Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
-
Unit 13
The Anthropology of Sexuality
In this unit (to accompany SAPIENS podcast S6E7), students will explore sexuality through the lens of anthropology and investigate the influences of cultural, social, and historical factors on human sexual behavior and identity. Students will use an anthropological framework to examine the challenges of studying sexuality, including researching in diverse cultural settings.
Learning Objectives
- Investigate how cultural, social, and historical factors influence human sexual behavior and identity.
- Indicate the challenges of studying sexuality within an anthropological framework, including conducting research in diverse cultural settings.
Sapiens articles
When Did Sex Become Fun?
Sexual reproduction has been around for 2 billion years. But when did sex for pleasure arise? And how much did penises have to do with it?
Dating Apps Can Gauge Attraction but Not Chemistry
Why do attraction and chemistry feel different in the digital age? The answer lies in how digitally mediated information is changing the way we come to know potential partners.
Keywords
View All in Sex
![On a paved city street fenced off and lined with people, three people wearing colorful clothing stand and hold signs. These read: “Monogamy is not for everyone,” “I love my girlfriend’s boyfriend,” and “Sharing is Caring.”]()
![A computer-rendered graphic depicts a group of people in torn clothes and furs with black smudges on their faces and bodies. They gather in front of a rock overhang, with one sitting in front and poking at a pile of wood near which are dangling pieces of meat.]()
![A close-up image features a circular street sign with random black symbols such as an exclamation mark and hashtag and a red circle and strikethrough over them.]()
![A man with black hair and a beard sits on a sofa in the dark and looks at the illuminated screen of a cellphone he holds in his left hand.]()
![A person with blonde hair wearing a pink blazer stands at a podium with several microphones on it and a sign that reads, “Protect Children’s Innocence.” Several people in suits stand behind, with a large white domed building in the background.]()
![A child wearing a plaid shirt and a beanie looks up and holds the hand of an adult wearing jeans and a plaid shirt but whose head isn’t visible. They stand next to a cholla cactus.]()
What Is “Natural” for Human Sexual Relationships?
A biological and anthropological researcher explains how humans' diverse ways of mating might have evolved.
Dismantling the “Man the Hunter” Myth
Two biological anthropologists analyze archaeological and physiological evidence to debunk enduring assumptions about the gendered division of labor in ancient times.
Why I Ask My Students to Swear in Class
An anthropologist uses explicit insults to get students thinking about gender and power in everyday language. Plus, a brief explainer on the slang term “sus.”
Dating Apps Can Gauge Attraction but Not Chemistry
Why do attraction and chemistry feel different in the digital age? The answer lies in how digitally mediated information is changing the way we come to know potential partners.
Two Myths Fueling the Conservative Right’s Dangerous Transphobia
An anthropologist attends the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—ground zero for the current onslaught of anti-trans rhetoric and legislation in the U.S.
Monogamy. Grandmas. Milk. The Evolution of Childhood Is Very Strange.
In a new book, Growing Up Human, a bioarchaeologist chronicles some of the most surprising evolutionary adaptations of babies, parents, and grandparents.
View All in Relationships
![A black painted hand covered in red paint holds a skull figure decorated with floral patterns in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Painted white with black accents to resemble a skull, the face—and also gray hair and flower headband—of the person holding the skull are blurry in the background.Cindy Ord/Getty Images]()
![Two pairs of scissors, two rocks, and two slips of paper rest on a pale-yellow surface.]()
![Amid a political rally where red, black, and green colors are prominent, a smiling woman wearing glasses, a khaki shirt, and a black headscarf holds aloft a sketch of a person’s face that says, “Khan Is Hope.”]()
![A person stands inside a moving flame of yellow light while sparks fly out in all directions. A second person stands on the left side holding an umbrella against the sparks.]()
![A silhouetted woman sits in a chair in the center of a dark room looking directly at the camera. Close-up images of another woman are projected onto screens on the three walls surrounding her.]()
![In a dusty, sepia-toned scene, a person wearing a headdress and long dress stands in the middle of a dirt road while a person operating a rickshaw passes them. A building, car, trees, and a distant mountain range fill the background.]()
Harvest Song
A poet-anthropologist celebrates relatedness across difference in a poem that honors the festivals of Navratri, Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Day of the Dead, and Halloween—all of which draw on otherworldly connections and mysteries.
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide
As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin.
The Rise of Aunties in Pakistani Politics
Middle-class, conservative women in Pakistan have found a political voice as supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party—putting them at odds with the secular women’s movement their own daughters support.
A Call for Anthropological Poems of Resistance, Refusal, and Wayfinding
SAPIENS is seeking poetry submissions for a curated collection that will publish next year. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
Spotlighting Black Women’s Mental Health Struggles
An anthropologist discusses her film that honors and grieves the loss of Kime, a friend who passed away after experiencing physical and state violence.
Imphal as a Pond
As civil war continues to rip apart and threaten communities and families in Manipur in Northeast India, a poet reflects on those who leave and those who stay in the capital city of Imphal.
View All in Gender
![A stream of clear water pours into an orange bucket. Behind it, two slightly out-of-focus women and a child look on.]()
![A close-up view features an art exhibit composed of multiple photographs arranged side by side. The photos show people riding a horse, receiving medical care, and speaking at a women’s event.]()
![A historic black-and-white photograph shows a small group of workers on the floor of a pin manufacturing plant tending to rows of machines.]()
![Amid a political rally where red, black, and green colors are prominent, a smiling woman wearing glasses, a khaki shirt, and a black headscarf holds aloft a sketch of a person’s face that says, “Khan Is Hope.”]()
![Clear water streams down moss-covered rocks amid thick, luxurious vegetation with broad tropical leaves and bright red and yellow flowers.]()
![A blurred, black-and-white image features a person from the shoulders up looking to their left against a pitch-black background.]()
How Water Insecurity Impacts Women’s Health
Anthropologists and local activists in Indonesia and Peru uncover links between water scarcity and gendered violence, and work together to lessen the harms of gender inequality.
Fighting for Reproductive Rights in Retirement
An anthropologist conducts research in an Arizona retirement community, where older women share hard-won insights about how limitations on sexual and reproductive freedom impacted their lives.
How Allocating Work Aided Our Evolutionary Success
Societies divide labor by gender and age. A biological anthropologist considers when and why this behavior arose.
The Rise of Aunties in Pakistani Politics
Middle-class, conservative women in Pakistan have found a political voice as supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party—putting them at odds with the secular women’s movement their own daughters support.
Coastal Eden
A poet interrogates the garden of Eden origin story by reimagining it against the backdrop of East Africa’s coastal environment.
Nameless Woman
Archives often render marginalized people’s histories invisible. In response to such erasure, a poet writes a letter to explore the experience of historically enslaved African and Creole women in Tanzania and Mauritius—and the ways in which they may have navigated their lives.
Glossary
Sexual Behavior
-
Behavior involving acts or parts of the body that are considered sexual.
Professor Talking Points
- Explore the study of sexuality from an anthropological perspective and discuss with students how it focuses on investigating sexual experiences in different cultures and the social and cultural constructs of sexual practices and identity.
- Relativized sexuality is the idea that sexual experiences are not the same across all cultures and identities. Discuss with students how people have different lived experiences based on their cultural identity and other characteristics.
- Samoan culture began rapidly changing in the 1830s when many Samoans were converted to Christianity by missionaries. Discuss with students how cultural practices and views continued to change throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as outside influences impacted and interacted with the Samoan people. Explore how it is possible that the current culture of Samoa no longer aligns with Margaret Mead’s interpretations of Samoans’ view of sexuality.
Academic Articles
-
Baxi, Pratiksha. 2014. “Sexual Violence and Its Discontents.” Annual Review of Anthropology 43: 139–154.
-
Maksimowski, Sophie. 2012. “A Brief History of the Anthropology of Sexuality, and Theory in the Field of Women’s Sex Work.” University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 20 (1): 1–13.
-
Schneider, Luisa T. 2020. “Sexual Violence During Research: How the Unpredictability of Fieldwork and the Right to Risk Collide with Academic Bureaucracy and Expectations.” Critique of Anthropology 40 (2): 173–193.
Student Discussion Questions
- Why is sexuality relative? Provide examples as you discuss with your peers.
- What are some of the challenges with studying sexuality through an anthropological framework today?
- What, if any, are some ethical concerns for studying sexuality?
- Why can it be so challenging to discuss the topic of sexuality?
- Consider the idea that sexuality is relative and explain what this says about sexual violence in different cultures.
- How do culture, history, and social influences impact human sexual behavior and identity?
Activities
- Create a discussion post to reflect on Mead’s work as it relates to adolescence and sexual experiences. Consider how different cultural, social, and historical factors may influence sexual experiences across cultures. Respond to two or more peers.
- In a three-to-five-page essay, compare two frameworks of studying sexuality. One framework should be anthropology. For instance, compare sexuality from an anthropological lens and either a biological, sociological, or psychological lens.
- Develop a study using methods from anthropology. Explain the details of the study, including your research question (i.e., what you are trying to answer), the method(s) you will use to conduct your research, and the challenges you may face during the research process. Refer back to unit materials for guidance.
Additional Resources
-
Article: Jennifer Hasty’s “Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Anthropology”
-
Video: La Trobe University’s Sex, Gender and Sexuality an Anthropological View
-
Video: Marc Breedlove’s TEDx Talk “Prenatal Influences on Sexual Orientation”
-
Video: Deepak Modi’s TEDx Talk “Science Behind Sexuality”
Unit By
Chelsea Wheeler, Freedom Learning Group
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
-
Unit 14
Reading Sia Figiel
