Super Challenge Questions

In total, 9 questions (SEE BELOW)

Super Challenge Questions

1)

Feminist theory and Queer theory (and cross-cultural theory, not mentioned in the chapter)

-Historical and current social institutions, policies and practices have told us who we are or what our sexuality is, but that may not be who we are or who we want to be. Unfortunately, the practices and policies of large institutions/laws do have the power to limit what people think they are, or what they think they can do. Only organization of mass numbers of people and shifts in collective conscious can override these limiting practices and policies

-Both theories also radically question the very methods and people who have studied a science or field up to now. They call for a re-evaluation of who decides something is ‘true’ or ‘fact’, what process was used to make those decisions. For example, if almost all of the psychological principles we read and study in psychology were hatched, explored, written about and debated exclusively by men (unfortunately this IS the case), isn’t it possible that they did not even think to study some aspect of psychology that a woman might have thought to study? Or, is it possible that the way they chose to study it could lead to different conclusions than if they had studied it in a different way, possibly a more feminine approach (holistic, some might say; qualitative, others might say)?

Question: If you took a ‘classic’ piece of research from psychology and re-evaluated it from either feminist or queer theory, what might you conclude or find? Take, for example, Seligman’s learned helplessness experiments.

2)

Secrets of the Sexes Attraction Video: https://youtu.be/APctZTgB4ls

Question: If you had a chance to watch the “Secrets of the Sexes” video, which of the previous theories best explains what actually happened between the matched couples in the end? Hint: it was not what any of the scientists predicted.

3)

Breast cancer, Cervical cancer, Prostate cancer (PCB’s) – Each of these are only 5-10% genetic, so they are mostly environmentally-caused, and we are only making baby steps in pinning this down (obesity, hormone therapy, and environmental chemicals such as certain pesticides, certain plastics and certain fracking chemicals) – The U.S. has very little success in marshalling its people’s support for government regulation of industry that uses cancer-causing chemicals, or even funding research to determine which industry chemicals are cancer-causing, and in what amounts Another problem is that these chemicals leak into our water, air, and soil and can be “endocrine disruptors” that interfere with the normal hormonal development of animals, fetuses, and children – Autism is another steeply increasing disorder that is much more affected by environmental toxins than by genetics

Question: How do chemicals like PCBs interfere with hormonal influence?

4)

Question: If we cannot just look at someone and determine their gender, then how can we, definitively?

5)

Menstrual cycles go through the same four phases for nearly every woman, however the length of the first phase (follicular) can vary in length quite a bit, whereas after ovulation, the luteal and menstruation phase are almost always 14 days. 90% of women will have a viable pregnancy if they have unprotected sex for one year – One reason may be that we often feel sexier and more interested in sex around ovulation, and male partners’ testosterone is higher then, so we are probably having sex at that time each month, even if we are unaware of it. We have about a 50/50 chance of getting pregnant each time we have unprotected sex if it is at ovulation 

Only about half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are planned – However about 50% of conceptions do not develop into pregnancy, and women miscarry about 25% of the time without even knowing they were pregnant – The other 25%, the woman has found out she is pregnant, but the fetus is spontaneously miscarried, probably because it or the conditions were not viable, within the first 12 weeks 

The vast majority of pregnancies and births are normal and healthy; parents-to-be can get overly anxious if they read or hear too much about the rare, but damaging complications that can happen. – Best advice is to take good care of your body and mind before and during pregnancy, within your given circumstances, and this is no different than the advice we all need to live by everyday – Get regular prenatal check-ups and that should catch anything else – A caveat: of all drugs or substances or dangerous practices that can very negatively affect a fetus—for life—ALCOHOL is #1. Don’t drink at all, ever, during a pregnancy 

Sex during pregnancy is probably a good thing for you and your partner’s mental health and connection to each other – Unless you just feel awful physically, then perhaps delay it a few days or weeks, until you feel better

Question(pt. 1): What is the most likely reason a woman feels irritable during her period? What is the second most likely reason?

Question(pt. 2): If you know women in your family who never breatfed, or who never want to; why was/is that? What generation did it change, and why?

6)

Age 6-11:

Usual age of first attraction to another person: 10 Usual age of first orgasm by masturbation: 12-13 Age *mutually consenting* kissing, hugging, showing genitals, or touching genitals usually first occurs: by age 10

These guidelines apply to both heterosexual and homosexual youth. Discussing what intercourse is and how babies are made usually first happens in this age group.

Question: If a 10 year old said they engaged in mutually consensual kissing with a 15 year old, is it actually mutual consent?

7)

Age 19-22:

About 90% of people have had intercourse by this time. More people have had oral sex, especially women who have higher rates of same sex oral sex. About 95% of Americans have seen pornography by this age. But few women view it regularly, and less than half of men view it weekly or more. 

Although people still do NOT prefer partners with very high levels of sexual experience at young ages, they definitely prefer moderately sexually experienced people to chaste people, as of the last decade or two. In a study in 1945, out of 18 attributes important in a romantic partner, chastity was ranked tenth overall. In 1969, a replication study found chastity ranked fifteenth. By 1981 and 1997, participants rank chastity dead last, or sometimes second to last (Regan, 2004, p. 127).

Question: Why do you think chastity has moved down the preference list for the youngest generation of Americans, as a trait they want in their sexual partners?

8)

Psychopathology of the Rapist

• Thinking

Believe women are objects. Believe women are dangerous and deceptive (so they must control them, hold them down, metaphorically and literally, and keep them from “taking over”). Believe they are entitled to their male superiority, either by God’s law, or by nature making them male. Believe the world is dangerous (much more so than other people do). Believe some behaviors cannot be controlled

• Behavior

Generally hostile; Poor self-regulation; Impulsive; Low empathy

• History

Tend to have been in wars or frequent danger growing up

Likely to have been sexually abused

More likely to drink alcohol to excess, which increases their hostile tendencies

Question: Think about many men you know. They think like this. They were raised to think and behave like this. They move in circles which support this kind of behavior. They very likely have raped, or have almost done it. Unfortunately this type of male is not uncommon in our society; we kind of accept them, and we do not think of them as “monsters.” But they do rape women and some men. THIS IS A PROBLEM. Do other men stand up to them? Does anyone say it is not okay and that they need to change? When they are caught, do we hold them accountable?

A total of 9 questions posed (SEE BELOW)

Super Challenge Questions

1)

Feminist theory and Queer theory (and cross-cultural theory, not mentioned in the chapter)

-Historical and current social institutions, policies and practices have told us who we are or what our sexuality is, but that may not be who we are or who we want to be. Unfortunately, the practices and policies of large institutions/laws do have the power to limit what people think they are, or what they think they can do. Only organization of mass numbers of people and shifts in collective conscious can override these limiting practices and policies

-Both theories also radically question the very methods and people who have studied a science or field up to now. They call for a re-evaluation of who decides something is ‘true’ or ‘fact’, what process was used to make those decisions. For example, if almost all of the psychological principles we read and study in psychology were hatched, explored, written about and debated exclusively by men (unfortunately this IS the case), isn’t it possible that they did not even think to study some aspect of psychology that a woman might have thought to study? Or, is it possible that the way they chose to study it could lead to different conclusions than if they had studied it in a different way, possibly a more feminine approach (holistic, some might say; qualitative, others might say)?

Question: If you took a ‘classic’ piece of research from psychology and re-evaluated it from either feminist or queer theory, what might you conclude or find? Take, for example, Seligman’s learned helplessness experiments.

2)

Secrets of the Sexes Attraction Video: https://youtu.be/APctZTgB4ls

Question: If you had a chance to watch the “Secrets of the Sexes” video, which of the previous theories best explains what actually happened between the matched couples in the end? Hint: it was not what any of the scientists predicted.

3)

Breast cancer, Cervical cancer, Prostate cancer (PCB’s) – Each of these are only 5-10% genetic, so they are mostly environmentally-caused, and we are only making baby steps in pinning this down (obesity, hormone therapy, and environmental chemicals such as certain pesticides, certain plastics and certain fracking chemicals) – The U.S. has very little success in marshalling its people’s support for government regulation of industry that uses cancer-causing chemicals, or even funding research to determine which industry chemicals are cancer-causing, and in what amounts Another problem is that these chemicals leak into our water, air, and soil and can be “endocrine disruptors” that interfere with the normal hormonal development of animals, fetuses, and children – Autism is another steeply increasing disorder that is much more affected by environmental toxins than by genetics

Question: How do chemicals like PCBs interfere with hormonal influence?

4)

Question: If we cannot just look at someone and determine their gender, then how can we, definitively?

5)

Menstrual cycles go through the same four phases for nearly every woman, however the length of the first phase (follicular) can vary in length quite a bit, whereas after ovulation, the luteal and menstruation phase are almost always 14 days. 90% of women will have a viable pregnancy if they have unprotected sex for one year – One reason may be that we often feel sexier and more interested in sex around ovulation, and male partners’ testosterone is higher then, so we are probably having sex at that time each month, even if we are unaware of it. We have about a 50/50 chance of getting pregnant each time we have unprotected sex if it is at ovulation 

Only about half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are planned – However about 50% of conceptions do not develop into pregnancy, and women miscarry about 25% of the time without even knowing they were pregnant – The other 25%, the woman has found out she is pregnant, but the fetus is spontaneously miscarried, probably because it or the conditions were not viable, within the first 12 weeks 

The vast majority of pregnancies and births are normal and healthy; parents-to-be can get overly anxious if they read or hear too much about the rare, but damaging complications that can happen. – Best advice is to take good care of your body and mind before and during pregnancy, within your given circumstances, and this is no different than the advice we all need to live by everyday – Get regular prenatal check-ups and that should catch anything else – A caveat: of all drugs or substances or dangerous practices that can very negatively affect a fetus—for life—ALCOHOL is #1. Don’t drink at all, ever, during a pregnancy 

Sex during pregnancy is probably a good thing for you and your partner’s mental health and connection to each other – Unless you just feel awful physically, then perhaps delay it a few days or weeks, until you feel better

Question (pt1): What is the most likely reason a woman feels irritable during her period? What is the second most likely reason?

Question (pt2): If you know women in your family who never breastfed, or who never want to; why was/is that? What generation did it change, and why?

6)

Age 6-11:

Usual age of first attraction to another person: 10 Usual age of first orgasm by masturbation: 12-13 Age *mutually consenting* kissing, hugging, showing genitals, or touching genitals usually first occurs: by age 10

These guidelines apply to both heterosexual and homosexual youth. Discussing what intercourse is and how babies are made usually first happens in this age group.

Question: If a 10 y. o. said they engaged in mutually consensual kissing with a 15 y.o., is it actually mutual consent?

7)

Age 19-22:

About 90% of people have had intercourse by this time. More people have had oral sex, especially women who have higher rates of same sex oral sex. About 95% of Americans have seen pornography by this age. But few women view it regularly, and less than half of men view it weekly or more. 

Although people still do NOT prefer partners with very high levels of sexual experience at young ages, they definitely prefer moderately sexually experienced people to chaste people, as of the last decade or two. In a study in 1945, out of 18 attributes important in a romantic partner, chastity was ranked tenth overall. In 1969, a replication study found chastity ranked fifteenth. By 1981 and 1997, participants rank chastity dead last, or sometimes second to last (Regan, 2004, p. 127).

Question: Why do you think chastity has moved down the preference list for the youngest generation of Americans, as a trait they want in their sexual partners?

8)

Psychopathology of the Rapist

-Thinking

Believe women are objects. Believe women are dangerous and deceptive (so they must control them, hold them down, metaphorically and literally, and keep them from “taking over”). Believe they are entitled to their male superiority, either by God’s law, or by nature making them male. Believe the world is dangerous (much more so than other people do). Believe some behaviors cannot be controlled

-Behavior

Generally hostile; Poor self-regulation; Impulsive; Low empathy

-History

Tend to have been in wars or frequent danger growing up. Likely to have been sexually abused. More likely to drink alcohol to excess, which increases their hostile tendencies

Question: Think about many men you know. They think like this. They were raised to think and behave like this. They move in circles which support this kind of behavior. They very likely have raped, or have almost done it. Unfortunately this type of male is not uncommon in our society; we kind of accept them, and we do not think of them as “monsters.” But they do rape women and some men. THIS IS A PROBLEM. Do other men stand up to them? Does anyone say it is not okay and that they need to change? When they are caught, do we hold them accountable?