Human Sexuality

Course Code: PSYC 2005

Academic Year: 2024-2025

Sex is often considered to be a powerful motivator of human behaviour. It is everywhere around us, used to attract our attention and sell u products. Is sex so primal that people all over the world are driven to similar sexual behavior during courtship, mating, and love making? Or, is sex learned and shaped by our culture, context, and cohort? Is the process of becoming sexual encoded completely in our DNA, being purely maturational, depending on hormones and time? Or, is it also learned, through the perspective of our experiences and gender? In this class we explore the interactive role that evolutionary, biological, psychological and cultural influences play in the development and expression of sexuality in our society. We will detail the maturational forces that begin the process, but we will also explore the spectrum of human sexuality, and the influences contributing to our diversity. The goal is to be able to assess the role of these influences in shaping perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about our own and other's sexual behaviours.