Socio- Sexuality Article Review Essays Example

Introduction

This paper deals with a very important variable in the human sexual interactions and relations. The research aimed to ascertain the differences in genders in their responsiveness to varying invitations from the opposite gender. These invitations were enacted through three questions, one was regarding going on a date, the second one concerned going to the requestor’s apartment and the third was an explicit invitation for going to bed. The responses of the randomly chosen subjects were tracked and tabulated into scores. The scores obtained showed marked deviation in the responsiveness of men and women. These researchers provide allusions to the socio-biological and cultural perspectives regarding human sexuality to explain their findings.
This article is particularly interesting because of the time span it was conducted in. During the late 1970’s concern was rising about the spread of HIV and this knowledge was deemed to effect the sexual behaviors and inclinations of humans. So this article establishes a benchmark against which we can track later changes. Another important feature of this article is the simple yet elegant experiment design. It was done in a naturalistic setting where spontaneous reactions of the subjects could be taken in to account and since it only centered on the inclinations and temperamental tendencies of individuals it was the most appropriate setting for the experiment rather than a laboratory. Personally I found this very informative because as background for the study the researcher also laid down the traditional viewpoints regarding differences in sexual responsiveness and receptivity and this makes this article a concise yet rich text on this topic.

Overview

Deriving from the different perspectives and the research findings there were two possible hypotheses. In line with the socio-biological, cultural-contingency and stereotypical perspectives it was hypothesized that men will be more receptive to female advances as compared to women; the traditional hypothesis. Conversely it was hypothesized that men and women will be equally receptive to overt advances from the opposite gender based on recurring research findings; the androgyny hypothesis.

Method

The experiment was conducted using five female and four male confederates. These individuals were young, varying between slightly unattractive to moderately attractive and appropriately dressed as they approached the test subjects on a college campus. Each confederate approached a person of the opposite gender and asked one of the following questions, “Will you go out with me tonight?”, “Will you come to my apartment tonight?”, or “Will you go to bed with me tonight?”
This particular approach seems justifiable because it elicits a spontaneous response from the subjects without giving them too long to consider the long term repercussions or complexities of the engagement towards which they were being asked to show their receptivity.

Findings

The findings of this experiment were consistent with the traditional hypothesis. It was found that women were equally receptive to going on a date as men but in more intimate invitations there were considerable differences. Men were more receptive in invitations to go to the confederate’s apartment and also in going to bed. Men were responsive in the latter two situations even more so than in the simple dating scenario. It goes to show that men are a lot more sexually active and overtly responsive to invitations than women.

Critique

This paper leaves some questions behind and some explanations that could have made the research more robust. One variable that I found particularly intriguing was the measure of attractiveness of the confederates and the subjects. Early on in the methodology it is stated that the attractiveness of the confederates had no impact on the results but it seems counterintuitive. The attractiveness of opposite gender ought to have played a role in the receptivity of the subjects. This counterintuitive assertions begs more clarification which was absent in the article.
Also, with regards to the explanation of the findings there was room for a lot more. The discussion part only states that the traditional view triumphs and the socio-biological perspective might be the ideal explanation. The underlying dynamics of the gender differences could have been better established with subsequent interviews of the subjects. Their own opinion regarding their receptivity could have been interpreted to arrive at a better understanding and a precise reason of the male aggressiveness and female passivity.

Discussion

This article experimentally demonstrates a viewpoint that has prevailed regarding human sexuality and this particular methodology establishes a guideline for future research. This article also informs us that human sexuality can be studied both as a personal phenomenon and as a social act. As the researchers claim in this article, they took the research in to a naturalistic setting whereas previously laboratory had been the main research site. This is likely to give way to more diverse and novel research designs and it will be interesting to note how this particular study influenced research in later years. Conclusions
In a nutshell this article is a good starting point for exploring research on human sexuality as it deals with the very important variable of gender differences. Its findings go to support the view that men are more overtly sexual and more responsive than women. Socio-biological as well as cultural perspectives support these findings and further research could explore the exact dynamics of these differences. This article is also temporally important because of the rising concern regarding HIV and the subsequent shifts in sexual behaviors and tendencies and provides an insight into how environmental phenomena affect humans socially and personally.

Reference

Clark, Russell D., and Elaine Hatfield. "Gender differences in receptivity to sexual
offers." Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality 2.1 (1989): 39-55.