Lecture Notes

Students begin studying sexuality for many reasons: to gain insight into their sexuality in relationships, to become more comfortable with their sexuality, to explore personal sexual issues, to dispel anxieties and doubts, to validate their sexual identity, to resolve traumatic sexual experiences, to learn how to avoid sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy, to increase their knowledge about sexuality, or to prepare for helping professions. Many students find the study of sexuality empowering. They develop the ability to make intelligent sexual choices based on their own needs, desires, and values, rather than on ignorance, pressure, guilt, fear, or conformity. The study of human sexuality differs from the study of other disciplines because human sexuality is surrounded by a vast array of taboos, fears, and hypocrisy. For many people, sexuality creates ambivalent feelings. It is linked not only with intimacy and pleasure, but also with shame and guilt. As a result, you may find yourself confronted with society's mixed feelings about sexuality as you study it. Despite their ambivalence, people want to learn about human sexuality. On some level they understand that what they have learned may have been unreliable, stereotypical, incomplete, or unrealistic.