variation internally and cross-culturally.
For the anthropologist, this may also include an evolutionary understanding as
well. Generally speaking, however, anthropology and sociology are very closely
related disciplines and it is often impossible to distinguish between the works
of anthropologists and sociologists.

Psychological
Psychology addresses sexuality from the perspective of the individual and the
individual’s environment. In general, psychology’s approach to sexuality fo-
cuses on the motives behind sexual behavior and factors that influence that
motivation. To understand this process, psychologists study many different
facets of the human experience. Indeed, there is perhaps no one psychological
perspective, but several different thrusts within a general concern with cog-
nitive, emotional, behavioral, and some physiological components of human
sexuality.
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 23
On the theoretical level, psychologists have approached human sexuality
from many different angles. Some rather infamous theories within psychology
have focused on the critical role of sexuality in the development of personal-
ity. Freud’s rather complex theory proposes that the sex instinct (eros) along
with the death instinct (thanatos) were driving forces in the development of
an individual’s personality (Hyde, 1982: 6). Thus, Freud places biology at the
root of the individual’s psychosexuality. Developmental aspects of sexuality are
considered part of our physiological inheritance. As individuals develop, they
encounter various stages in which sexuality and conflict are characteristic and
shape the personality that individuals will have as adults.
Other theories, such as social learning theory (Bandura, 1986), emphasize
the role of observational learning in the acquisition of behavior. From this per-
spective, other people serve as models (e.g., a parent, friend, or a person in the
media) that help us to learn what behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable
in our society. When we see these models rewarded for their behaviors, we are
more likely to behave like the model and when we see the models punished for
their behavior, we are less likely to behave like the model. For example, social
learning has a powerful role in shaping our gender roles. In US culture, females
and males learn to present themselves in specific ways to be accepted and val-
ued. These lessons are learned from many different sources from an early age
onward. These models include parents, teachers, the media, and peers. Even
Halloween costumes serve to reinforce these roles. Boys are traditionally dressed
in action-oriented outfits that emphasize violence and death. Girls, on the other
hand, are dressed as brides and princesses and when they are presented as vil-
lains, they are eroticized—even at the ages of six and seven (Nelson, 2000).
In addition to theories important to human sexual behavior, psychology
researchers are also interested in the impact of individuals and their envi-
ronments on other aspects of sexual functioning. For example, research on
the male sex hormone testosterone is an interesting case. Research in this
area has found that numerous situational factors are related to changes in the
levels of testosterone in males. Males who have lost a competition, whether
physical or mental, (Mazur, Booth, and Dabbs, 1992), whose sports teams
have lost (Fielden, Lutter, and Dabbs as cited in Mazur and Booth, 1998), and
who have been degraded in the context of a military officer training program
(Thompson, Dabbs, and Friday, 1990) show decreases in their testosterone
levels. These relationships suggest a reciprocal relationship between societal
or cultural events and biological responses and highlight the importance of
socio-cultural variables to physiological functions.
Developmental psychologists are interested in the relationship of aging and hu-
man sexuality. The number of processes involved in the development of an indi-
vidual’s sexuality across childhood, adolescence, early and late adulthood is quite
large. For example, researchers have studied the influence of parents and peers
on adolescents’ sexual activity. Others have looked at the effectiveness of school
sex education courses on the initiation of sexual activity and the use of safer sex
behaviors. Still others investigate the motivation behind sexual infidelity.
24 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
Social and personality psychologists are interested in the significance of
variables associated with the person (e.g., religious attitudes, self-esteem, mood,
love for one’s partner) and the environment (e.g., the media, perceived friends’
behavior, attractiveness of the partner) in understanding sexual motivation
and behavior. One major area of study for these psychologists is intimate rela-
tionships. For example, research on the initiation of relationships shows that
some of the most important variables in attraction are physical attractiveness,
similarity, and physical proximity. Other research focuses on the dynamics of
relationships and factors that influence whether individuals will stay or leave a
relationship. Another area of relationship research deals with the darker side
of relationships—violence and jealousy. Finally, other researchers in this area
study the impact of erotica and pornography on perceptions of partners and
violence against women.
Another area of psychology deals with the study and treatment of sexual
dysfunction and “pathologies.” Research in this area is devoted to uncovering
the various explanations for sexual difficulties and finding effective means of
treating those difficulties. The goal of these treatments is to help those with
difficulties to function more effectively. For those whose behavior is consid-
ered undesirable or unwanted or detrimental to society, such as rapists and
pedophiles, the goal is to shape the behavior so that it no longer harms other
members of society.
As you can see, the scope of psychological studies covers extensive areas,
including sexual motivation, familial and peer influence, self-esteem issues,
and a number of other subject areas as far ranging as gender identity and
gender differences in sexual response. Although the topics may vary, the
approach is usually focused on the psychology of the individual and his/
her environment in the development of sexuality. The predominant trend
in psychology is to focus on a far smaller or micro-level analysis than that
undertaken by anthropologists. Though psychological anthropologists may
be interested in the mental and emotional structures behind the expression
of human sexuality in individuals, the cultural context remains an import-
ant feature for their analysis. Psychological anthropologists specifically, and
anthropologists generally, are more likely to be interested in the impact of
culture on family dynamics, childrearing practices, or in the cultural pat-
terning of sexual dysfunction within society. For example, the psychological
perspective locates dysfunction within the individual and the family milieu,
in contrast to an anthropological perspective which locates its source in soci-
ety. Like anthropology, psychology emphasizes the role of learning; however,
unlike anthropology it does not usually consider it within a cross-cultural
framework. Nor does it emphasize a culture’s childrearing practices, which
can influence adult personality (Katchadourian, 1985: 11; Kottak, 2002: 21).
A relatively recent point of connection between psychology and anthropol-
ogy has been the increasing popularity of evolutionary perspectives in psy-
chology, a major theoretical perspective often taken in anthropology (see
Chapter 3 for further discussion).
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 25
Interdisciplinary Approaches
Hopefully, by this point, it is clear that while each discipline views and inves-
tigates sexuality with a different focus, each contributes to a more complete
understanding of the behavior. The case of studying the issues associated with
sexuality and aging is illustrative of this point. A biologist might address the
developmental process of aging by studying the impact of elevated or reduced
levels of hormonal changes on the different sexual organs at adolescence and
old age. A sociologist might look at different types of sexual behaviors that
are expressed at different ages—childhood, adolescence, adulthood and late
adulthood—and how these differ as a function of race and class. A psychol-
ogist might study the impact of aging on the individual’s perception of their
sexual attractiveness to others and an anthropologist might question the evo-
lutionary advantage of sexuality at the various stages of the life cycle and how
different cultures might respond to these behaviors. All of these points are
important aspects of the relationship between aging and sexuality.
Not only do the different perspectives provide different pieces to the puzzle
that is human behavior, they also often enjoy a certain amount of “cross-
pollination.” There are scientists who are trained as physical anthropologists,
social psychologists, and psychological anthropologists. In other words, often
scientists are interested in the crossover of information from one discipline
to another. The physical anthropologist must be knowledgeable about both
anatomy and anthropology, the social psychologist looks at the intersection
of sociology and psychology, and the psychological anthropologist studies
the influence of culture on psychological phenomena. Therefore, it is often
difficult at times to determine what the perspective of the researcher might
be. Imagine that you have read about research that was conducted on the
occurrence of violence in dating relationships. In this study, the research
looked at variables such as the impact of personality (e.g., self-esteem, neurot-
icism, the willingness to trust others) and the environment (e.g., your part-
ner’s level of aggression) on the use of aggression. In addition, they report on
the prevalence of the behavior and how males and females differ in its use.
What would the perspective of that researcher be? What if you also find out
that his/her colleagues have looked at whether the rates of aggression differ
across regions of this country? Would you assume that the researcher was a
sociologist, a psychologist, or an anthropologist? Actually, the research men-
tioned here was done by social psychologists (Hammock, 2003; White and
Koss, 1991).
As you can see, it is often difficult to imagine what the perspective of
the researcher might be. Is the person who studies the influence of social
class, cultural norms, and beliefs about women on the incidence of date rape
a psychologist, a sociologist, or an anthropologist? Is the researcher study-
ing safer sex behavior in sex workers a sociologist or an anthropologist? Is
the researcher investigating the impact of the family on the use of violence
in intimate relationships a psychologist or sociologist? Is the work on the
26 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
supportive function of transgender support groups on transgender commu-
nities conducted by an anthropologist, sociologist, or psychologist? In other
words, the borders between the different disciplines and their perspectives
are often fuzzy and allow for a great deal of sharing of interdisciplinary re-
search to be conducted.
Similarly, you often find that teams of researchers representing different per-
spectives often come together to conduct research on sexual behavior. A classic
­
article on romantic love provides an excellent case in point. In this study, the
researchers studied different regions of the brain to determine whether areas of
the brain associated with reward and motivation systems are related to reports
of being intensely in love with a romantic partner. The study used MRI images
taken while the participants were looking at a picture of the beloved and of a
familiar individual. Their results support the relationship of love with certain
regions of the brain. Further, their research argues that romantic love is quite
complex and might actually be a motivational state that leads to specific types
of emotions and a focusing on the beloved (Aron et al., 2005). This fascinating
research was accomplished by a team of individuals trained as psychologists,
anthropologists, and neurologists.
The bottom line is that all of the different disciplines are critical to obtain-
ing a complete understanding of human sexuality. Though the primary focus
of this book is on the anthropological perspective, in the following chapters
you will see how each of these perspectives has contributed to the topics stud-
ied. This will result in a biological, psychological, and cultural approach that
examines how biological, psychological, and cultural variables influence sex-
ual behavior. But before we can look at individual behaviors, several critical
terms and theories must be understood.

Anthropological Concepts
Having compared and contrasted the anthropological perspective with
biological, sociological, and psychological ones, specific concepts from an-
thropology must be introduced to help further the understanding of the
anthropological approach to human sexuality. We have selected four key
terms and related concepts that will be useful. These are evolution, the cul-
ture concept, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. We have been very
selective in our choice of these four terms; there are numerous others that
are important in anthropological approaches to human sexuality. These are
introduced in subsequent chapters and may be found in the glossary at the
end of the text. Anthropological terms and concepts are discussed in greater
depth than other terms because of their importance. Other anthropological
terms of particular relevance for understanding the perspective of this text-
book are society, primates, bonding, ethnological, ethnographic, compara-
tive, cross-cultural, and genetic fitness. These are presented in the glossary at
the end of the text and/or are interspersed throughout the various chapters
of this book.
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 27
Evolution
The modern theory of evolution challenged the prevailing view of the sev-
enteenth and eighteenth centuries that all species were separate and divine
creations. Through his famous travels on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin
formulated his theory of natural selection. Naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace,
during this same period, independently arrived at a similar conclusion: spe-
cies are not separate creations but have evolved through a process of natural
selection. In 1858 Darwin and Wallace together rocked the meetings of the
Linnaean Society of London, and in 1859 Darwin published The Origin of
Species, documenting and detailing the theory of natural selection (Ember,
Ember, and Peregrine, 2005).
The central tenets of natural selection are straightforward. Natural selec-
tion is a mechanism of evolution that involves long periods of time. Those
individuals who are better adapted to their environments will be more likely
to reproduce surviving offspring than those who are not. Those individuals
who reproduce themselves are more likely to pass on the traits they possess
than those who are not so well adapted to their environments. This has been
referred to as survival of the fit and is calculated in terms of reproduction,
not life span of the individual. Since environments do not remain stable over
time, different characteristics may emerge as more adaptive so that what was
adaptive in one environment at one time is no longer adaptive at another
time. Adaptation is defined as “a process by which organisms achieve a bene-
ficial adjustment to an available environment, and the results of that process”
(Haviland, 1989: 59).
Though Darwin knew that traits were inherited, he could not explain how
new variation in populations occurred. It was Gregor Mendel, an Austrian
monk, who pioneered the study of genetics. His findings were incorporated
into the theories of the scientific community in the early 1900s. Studies of
genetics are now an essential component in the study of evolution (Ember,
Ember, and Peregrine, 2005).

The Culture Concept

The culture concept was developed at the end of the nineteenth century. Sir
Edward Burnett Tylor, considered the parent of anthropology, provided the
first clear definition. In 1897 he defined culture as “that complex whole which
includes the knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capa-
bilities and habits acquired by man… [and woman]… as a member of society.”
By 1952 Kroeber and Kluckhohn, in reviewing the anthropological literature,
found 164 different definitions of culture (Lett, 1987: 54–55).
With so many definitions available for the culture concept, we will be using
the following definition by Boyd and Richerson (1989: 28) for the purpose of
this book: “[Culture is the ]… information—skills, attitudes, beliefs, values—
capable of affecting individual’s behavior, which they acquire from others by
28 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
teaching, imitation, and other forms of social learning.” We have selected
this definition because of its thrust on the mental or cognitive dimension of
culture (i.e., what an individual knows, both consciously and unconsciously,
about her or his culture). This aspect, borrowing from a linguistic model of
language in anthropology, may be thought of as competence. It is all the rules
you need to know to act like a native of “x” group. Spradley (1987: 17) calls this
“cultural knowledge” and notes that it has two dimensions: explicit and tacit.
Explicit culture is the knowledge we can easily communicate about; for exam-
ple, knowing what our genealogies are or that we practice monogamy, albeit
serial, in our marriage systems. Tacit culture is “outside our awareness.” Hall’s
classic work on nonverbal communication, The Hidden Dimension (1966), has
described a number of spatially oriented rules about how close to stand next
to someone and when to touch or not touch that are examples of tacit culture.
We tend to be aware of these rules only when they are violated (Spradley, 1987:
22–24) as in the case of when someone “violates your space” or “gets in your
face.”
But culture is not just floating around in our heads; culture is behavior too.
It includes performance, our socially acquired life ways and our patterned in-
teractions, the things humans do and make. For the most part, it can be ob-
served, and this is what makes research into sex so difficult. Human sexuality,
except in certain cases of public and ritualized religious events, is private and
not readily observable. In order to understand observable patterns of behavior
or performance we need to know about competence, the values and beliefs
underlying the behaviors.
Anthropologists have defined certain characteristics:

• Culture is shared in that it is composed of a group of people who experi-

ence a common culture, although they need not embrace all the attributes
of the culture.
• Culture is learned and transmitted. The process of learning one’s culture
in a society is called “enculturation” (Ember, Ember, and Peregrine, 2005).
• Culture is symbolic. Thus, culture can be seen as the making of meaning
where meaning is arbitrarily assigned to behaviors, events, and the world
in general.

Related to the issue of cultural meanings are two additional concepts incor-
porated by anthropologists in their research on culture and sexuality; these
are emic and etic perspectives. Emic approaches take the perspective of the
participant’s point of view, seeing the world from the standpoint of the in-
sider. Ethnographers are dedicated to acquiring this emic perspective, before
they can undertake an etic analysis. Etic perspectives are those based on a
scientific outsider’s ways of knowing and understanding the world. This in-
cludes a “set of epistemological and theoretical principles and methodologies
acquired during a more or less rigorous and lengthy training period” (Harris,
1999: 33).
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 29
Ethnocentrism
According to Bernstein (1983: 183), ethnocentrism is “unreflectively imposing
alien standards of judgment and thereby missing the point of the meaning of
a practice.” It is “the attitude that other societies’ customs and ideas can be
judged in the context of one’s own culture” (Ember and Ember, 1990: 510)
and “that one’s own culture is superior in every way to all others” (Haviland,
1989: 296). As a discipline, anthropology has rejected this view as a result
of the method of participant-observation; early on anthropologists came to
know that “savages” were as human as those peoples living in industrialized
societies and that their behavior could only be understood as part of their cul-
ture (Haviland, 1989: 296). To fully comprehend the meaning and danger of
ethnocentrism, it is important to adopt the anthropological stance of cultural
relativism.

Cultural Relativism
According to Ember and Ember (1990: 510), relativism is “the attitude that a
society’s customs and ideas should be viewed within the context of that society’s
problems and opportunities.” Thus, “there is no single scale of values applicable
to all societies” (Winick, 1970: 454). Anthropologists find it crucial to remain
relativistic in order to describe, explain, and to discover meaning without the
biases of their home society. For example, it is obvious that US cultural biases
against homosexuality could impact scientific understanding of the subject.
Herdt (1981, 1987, 1988, 2006) and Williams (1986) have written about tribal
people’s homosexual practices and Blackwood (1984a, b, 2005a, b) on indige-
nous lesbian behavior. They offer a relativistic and nonjudgmental view of the
subject. It is evident from their writings that even terminology such as “homo-
sexual” and “lesbian” are so loaded and culturally specific that they cannot be
directly translated into the meaning given to, for example, boy-inseminating
rites among Sambia of Highland New Guinea (Herdt, 1987, 2006 among oth-
ers). The “homosexual” behavior of these peoples is simply not commensurable
with our Euro-American concept of homosexuality or gay (Herdt, 2006).
At some point in adopting a culturally relativistic perspective, you might
be faced with a clash of values. How far to take cultural relativism and where
to draw the line are questions often asked by students; however, it is one that
concerns anthropologists as well. In fact, Ethos, the journal of the Society for
Psychological Anthropology, devoted an entire issue to the question of moral
relativism (1990: 131–223). The introduction begins with:

What sort of theory of human values can be devised which encompasses

and accords legitimacy to the obvious cultural and historical diversity in
moral systems, without being so open that “anything goes”? That is a core
problem of moral (ethical) relativism….
(Fiske and Mason, 1990: 131)
30 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
As we live in an ever-shrinking world, cultural differences are increasingly
apparent through tourism, immigration, international education, the Internet,
and a host of other issues that bring moral relativism into play. These issues are
significant particularly around topics directly affecting the lives of college-age
students. Often it is easier to be relativistic regarding behavior or beliefs of
people geographically or even temporally distant. Both Bolin and Whele-
han maintain a stance that it is more difficult to be relativistic in one’s own
culture, especially when encountering non-normative behaviors and values
that vary from the ideals of the US middle class that currently dominate US
ideological systems. For example, homosexuality is only one of several possibil-
ities for sexual orientations, yet in several areas of the southern United States
these sexual practices were considered illegal and participants were prosecuted
under ethnocentric and inhumane laws. On June 26, 2003, in Lawrence &
Garner v. State of Texas, the US Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that sodomy laws
are unconstitutional and unenforceable when applied to noncommercial con-
senting adults in private (Sodomy Laws, 2006).
But what about other behaviors such as incest, rape, or abortion? Does a cul-
turally relativistic stance mandate that these are acceptable? No, it does not.
Rape and incest are most clearly “crimes” in the industrialized society’s view.
Abortion, though, presents something of a quandary. Once a crime, abortion
now is considered a choice by the individual until that legally granted choice
is removed. Where you draw the line is ultimately your decision on many of
these issues. While you may choose to take the stance that it is an individu-
al’s choice on abortion, others may find this problematic and challenge you.
In the case of rape and in most incest situations, the participants are clearly
victims of crimes and have no choice. In keeping with a feminist perspective
on the abortion issue, we take the position that it is the right of the woman
to choose. Cultural relativism does not require that you agree with or like a
certain behavior or belief system. Rather, it requires that you are able to sus-
pend judgment and place that behavior or belief system within the context of
the culture in which it is found. Cultural relativism is therefore a method and
an approach to the world that asks that you temporarily suspend judgment. It
does not demand that you forsake all values or beliefs in human rights. “Thus,
after an understanding generated by a culturally relativistic stance may come
an ethical positioning which for many of us includes a humanistic concern for
all human rights” (Basirico and Bolin, 2000: 88).

Definitions of Human Sexuality

So how do you define human sexuality? We turn now to this definition. In
keeping with the anthropological perspective, human sexuality should be
viewed through a wide lens and understood from a relativistic perspective. De-
fining human sexuality is no simple task. It is impossible to set narrow bound-
aries for what is included within the category we call sex.
Katchadourian (1979: 8–34) has described the many meanings of the word
“sex.” According to Katchadourian’s research, the English word, derived from
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 31
the Latin sexus, can be traced back to the fourteenth century (1979: 9). The
term “sex” has undergone a variety of permutations and grammatical uses in
popular culture over time in US society. Sex commonly refers to what peo-
ple “do,” is usually termed “sexual behavior,” and often is described as erotic
(Katchadourian, 1979: 11). Barale (1986) offers a down-to-earth definition:
“Genitals are the given: what we do with them is a matter of creative inven-
tion; how we interpret what we do with them is what we call sexuality” (in
Duggan, 1990: 95). Sometimes the term “sex” is used by researchers in place of
gender to refer to embodiment or physical bodies. For example, at some point
in their lives most adults in industrialized nations will be asked to check a
box on a form that asks them their sex, male or female. In the Euro-American
gender schema (model of the world) sex typically refers to biological attri-
butes including chromosomes, external genitals, gonads, internal reproductive
structures, hormonal states, and secondary sexual characteristics, among oth-
ers. Gender may be defined as the psychological, social, and cultural aspects of
being a male or female. Gender is a cultural construction and system of mean-
ings with multiple dimensions including gender identity, one’s sense of self and
awareness as a woman, man, boy, or girl, to greater or lesser degrees, and/or
as an additional or in-between gender (Bolin, 1996b: 24) (see Chapter 15 for
further discussion of gender identity and gender roles).

Time and Space

Definitions of human sexuality have varied across time and space. Human
sexuality is symbolic behavior as much as it is reproductive behavior. Sex in-
cludes self-stimulation (masturbation) as well as copulation and other activi-
ties related to coitus. It also includes noncoitally oriented pleasuring as well
as sex between partners of the same sex. Questions of where the boundaries
are and what to include in the definition of sex are difficult. For example,
Katchadourian asks if sexual fantasy can be included in the definition of sex?
It is certainly erotic, “but is it ‘behavior’” (1979: 11)? Others have attempted to
avoid the problems of behavior and emotional arousal by using the term “sex-
ual experience.” When this array of terms is placed in the even wider context
of the cross-cultural record, we are led to ask if there are indeed any sexual
universals amidst such a wide range of human sexual expression.
For the purposes of this chapter, we have taken the broadest possible scope to
explore the many meanings of sex including species-wide behavior, biological,
social scientific including behavioral, cognitive, and affective, and socio-cultural
definitions and dimensions. Other attributes, such as the functions of sexuality
in the cultural context, will be included. Contributing to the complexity of the
definitional task is that sexual expression may be part of actual behavior or may
be purely symbolic. Sexuality may also be expressed in terms of the metaphorical
as is often found in rituals. For example, among the Ndembu as studied by Turner
(1969: 10–43; Cohen and Eames, 1982: 250–251), the Isoma fertility ritual is rich
with sexual symbolism. In one part of this ritual the infertile woman holds a
white chicken, which represents semen and good fortune in Ndembu cosmology.
32 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
Definitions of human sexuality do not remain stable over time, as is doc-
umented by the history of Euro-American views of sexuality in the field of
sexual science. Scientific studies have shifted their interests from sex as re-
production to perspectives that focus on sexuality and its nonreproductive
aspects, including larger issues such as gender variance (Jacobs and Roberts,
1989: 439–444). Medical views have fluctuated in tandem with changes in the
wider culture. Thus, the well-known prudish and sexually repressive cultural
atmosphere of “mainstream” (i.e., middle class) Victorianism in the period of
mid-1800s–1900s was reproduced in medical views so that masturbation was
believed to cause mental illness (Masters, Johnson, and Kolodny, 1982: 11–12).
The following quotation illustrates all too clearly the Victorian discourse on
female sexuality. We quote from Ruth Smythers’ (1989 [1894]) “Instruction and
Advice for the Young Bride on the Conduct and Procedures of the Intimate
and Personal Relationship of the Marriage State.”

To the sensitive young woman who has had benefits of proper upbringing,
the wedding day is ironically, both the happiest and most terrifying day of
her life… On the negative side, there is the wedding night, during which
the bride must pay the piper, so to speak, by facing for the first time the expe-
rience of sex. At this point, dear reader, let me concede one shocking truth.
Some young women actually anticipate the wedding night with curiosity
and pleasure! Beware of such an attitude. A selfish and sensual husband can
easily take advantage of such a bride. One cardinal rule of marriage should
never be forgotten: GIVE LITTLE, GIVE SELDOM, AND ABOVE
ALL, GIVE GRUDGINGY… while sex is at best revolting and at worst
rather painful, it has to be endured, and has been by women since the be-
ginning of time, and is compensated for by the monogamous home and the
children produced through it.
(1989 [1894]: 5–7, emphasis author’s)

This historical view represents a fundamental change over time in how sex is
regarded for women. In the United States today the model of sex is one of “sex
as pleasure” rather than sex as duty.
Despite this new model, there still exists a double standard in US society
wherein a woman’s sexuality is bounded by a model of sexuality that empha-
sizes monogamous, committed heterosexual and potentially reproductive sex.
Such changes in attitude influence how human sexuality is experienced and
integrated within culture.

Species-Wide Behavior
Human sexuality, or more accurately the capacity for sexuality, is a species-wide
behavior. The term species is defined as “a population or group of populations
that is capable of interbreeding, but that is reproductively isolated from other
such populations” (Haviland, 1989: 66). Although all humans may mate with
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 33
one another, it is characteristic of cultures to restrict sexual and reproductive
activities between people. Sometimes the cultural meaning assigned to cer-
tain gene pools and/or physical attributes prohibits groups of humans from
interbreeding with one another even though they are perfectly able to do so
(Haviland, 1989: 66). Thus, all humans are capable of interbreeding and pro-
ducing viable offspring, but cultural barriers may prevent people from marry-
ing and reproducing.

Biological Definitions and Dimensions

Biological definitions include sex in reference to “the two divisions of organic
beings identified as male and female and to the qualities that distinguish males
and females” (Katchadourian, 1979: 9). This is frequently termed biological
sex, yet this definition is problematic as well as ethnocentric. Relying on a
model described by Money and Ehrhardt (1972: 4–15) and expanded upon in
Bolin and Whelehan’s undergraduate classes, we offer a multifaceted view of
biological sex that challenges the simplicity of the notion of defining one’s sex
as either male and female. How, in fact, do we reach that determination? How
do you know what sex you are? Our list of sex attributes includes chromosomal
sex; gonadal sex; hormonal (endocrine) sex; sex of internal reproductive struc-
tures in addition to the gonads;, secondary sexual characteristics (including
distribution of fatty tissues, hair growth, breast development); gender identity
(self-perception as male or female); gender role; sex of assignment and rearing;
and legal sex among others.
One can easily see how the biological can be mixed up with the cultural
when the discussion turns to gender roles and legal sex. Yet, strictly biological
determinants like hormones, secondary sexual characteristics, internal and
external reproductive features are not so clear either. Biological sex exists on
a continuum. There are a number of gender variations that illustrate this con-
tinuum in biological sex (Fausto-Sterling, 2000; Kessler, 2004; Masters, John-
son, and Kolodny, 1982: 504).
In testicular feminizing syndrome, the male fetus with androgen-
insensitivity syndrome produces enough testosterone, but because of a genetic
problem it cannot be absorbed and processed. As a consequence, the fetus de-
velops a blind vagina (it doesn’t lead to a uterus) and female genitalia. At birth,
the infant looks female but does not have the internal female reproductive
organs and is usually identified as a girl. At puberty, the individual develops
breasts but cannot menstruate and is infertile (Blackless, et al., 2000: 153–154;
Money and Ehrhardt, 1972: 280).
To suggest to such a young woman at puberty that because her chromo-
somes and hormones are male that she is a man overlooks the fact that gen-
der is a lived phenomenon (Kessler and McKenna, 1978: 76–77; Ward and
Edelstein, 2006: 169–192). In US society two choices exist: female or male.
The androgen-insensitive male is reared as a female, and usually has a gender
identity as a woman. In a socio-cultural sense, she is a woman, although she
34 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches
may not be a physiological female. From a physiological perspective, she is an
intersex person because she has both male and female characteristics; xy chro-
mosome structure, female genitals, and undescended or partially descended
testes (Intersex Society of North America).
Not only are there individuals who are biologically intersex, but other so-
cieties may recognize more than two genders as well. In some cultures, gender
may be an achieved (acquired) rather than an ascribed (assigned) status. The
cross-cultural record reveals all these possibilities. Anthropologists have long
reported on the existence of societies with more than two genders referred to
as gender transformed statuses, alternative genders, supernumerary genders,
gender variant persons, and two spirits among other terms1 (e.g., Bolin, 1996b:
27–30; Jacobs, 1994; Martin and Voorhies, 1975: 94). It now appears that a
variety of kinds of behaviors and variations in gender expression have been
lumped under these terms. For example, the two spirit has been referred to as
a gender-transformed status, as an alternative gender, and/or as a cross-gender
role. Nevertheless, this identity may generally be described as a position in so-
ciety in which a person takes on some or all of the tasks, dress, and behaviors
of the other gender. Rather than just two genders as in the Euro-American
case, the Mohave recognized four genders: woman; hwami (female two spirit);
man; and alyha (male two spirit). The Chuckchee reported seven genders,
three females and four males (Jacobs and Roberts, 1989: 439–440; Martin and
Voorhies, 1975: 96–99, 102–104).
The other biological definition of sex focuses on the physiology of sexual
arousal and coitus and on the reproductive biology of humans. This includes
changes in the human cycle in both reproductive physiology as well as hu-
man sexual response. As Jacobs and Roberts (1989: 441) so eloquently point
out: “reproduction and sexuality are codependent variables in the human life
cycle. But sex and sexuality are much more complex than linking them with
reproduction.”

Behavioral, Cognitive, and Affective Definitions and Dimensions

The social science perspectives broaden the study of human sexuality by look-
ing beyond the mechanics of sexual behavior to other factors, most notably
behavioral, cognitive, and affective factors, which influence sexual expression
and perception. The behavioral definitions of human sexuality focus on be-
haviors and consequences that can be both observed and measured. When
dealing with the cognitive dimensions of sexuality, yet another layer is added
to sexuality by considering how we think about, judge, rationalize, attribute,
and perceive sexual stimuli and behaviors. Finally, affective dimensions also
are considered by social scientists studying sexuality. Our emotional or affec-
tive responses add many dimensions to our experiences by influencing how
we interpret and view behavior. In this capacity, they can actually serve as
motivators of behavior, influencing who and what we are willing to accept and
approach.
 Bio-Psycho-Cultural Approaches 35
The work of Kinsey and his colleagues represents one of the most well-known
behaviorist studies of human sexuality: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
(1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). The Kinsey reports
focused on six sexual outlets leading to orgasm (masturbation, sex dreams, pet-
ting, coitus, homosexuality, and sex with animals). They were based on inter-
views with 5,300 males and 5,940 females. Kinsey was central in the creation
of the scientific study of sex. He exemplified how such an emotionally charged
subject could be studied with scientific rigor. The Kinsey reports opened a
forum for the public discussion of human sexuality. Gagnon (1978: 93) believes
that the public furor created by this work ushered in “a major increase in the
publicly sexual character of society that occurred in the late 1960s and early
1970s.” Others have argued, however, that since the 1980s our society has also
experienced a backlash to these more liberal trends in sexual expression and
education (Faludi, 1991; Kusz, 2001). Indeed, the Kinsey Institute for Research
in Sex, Gender and Reproduction states: “the work is not done. And the stakes
today are higher than ever—HIV/AIDS, sexual problems, abuse—the need for
objective research and education has never been more urgent. Progress: Yes,
Job Done: No” (Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduc-
tion, 2006).
The behaviorist approach to sexuality is concerned with the scientifically
measurable (i.e., external states). Kinsey was critical of sex research done
through the single case method or the method of ethnographic sexology. He
advocated the sociological method of the survey of large populations with con-
cern for accurate representation and the “statistical sense” without which one
was “no scientist” (Gagnon, 1978: 93).
A behaviorist approach to sexuality provides important information about
what behaviors are being displayed, by whom, and with what frequency. But it
does little to explain why those behaviors are occurring and why some behav-
iors are more likely to occur than others. Further, it neglects the role that our
inner thoughts play in our behaviors. Why are we likely to engage in some be-
haviors than others? How do we perceive others’ actions and what we believe is
appropriate or inappropriate? What attracts us to some partners but not others?
A good example of the impact of cognitive factors on sexuality is sexual
scripts (Gagnon and Simon, 1973). According to this theory, we, as individuals,
conduct sexual encounters based on a script, just as if we were players in a the-
atrical production. In other words, our sexual encounters respond to a running
script in our minds which dictates what behaviors are appropriate, when they
are appropriate to display, and with whom it is appropriate to do them. These
learned scripts are likely to influence many different aspects of our sexual lives.
A recent study by Else-Quest, Hyde, and DeLamater (2005) looked at the im-
portance of the first sexual encounter and sexual scripts. They found that first
sexual encounters that occurred outside of contexts generally accepted for
sexual activity (i.e., prepubertal sexual experiences, forced sex with a blood
relative, sex for pay, or sex while impaired by alcohol or drugs) were linked to
negative consequences later in life such as more sexually transmitted diseases,