Customary and religious laws and practices are often used as tools to control sexuality and to maintain the imbalance of power in sexual relations. Moreover, it is varied from society to society like Eastern and Western society

1. Sexuality in Eastern and Western Culture
Presented By:
Sykat Mondal
ID: MSS 151621
MSS 1st term,
Sociology Discipline,
Khulna University, Khulna.

2. Customary and religious laws and practices are often used
as tools to control sexuality and to maintain the imbalance of
power in sexual relations. Moreover, it is varied from society to
society like Eastern and Western society.

3. Sexuality
Sexuality includes our sexual experiences, thoughts, ideas, and fantasies.
Make-up Of An Individual’s Unique Sexual Being
 Physical
 Psychological
 Social
 cultural
 Spiritual
Five Features of Sexuality
 Sensuality
 Intimacy
 Sexual Identity
 Reproduction
 Sexualization

4. Sexuality Contd.
Sensuality (Awareness and acceptance of our own body)
 Knowledge of anatomy and physiology
 Understanding sexual response
 Body image
 Satisfaction of skin hunger
 Attraction template
 Fantasy
Intimacy (Experiencing emotional closeness to another)
 Caring
 Sharing
 Risk taking
 Vulnerability
 Self disclosure

5. Sexuality Contd.
Sexual Identity (process of discovering who we are in terms of
sexuality)
 Gender roles
 Orientation
 Self esteem & confidence level
 Relationships with family & friends
 Roles as child & adult
 Perception of self as male/female
Reproduction (Values, attitudes & behaviors relating to reproduction)
 Contraception & fertility issues
 Lifestyles
 STIs (including AIDS)
 Anatomy & physiology
 Morality issues

6. Sexuality Contd.
Sexualization (use of sexuality to influence, control or manipulate)
 Style of dress
 Appearance & body language
 Advertising
 Movies, talk shows & media
 Harassment & sexual assault
 Paraphilias (voyeurism, exhibitionism…)

7. Sexuality in Eastern and Western Culture
Sexuality in Eastern
Based on beliefs of Muhammad
Sex enjoyed by both sexes
Women inherently more sexual than men; this power contained by veils,
segregation, female circumcision
Oppression of women and many sexually related restrictions stem from
patriarchal cultural traditions and fundamentalist sects, not from religion
and the teaching of the Qur’an.
Ancient history promoted sexual activity (Taoism) but with Confucianism
came stricter sexual attitudes.
Sexual conservatism with communist rule (1949)
Lack of basic information about sexuality
Sex outside of marriage and frequent sex within marriage discouraged
Almost no STDS
Current Trends: increasing rates of pre-marital sex; increasing STDs;
slightly more open to homosexuality; still lack of sexual knowledge

8. Sexuality in Eastern and Western Culture Contd.
Western Culture
 Highly influenced by Judeo-Christian tradition
 Affects you whether you belong to those religions or not.
Judeo-Christian Perspective
Ancient Hebrews
 Rigid gender roles but sex as a profound physical and emotional
experience.
Christianity
 Spirituality through celibacy; sex as sinful
 Contradictory images of women emerged
 Virgin Mary: compassionate, pure, & unattainable
 Eve: temptress
Many religious sexual prohibitions (not just Judeo-Christian) had more
to do with historical political and economic factors than direct interpretations of
religious texts.

9. Sexuality in Eastern and Western Culture Contd.
 Control of people’s sex lives concentrated power in the hands of the church.
 Economic issues: controlling women’s sexuality assured that inheritance went
to biological heirs.
 Sex is sinful
Sex was only for conceiving children--sexual pleasure was sinful, could send you
to hell
The 20th Century:
 Suffrage movement; women's right to vote; temperance movement; abolition
of slavery
 Unfortunately sexuality myths still persist and play a role in contemporary
racial tensions.
 Right to own property & attend university
 World War II: roles were expanded & more flexible
 Postwar return to stricter roles: repressive sexuality, women that continued to
work outside home were considered “neurotic”
 1960s movement for gender equality
 1980s and AIDS

10. Cross-cultural Perspectives on Sexuality
 Different societies have different rules.
 Within societies, there is further variation within groups.
 Major influences on attitudes & behaviors:
 Socioeconomic status
 Education level
 Religion
 Ethnicity and/or nationality
 Gender

11. The internalization of gender roles by women in a
particular culture is often directly related to the impact of specific
mechanisms controlling women's sexuality, which are often of a
collective nature

12. Reference (S)
Hotvedt, M. E. (1990). Emerging and submerging adolescent
sexuality: Culture and sexual orientation. In J.
Bancroft & J. M. Reinisch (Eds.) Adolescence and puberty. The
Kinsey Insitute Series, Vol. 3. pp. 157-172. New York: Oxford
University Press.
LeVine, R.A., Dixon, S., LeVine, S., Richman, A., Leiderman, P.H.,
Keefer, C.H., and Brazelton, T.B. (1998). Child Care and Culture:
Lessons from Africa. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Shostak, M. (2001). Nisa: The life and words of a !Kung woman.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.