| abstinence-only sex education | Policy legislated and funded by federal and state governments that prevents the teaching of contraception and disease-prevention practices such as the use of condoms.
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| adolescence | Period of time from beginning of puberty until adulthood, commonly seen as the teenage years (13-19).
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| androgynous | People who have psychological and social characteristics traditionally associated with both femininity and masculinity.
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| circumcision | Removal of all or part of the foreskin of the penis.
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| clitorectomy | Reduction or removal of the clitoris; also clitoridectomy.
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| commodified sex | Sex as a commodity to be bought and sold as part of the economic system (e.g., prostitution, pornography).
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| conflict theory | Macro-level theoretical framework that considers the influence of power and inequality on social relations.
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| contraception | Practice or product used to prevent conception, the uniting of egg and sperm.
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| cunnilingus | Oral stimulation of a woman's genitals; also referred to as "going down."
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| deconstruction | Uncovering the ideological biases (e.g., gender, racial, economic, cultural, and political) and taken-for-granted assumptions behind essentialist "truths."
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| erotophobia | The fear of the erotic, sensual aspects of life that keeps sexual shame and taboos from being discussed (e.g., first ejaculation).
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| essentialism | The idea that there is a Truth that exists independent of the observer, which is a necessary and natural part of the individual or object in question (e.g., seeing heterosexuality as a biological given, or believing "boys will be boys").
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| fellatio | Oral stimulation of a man's genitals; also referred to as "blow job."
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| female genital mutilation (female circumcision) | Cultural practice that involves the cutting of the genitalia of young girls, varying from reduction or removal of the clitoris (clitorectomy) to sewing tight the entrance to the vagina (infibulation).
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| gender | Social, cultural, and psychological characteristics associated with the categories of male or female; also, an emerging area of study regarding the changing nature of gender and gender categories.
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| gender polarization | Idea that there are two genders, male and female, that are opposites-i.e., the mirror image of each other.
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| good girl/bad girl | Dichotomous set of labels or "boxes" affecting females, pressuring girls and women to fit the feminine stereotypes associated with the wife/mother role or face devaluation as the whore/dyke; also called the virgin-whore dialectic.
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| hegemony | Having predominant influence (e.g., an idea being so accepted that it is seen as "common sense" and "natural").
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| hegemonic | Major or dominant form (e.g., heterosexuality as the hegemonic form of sexuality).
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| hegemonic masculinity | Dominant or most-privileged expression of being male, (e.g., the transnational businessman).
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| heteroflexibility | Having a primary orientation of heterosexuality and yet being open to being sensual/erotic with someone of the same sex.
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| heteronormativity | Institutionalization of heterosexuality as a particular form of practice and relationships, of family structure, and of identity.
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| heterosexism | Belief that everyone is heterosexual or should be.
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| heterosexuality | As a social institution, heterosexuality has a highly regulated, ritualized, and organized set of social norms and practices (e.g., dating, proms, weddings, anniversaries).
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| HIV serostatus | Presence of HIV virus in a person's bloodstream; expressed as "positive" or "negative."
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| homophobia | Fear of, or discomfort with, same-sex intimacy or homosexuals, or of non-heterosexual feelings within oneself.
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| homosexual | Term invented in the 1860s that has come to be associated with a category of persons attracted sexually to others of the same sex.
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| homosocial | Preference for socializing with people of the same sex.
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| infibulation | Sewing tight the entrance to the vagina, making intercourse impossible.
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| intersexual | Person with an intersex condition, born with sex chromosomes, external genitalia, or an internal reproductive system that is not considered "standard" for either male or female.
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| masturbation | Self-stimulation of one's genitals leading to sexual pleasure and, sometimes, orgasm.
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| medicalization of sexuality | View of the body as a biological machine which leads to a technical focus on sexual response and functioning; it does not consider the emotional, spiritual, or relational aspects of sexual functioning.
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| menstruation | Monthly discharge of blood and endrometrial tissue from the uterus through the vagina, occurring when an egg has not been fertilized; also referred to as "having one's period."
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| mind-body split | Seeing what is human and natural as being contrary to what is spiritual and divine.
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| misogyny | Hatred of women.
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| monogamy | Having one sexual/romantic partner; serial monogamy refers to changing relationships, but having one partner at a time.
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| orgasm | Intensely pleasurable sensations, focused largely in the genitals but involving the whole body, that can occur during sexual stimulation; rhythmic muscular contractions occur in certain tissues in both the man and the woman.
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| Original sin | Doctrine promulgated by Augustine that held that when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, they had freed their uncontrollable sexual desires and marked all humankind with original sin from the moment of conception; the first joining of the concepts of sexuality and sin, making sex something to be feared.
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| patriarchy | System of social organization in which power is held by and transferred through males.
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| pedophiliac | Person over 16 years of age who has repeated, intense, sexually exciting fantasies; has had sexual urges; or has carried out behaviors involving sexual acts with one or more children (usually under the age of 13).
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| phallocentric | View of sexuality as centered on the penis.
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| pluralism | As applied to religion, accepting all types of freely chosen religious and spiritual beliefs.
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| polyamory | Loving and being erotic with more than one person; distinct from having "affairs" in that those who identify as polyamorous are more likely to be open with their partners. May (or may not) involve being sexual with those of the same and/or other sex.
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| polygamy | Practice of men having more than one wife.
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| pornography | Sexual images defined by social context and power relations between producer and consumer.
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| puberty | Time during which sexual and reproductive bodily systems develop and a person becomes capable of reproduction.
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| rape | Nonconsensual oral, anal, or vaginal penetration that is obtained by force, by threat of bodily harm, or when the victim is incapable of giving consent.
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| sex | (1) Biological classification given at birth as male or female; (2) Act of sexual or reproductive behavior (i.e., having sex).
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| sex exploiters | Those who take unfair advantage of some power imbalance between themselves and a person under the age of 18 in order to sexually use them for either profit or personal pleasure.
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| sexual identity | How people choose to classify themselves sexually, within given categories of sexual orientations, such as lesbian/gay, straight, or bisexual, or in terms of greater fluidity (e.g., heteroflexible).
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| sexual orientation | Concept based on the gender of those to whom one has one's primary sexual and romantic attractions; generally classified as heterosexual (other sex); same-sex or homosexual (lesbian/gay); or bisexual (both genders).
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| sexual socialization | How we learn to be sexual beings, based on messages from family, peers, media, schools, and other social institutions; begins at birth and continues throughout life.
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| sexuality | Broadly defined, it can be viewed as all that we are as males and females and the way in which we relate to other males and females in the world.
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| sexualities | Concept that embraces many ways of being sexual; a term that destabilizes polarized gender categories and hegemonic heterosexuality.
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| sissy-boy | Male child who experiences homophobic oppression related to cross-gendered appearance or behaviors.
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| social constructivism | Theoretical framework that (in contrast to essentialism) says that "objective reality" does not exist; rather, we make subjective interpretations of what we experience based on socially and historically constructed categories.
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| social theory | Ideas that help us think abstractly about the human experience, providing a framework or lens for viewing events through varying perspectives.
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| symbolic interactionist theory | Micro-level theoretical framework proposing that social rules are learned and reinforced through everyday interaction; that we respond to symbols encoded in our social environment (e.g., that the use of the "f-word" as an expression of anger affects our view of sex).
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| tantra | View of sex as united with spirit, energy, and ecstasy.
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| tough guy/sweet guy | Dichotomous set of labels or "boxes" affecting males, pressuring boys and men to be the dominator/protector who fits hegemonic notions of masculinity as husband/father, or else be devalued as the "sweet guy" and subjected to homophobic oppression as a sissy, fag, girl.
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| transgender | Umbrella term for people who modify their gender by changing how they look and behave, and yet may not have medically or legally changed their sex. May inhabit an ambiguous zone between the polarized genders. Does not denote sexual orientation.
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| transsexuals | Generally used as a classification for people who have a psychological/emotional gender at odds with their physical sex and who have sought relief by changing their sex/gender through surgery and/or hormones.
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| transvestite | A person who dresses in clothes generally attributed to the other gender; more stigmatized for males than for females; practiced by heterosexuals as well as homosexuals. May be a source of sexual arousal, psychological relief, or a form of social resistance to gender norms.
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| unchastity | Stigma based on subordination and oppression of women and sexual minorities.
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education