Sexual Identity

• Sexual identity
• Sexual self-view
• Gender identity, sexual orientation, specific sexual preferences
• Sexual meanings
• Internalized interpretations of sexual experiences and cultural norms

Phases of Adult Sexual Development

• There are three general phases of adult development each marked by specific challenges and opportunities:

• early adulthood characterized by the continuing search for sexual identity, establishment of sexual meanings, and clarification of the sexual self

• midlife characterized by assumption of responsibility in the workplace and in the family as well as preparation of the next generation for productive lives; adjustment to physical aging and reduced feeling of sexual attractiveness; slowing in sexual responsiveness

• late adulthood characterized by adjustment to retirement, health concerns, and life satisfaction that equals the lives of young adults

Sexual identity

• Sexual self-view
• Gender identity, sexual orientation, specific sexual preferences
• Sexual meanings
• Internalized interpretations of sexual experiences and cultural norms

Singlehood

• Dating
• Recreation
• Socialization
• Meeting personal needs
• Improving peer group status
• Partner selection

Sexuality of singles

• Masturbation
• Sexual interactions
--- Abstinence script
--- Permissiveness with affection script
--- Permissiveness without affection script
--- Double standard script

Masturbation

• taboo subject - canšt discuss
• common activity
• sodomy - non-procreative
• inferior, childish, embarrassing
• prohibition - military, religious groups
• safe-sex - orgasmic, no STD, pregnancy

Masturbation as:

• solitary activity
• partner activity
• sex therapy

Sexual Fantasies

• I Help direct and define our erotic goals. Concrete images and specific content.
• II.Plan or anticipate situations that may arise. Rehearsal.
• III.Provide escape from dull or oppressive environment.
• IV.Bring novelty and excitement to a relationship, even if satisfactory in "reality terms". Explore without over stepping boundaries and/or hurting anyone.
• V. Have an expressive function, in same way dreams do. Express the unconscious. May be indicative of dissatisfaction.



Sexuality in early adulthood

• Sex and the single person
• the never married
• the homosexual
• Cohabitation

Marital sex

• frequency
• techniques
• negotiating sex
• masturbation in marriage
• satisfaction with marital sex
• sexual patterns in marriage
• sex and the two career family

Cohabitation

De Facto Marriage
Trial marriage, in lieu of marriage
Usually eventually marry, does not increase success
Higher divorce rate - why?
Liberal, educated, androgynous, erotophilic adults
Courts recognize legal status at time of dissolution (in some countries)

Same sex relationships

• Impediments to stable relations:
• Negative social judgments
• Hostility
• Fear of discovery forces secrecy
• No legal wedding, contract
• Poor support - family, church, job
• No "family benefits"
• denial of parenting rights - biological -- adopted, assisted reproduction



Sex and the young adult

• Extramarital sex
• accidental
• romantic
• open marriage
• philanderers
• Incidence of extra marital sex
• Attitudes towards E.M. sex
• Swinging

Extramartial Sex

• The modern Western woman is now almost as likely to cheat on her partner as a man, according to a new survey carried out for a German women's magazine.
• In an online survey of 1,427 men and women aged between 25 and 35 by the Hamburg-based GEWIS institute for social research for "Woman" magazine, 53 percent of women said they had been unfaithful to their partner, compared with 59 percent of men.

Women and infidelity

• The survey revealed that non-sexual desires, such as the need for reassurance and understanding, were a primary motive among women for infidelity.
• Habermehl said demographic factors were also behind the change in attitudes but more liberal attitudes to sex, greater knowledge about contraception, and more freedom for women had made having affairs less taboo than ever before.

Sex and the adult

• Post marital Sex
• the divorced and the Widowed
• The divorce sub culture

Male-Female differences

• Masturbation
• Attitudes about casual sex
• Arousal to erotica
• Orgasm consistency

Male Sexuality

• Sexual fantasy and reality
• The feeling taboo
• The sex machine identity
• Sex, performance and control
• Misinterpretation of touch
• Date rape

Female sexuality

• Process orientation vs performance
• Fantasy of emotional, intellectual and physical desires being met.
• Turned on by seeing self as attractive to him.
• Self critical and uncomfortable about bodies
• Mixed sexual messages Virgin/slut
• Fear of pregnancy/S.T.D.s

Sexuality of the aged

• Biological changes that affect sex
• healthy elderly age 80-102 yrs
• sexual behavior in last year
• M - 80% petting, 66% coitus
• F - 66% petting, 33% coitus
• ratio of M:F at this age is 1:2
• need for sexual opportunity after loss of spouse; in nursing homes