Kloosterblog

Hats off to the young and aging Matt Kloosterman, who verbalized the idea of tapping out some study notes into the blog, if not for nothing then to cement the information furthermore.

What did I learn in Family Studies 322 to this point? Well, amongst other things I learned the following:

Habermas' paradigms are threefold:

1. Empirical Analytic - scientific, logical, prediction & control
2. Critical Theoretic - political, sociological
3. Situational Interpretive - case by case basis, not theoretical or abstract, as per lived experience

Don't forget to think critically; just remember how:

1. Be skeptical - accept no opinion as fact
2. Be cautious in drawing conclusions from evidence - (teens/hip-hop/sexually active scenario)
3. Consider alternative interpretations of research evidence - correlation is not always causation
4. Consider evidence upon which conclusions are based - scientific or anecdote?
5. Examine definition of terms - what exactly do we mean by ______?
6. Examine assumptions or premises of arguments - similar to #5
7. Do not oversimplify - things are not often quite so simple
8. Do not overgeneralize - ie. do not stereotype

Tried, Tested, and Controversial - The Scientific Method:

1. Formulate a research question
2. Reword research question into a hypothesis (a precise prediction of the outcome)
3. Test the hypothesis
4. Draw conclusions

Kinsey was a pretty scientific type guy, although he was criticized for perhaps having systematic biases in his research. No one can really blame him; it's tough to ask everyone for an in depth description of their sexual pasts.

Have we all noticed that we don't so much talk about the body itself, but rather how it is mediated through the social, cultural and political worlds? I sure have.

Like a sound, feminism comes in waves:

1st wave - early 1900's, known as the suffrage movement, spurred by want of the right to vote (for women!)
2nd wave - swingin' 60's, liberation movement, wants less media objectification of women
3rd wave - post feminism, Madonna is queen, shifts degradation into empowerment
4th wave - in the now, more spiritual, aiming to unite, interfaith dialogue, peace

In class, we watched a few clips from a few movies (or a play):

1. Vagina Monologues - My Vagina is Angry! Revisiting the many injustices afforded to so many vaginas
2. Private Dicks - A documentary about men, penises, and their shared experiences with eachother
3. Kinsey - a portrait of the interview tactics and groundbreaking cultural implications within Kinsey's work
4. Everything ...Sex - An entirely different look at the inner workings of a male moving from arousal through orgasm. Kudos, Woody Allen, kudos.

Sexual Response and Orgasms - so much to talk about!

Masters and Johnson's 4 phases:

1. Excitement - erection, lubrication, vasocongestion, myotonia
2. Plateau - a little more vasocongestion and myotonia, leading up to...
3. Orgasm - contractions, ejaculation
4. Resolution - back to the pre-aroused state. Male will need some time before he's ready again.

Masters and Johnson see orgasms as one in the same as they look at things from a clinical standpoint, which is to say that the body always follows these 4 phases whether the orgasm be male, vaginal or clitoral.

Helen Singer Kaplan was (is?) a sex therapist who attacked the sexual response cycle from a 'where are things going wrong?' standpoint:

1. Desire - problems due to low or absent desire for partner?
2. Excitement - physical problems with erection or lubrication?
3. Orgasm - premature ejaculation or orgasmic dysfunction?

Rosemary Basson felt the above models lacked the factor of intimacy in the sexual response cycle. She believed that a woman might begin an encounter for reasons of intimacy, and pending positive results would continue the encounter for sexual reasons. She recognized that intimacy was not a must for a successful jaunt through the cycle.

Basson leads us to talk about relationships and how they affect the sexual response cycle. Factors include love, intimacy and emotional connection.

Masturbation is a bomb of a topic. As much as it is stressed to be a normal and acceptable part of sexual development in any individual, it still carries social proscriptions and prohibitions. Some argue that it is empowering, perhaps because one is taking control of his own sexuality. Learning to love one's self!

Piaget, Piaget, Piaget... with his schemas (our world of knowledge), his assimilation of new information (the same old stuff in a different pile) and his accomodation (rethinking what we know to incorporate new information into our schema)...what a guy!

Sex assignment is the labelling of a newborn as either a male or female, aka gender assignment. This gets tricky when hermaphrodites and intersexuals (pseudohermaphrodites) enter the picture, as there can be some ambiguity there.

Plato's 'The Symposium' was a dialogue on the nature of love.

The origin of the typical male/female relationship comes from mythical Greece's primordial hermaphrodite which was separated by the gods - the male half and the female half naturally strive to re-unite.

Thanks for reading, but you really didn't have to!