Mark D. Regnerus
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195320947
- eISBN:
- 9780199785452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320947.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the ...
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Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the formation of teenagers' sexual values and actions? What difference, if any, does religion make in adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors? Are abstinence pledges effective? Who expresses regrets about their sexual activity and why? The book combines analyses of three national surveys with stories drawn from interviews with over 250 teenagers across America. It reviews how young people learn, and what they know about sex from their parents, schools, peers, and other sources. It examines what experiences teens profess to have had, and how they make sense of these experiences in light of their own identities as religious, moral, and responsible persons. The author's analysis discovers that religion can and does matter. However, the analysis finds that religious claims are often swamped by other compelling sexual scripts. Particularly interesting is the emergence of what the author calls a “new middle class sexual morality”, which has little to do with a desire for virginity but nevertheless shuns intercourse in order to avoid risks associated with pregnancy and STDs. And strikingly, evangelical teens aren't less sexually active than their non-evangelical counterparts, they just tend to feel guiltier about it. In fact, the analysis finds that few religious teens have internalized or are even able to articulate the sexual ethic taught by their denominations. The only-and largely ineffective-sexual message most religious teens are getting is: “don't do it until you're married”. Ultimately, the author concludes, religion may influence adolescent sexual behavior, but it rarely motivates sexual decision making.Less
Americans remain deeply ambivalent about teenage sexuality. Many presume that such uneasiness is rooted in religion. This book tackles such questions as: how exactly does religion contribute to the formation of teenagers' sexual values and actions? What difference, if any, does religion make in adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors? Are abstinence pledges effective? Who expresses regrets about their sexual activity and why? The book combines analyses of three national surveys with stories drawn from interviews with over 250 teenagers across America. It reviews how young people learn, and what they know about sex from their parents, schools, peers, and other sources. It examines what experiences teens profess to have had, and how they make sense of these experiences in light of their own identities as religious, moral, and responsible persons. The author's analysis discovers that religion can and does matter. However, the analysis finds that religious claims are often swamped by other compelling sexual scripts. Particularly interesting is the emergence of what the author calls a “new middle class sexual morality”, which has little to do with a desire for virginity but nevertheless shuns intercourse in order to avoid risks associated with pregnancy and STDs. And strikingly, evangelical teens aren't less sexually active than their non-evangelical counterparts, they just tend to feel guiltier about it. In fact, the analysis finds that few religious teens have internalized or are even able to articulate the sexual ethic taught by their denominations. The only-and largely ineffective-sexual message most religious teens are getting is: “don't do it until you're married”. Ultimately, the author concludes, religion may influence adolescent sexual behavior, but it rarely motivates sexual decision making.
Stephen Ellingson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226470313
- eISBN:
- 9780226470337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226470337.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter examines institutional approaches to sexual problems by analyzing the interpretive stories and intervention strategies employed by healthcare and social-service organizations in Chicago. ...
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This chapter examines institutional approaches to sexual problems by analyzing the interpretive stories and intervention strategies employed by healthcare and social-service organizations in Chicago. While institutional actors primarily rely on an institutionally specific lens and resources to address sexuality issues, they also draw on broad cultural understandings about human agency, sexual risk, and sexual values. Since the nineteenth century, those working within health care, social work, and law enforcement have increasingly relied on the assumption that human beings are rational actors. This assumption is part of a larger neoliberal political ideology in which citizens are understood to be autonomous and self-regulating. With regard to sexuality, individuals are assumed to act in their own self-interest and, hence, to avoid risky sexual behaviors and situations. Health care and social services tend to understand risk as an objective and measurable hazard and, hence, avoidable by changing behaviors, attitudes, or environments.Less
This chapter examines institutional approaches to sexual problems by analyzing the interpretive stories and intervention strategies employed by healthcare and social-service organizations in Chicago. While institutional actors primarily rely on an institutionally specific lens and resources to address sexuality issues, they also draw on broad cultural understandings about human agency, sexual risk, and sexual values. Since the nineteenth century, those working within health care, social work, and law enforcement have increasingly relied on the assumption that human beings are rational actors. This assumption is part of a larger neoliberal political ideology in which citizens are understood to be autonomous and self-regulating. With regard to sexuality, individuals are assumed to act in their own self-interest and, hence, to avoid risky sexual behaviors and situations. Health care and social services tend to understand risk as an objective and measurable hazard and, hence, avoidable by changing behaviors, attitudes, or environments.
Heidi A. Lyons and George Sanders
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780190057008
- eISBN:
- 9780190057039
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190057008.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter provides a theoretical and empirical overview of the sexual attitudes, beliefs, and values expressed by emerging adults. It highlights contemporary research that represents the changing ...
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This chapter provides a theoretical and empirical overview of the sexual attitudes, beliefs, and values expressed by emerging adults. It highlights contemporary research that represents the changing patterns in this sociocultural arena. Furthermore, it is contended that because attitudes, beliefs, and values contribute to the makeup of sexual subjectivities, these subjectivities can best be understood within broader assemblages. Thus, the chapter is loosely organized around the following themes: peers, families, religion, and visual media. The chapter concludes by highlighting the absence of academic inquiries related to queer identified emerging adults and persons who are not enrolled in college, and it suggests areas for future research.Less
This chapter provides a theoretical and empirical overview of the sexual attitudes, beliefs, and values expressed by emerging adults. It highlights contemporary research that represents the changing patterns in this sociocultural arena. Furthermore, it is contended that because attitudes, beliefs, and values contribute to the makeup of sexual subjectivities, these subjectivities can best be understood within broader assemblages. Thus, the chapter is loosely organized around the following themes: peers, families, religion, and visual media. The chapter concludes by highlighting the absence of academic inquiries related to queer identified emerging adults and persons who are not enrolled in college, and it suggests areas for future research.
Carrie Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807835197
- eISBN:
- 9781469601885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807882511_hamilton.14
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book concludes by showing how the Cuban Revolution has had a profound impact on all areas of life, including sexuality. However, as argued in this book, the transformation in sexual values and ...
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This book concludes by showing how the Cuban Revolution has had a profound impact on all areas of life, including sexuality. However, as argued in this book, the transformation in sexual values and practices did not happen from one day to the next—nor did the Revolution sweep away all remnants of conventional sexual mores. Indeed, sexuality is one area where we see most clearly the coexistence of the old and the new in revolutionary Cuba. The changes in Cubans' sex lives since 1959 are best understood not as a singular event—a “sexual revolution”—but as a process that has been, like the Cuban Revolution itself, both uneven and ongoing. Furthermore, notwithstanding specific policies designed to encourage certain behavior, changes in the area of sexuality came about less as a result of official policy and more as a consequence of the general social upheaval ushered in after 1959.Less
This book concludes by showing how the Cuban Revolution has had a profound impact on all areas of life, including sexuality. However, as argued in this book, the transformation in sexual values and practices did not happen from one day to the next—nor did the Revolution sweep away all remnants of conventional sexual mores. Indeed, sexuality is one area where we see most clearly the coexistence of the old and the new in revolutionary Cuba. The changes in Cubans' sex lives since 1959 are best understood not as a singular event—a “sexual revolution”—but as a process that has been, like the Cuban Revolution itself, both uneven and ongoing. Furthermore, notwithstanding specific policies designed to encourage certain behavior, changes in the area of sexuality came about less as a result of official policy and more as a consequence of the general social upheaval ushered in after 1959.
Zhou Xuelin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622098497
- eISBN:
- 9789882207707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622098497.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter discusses how malcontented young adults rebel against various aspects of the established society, in terms of education, intellectual elite, morality, domestic and social authority, and ...
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This chapter discusses how malcontented young adults rebel against various aspects of the established society, in terms of education, intellectual elite, morality, domestic and social authority, and sexual values. It examines this portrayal of “rebellion” in films such as Awakening (Su xing, 1980), Drive to Win (Sha Ou, 1980), Masters of Mischief (Wanzhu, 1988), and Samsara (Lun hui, 1988).Less
This chapter discusses how malcontented young adults rebel against various aspects of the established society, in terms of education, intellectual elite, morality, domestic and social authority, and sexual values. It examines this portrayal of “rebellion” in films such as Awakening (Su xing, 1980), Drive to Win (Sha Ou, 1980), Masters of Mischief (Wanzhu, 1988), and Samsara (Lun hui, 1988).
