SOC101 Lecture Notes - Kingsley Davis, Margaret Mead, Premarital Sex

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC101
• Professor: Barry Mc Clinchey

Document Summary

Until recently, sociologists did not focus on sexuality as a separate topic. Typically, sex" refers to biological facts associated with being born male or female, i. e. anatomical facts, hormonal facts, etc. The who also defines sex" as the biological characteristics defining humans as female or male, and while these categories are not mutually exclusive, we nonetheless differentiate humans as either male or female. Intersexed bodies (used to be known as hermaphrodites) have hormonal, anatomical, and genetic configurations that do not fit our traditional discourses of sexual difference. The difference lies in how societies treat these exceptions"- making sexuality a political and social issue rather than a biological fact or exception. We have continued to dichotomize sex into male and female based on the presence of a vagina or penis, as well sexuality, sexual identity, and sexual orientation into heterosexual or homosexual when in fact sexuality is far more complex.