Analysis of The Transformation of Intimacy by Anthony Giddens

Since the dawn of man, sex has played a crucial role in society. Before they learned to read or write humans were engaging in sex and without it none of us would be here. In today’s society, sex has grown to become much more complicated. If I were to ask a group of people on the street what they believed sex was? I bet they would have a hard time answering. The question puzzling society today is how do we define sex? Can we define sex? These are questions raised in Tracy Steele’s article “Doing it: The Social Construction of S-E-X”. This article is about the current questions and issues that have been raised about sex within today’s society. In this paper I will summarize the key points of the article, while sharing my own thoughts and

Alike gender, sexuality is also a social construct, especially when looking at the period before the 18th century, when one’s sexual orientation did not matter, hence there being no need for justification, just as pointed by Foucault: “Sexual practices had little need of secrecy; words were said without undue reticence, and things were done without too much concealment; one had a tolerant familiarity with the illicit.” (3). And the 19th century came and brought with it a big change, and not only did people become engulfed by social norms, whom they should abide at all costs, but they also had to keep their sexual preferences under lock and key: “But twilight soon fell upon this bright day, followed by the monotonous nights of the Victorian

Contemporary understandings of sexuality are not the same as back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Understandings and terminology in the past hold multiple differences and similarities than our current contemporary understandings.

In his article, “The Invention of Sexuality”, Weeks argued that sexuality is a product of society and is shaped by

Ira L. Reiss, a well-known sociologist, has contributed greatly to the field of human sexuality and in the 1960’s brilliantly predicted the revolutionary changes in sexual attitudes. In his novel, An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, Reiss develops the notion that our previous sexual revolution did not adequately eliminate the inequalities related to sexuality. In reality he argues that America is in need of a newly formed sexual revolution, one that will address the negative consequences that our sex negative culture is experiencing. A significant portion of our population argues that these consequences are due to the fact that we talk too much and too soon about sex. This is an inaccurate view of the reasoning behind the sexual problems we are experiencing in America, as in reality the negative sexual outcomes we observe are due to the opposite of this view. This misconception is a common explanation for our sexual problems and many believe it is the key to solving our sexual crisis, but in reality is part of the problem. Reiss argues that “America is long overdue for a rendezvous with sexual reality” (18) and that the future of our nation depends on accepting these realities.

Human sexuality is a common phrase for all, and anything, pertaining to the feelings and behaviors of sex for the human race. Sexuality has been a topic that has been discussed and studied for as far back as 1000 years B.C. and is still being studied today. As the discussion of sexuality has progressed through history, theories have been created based on research and experiments that scholars have implemented, based on their own perceptions of human behavior. Out of the many theories that pose to explain sexual behavior, Sexuality Now explained ten that are seemed to be the most overlapped, and built off of theories. Of these theories, two that were discussed in the text were the behavioral and sociological theory. These two theories cover some of the basic ideas of what could possibly influence a person’s sexuality.

1862 England (Victorian Era) was somewhat of an uptight society, especially compared to today. The majority of people, especially those in the upper class, were expected to be utmostly prim and proper and follow societal norms at all times. This included love, or what love was defined as during the period. George Meredith, in his poem aptly titled “Modern Love”, sets a scene where a husband and wife are sleeping side by side, both reflecting sorrowfully on their melancholy marriage. Meredith argues in this poem that the institution of modern love is inherently flawed, by exposing to the reader that while the husband and wife still care for each other, they want to leave each other because they are both scared of “modern love”. By doing so, Meredith is able to justify his overarching message that applies to all: love is a feeling that cannot be artificially replicated, and attempting to do so is only a detriment.

As I am beginning to grow into my own person enhancing my spirituality, mindfulness, and physical health, I have developed an eagerness to finding out what it truly means to be an African American female in today’s society. I truly believe that this class will serve as a guide down a spiritual journey of discovering myself. I have appreciated reading “The Spirit of Intimacy” because it is full of wisdom and ancient teachings from her village and provides perspective on African spirituality. This book has served as a vehicle in pursuit of enhancing my spirituality as an African American woman. “The Spirit of Intimacy”

The growing inclination to escape the complexities of interpersonal relationships has been reflected by a tendency towards more bounded and delineated modes of sexual contact. This pattern also reveals transformations in the social structure of private and public spheres, as it allows individuals to have the feeling of a genuine sexual experience while still allowing them to bypass the obligations that are often expected or required in a more committed relationship. Bernstein labels this redefinition of sexual intimacy “bounded authenticity,” which entails the sale and purchase of authentic and physical connection, all within the realm of predefined limitations (Bernstein, 127). Bounded authenticity demonstrates how traditional romance has metamorphosed, as it has become centered around recreational sex beyond the confines of the family unit. Moreover, it has contributed to the view of heterosexual male desire as problematic. There is an expectation that heterosexual males engage in sexual commerce to fulfill a need that is left void within the home. However, it is more and more transparent that their participation in this industry is not a replacement for a sex life within the privatized family home, but instead, it is an additional component to it. As

The stark divide between love and marriage shown right the way through cannot be comprehended fully by the twenty-first century reader: in today’s society marriage and love are mutually exclusive - you very rarely get one

It’s much easier to openly express sexuality in this current era of social awareness and change. Many people have been slowly accepting the idea of the reclamation of a woman’s body, possibly due to the wide representation in contemporary media. However, this still seems like a radical idea to others. Susan Minot’s “Lust” describes a time when society was near the beginning of sexual liberation. On one spectrum, there is the narrator- a teenage girl attending boarding school, exploring her sexuality by having all of these experiences with different boys. On the other spectrum is the narrator’s house mother, who’s only been with one man her entire life. It’s implied that she believes the sole purpose of sex is to deliver babies. These two

Sexual content of any nature was considered devils play in the highly Catholic society that was North America, up until early to middle 20th Century (Noble, 2013). There has been a fast swing in the Pendulum of Life as now today’s society has become extremely sexualized. This has lead to negative affects on both males and females in numerous ways. As various aspects of culture have primarily targeted females over the past several generations, this has been used to expand multiple industries. Males have predominantly contributed to this, but just as very well been negatively affected by this as well. Developing from past generations of media tabloids, advertising and twisting the cultural views on sex taboo and symbols, have

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian, social theorist, philologist and literary critic whose work had a tremendous impact on several disciplines. He was not a sociologist by training, but he worked diligently on sociological issues and otherwise had significant influence on the work of other sociologists. One of his most famous works is the The History of Sexuality, in which he examines the emergence of "sexuality" as a discursive object and separate sphere of life. According to Foucault, the idea that everyone has a sexuality is relatively a recent development in the West. In Volume 1, Foucault discusses the relationship between sex and power in a historical context. He states that the ways in which humans think about sexuality is primarily shaped by the "repressive hypothesis," which claims that Western society had suppressed sexuality from the 17th to the mid-20th century, and this was due to the rise of capitalism and the bourgeois society. There are several key concepts in this book that will be discussed in this paper include repressive hypothesis, sexuality, power, and discourse. This paper will seek to show the ways in which sexuality is a discursive object, and how sexuality was linked to power throughout history.

Throughout history it is evident that human sexuality changes do to religious, governmental and societal influences. The perception of human sexuality has gone through many changes such as being very open and unlabeled activity; to being very “conservative” and a topic that shouldn’t be talked about in public or at all. In any case, human sexuality has always been a topic of interest because humans are sexual beings who want to understand the consciousness of themselves as male or female and see their personal response when encountered in erotic experiences with other individuals. Unlike many other species whose sexual force is strictly for reproduction, human’s sexual drive seems to be driven by many factors that intertwine with each other which leads to very different outcomes. Do to these obscure human emotions and personal gratification, sex is always shown every culture’s art, literature, social norms, and laws.