Male‐female sexual variations: Functions of biology or culture

Cultural Suppression of Female Sexuality

“…Indeed, the sexual revolution has been shown to have produced a greater change in female than in male sexuality (Arafat & Yorburg, 1973;Bauman & Wilson, 1974;Birenbaum, 1970;Croake & James, 1973;DeLamater & MacCorquodale, 1979;Ehrenreich, Hess, & Jacobs, 1986;R. Robinson, Ziss, Ganza, Katz, & Robinson, 1991;Rubin, 1990;Schmidt & Sigusch, 1972;Sherwin & Corbett, 1985;Staples, 1973). The increase in female sexuality wrought by the sexual revolution is good evidence that female sexuality had previously been under cultural suppression.…”

“…A variety of empirical studies documented that women's sexual attitudes and behaviors changed more than men's during the 1960s to 1980s (Bauman & Wilson, 1974;Croake & James, 1973;DeLamater & MacCorquodale, 1979;R. Robinson et al, 1991;Schmidt & Sigusch, 1972;Sherwin & Corbett, 1985;Staples, 1973), such as by surveying the same college campus or same population at different time points and noting changes. The evidence on this appears to be quite consistent.…”

Mental health of the unemployed : an analysis of a CETA program / by John Anderson Sanford.

“…Furthermore, these sex-roles have been found to be valued differently by society, with the masculine sex-role being valued more than the feminine sex-role. The research has also found that sex-roles are flexible, varying among individuals and cultures (Angrist, 1969;Mead, 1950;Staples, 1973).…”

“…Other theorists have argued that sex-roles are culturally determined rather than biologically determined and were not necessarily inversely related (Holter, 1971;Komorovsky, 1950;Mead, 1950;Staples, 1973). Furthermore, sex-role theorists have argued that the mentally healthy individual is able to engage in both masculine and feminine behaviors regardless of gender and that it is possible to integrate masculinity and femininity (Angrist, 1969;Bem, 1974;Block, 1973;Chafetz, 1974;Maslow, 1970a;Singer, 1976;Spence et al , 1975).…”

Untangling Pathology: The Moynihan Report and Homosexual Damage, 1965–1975

“…Of particular importance in this eff ort were the writings of the black sociologist Robert Staples, who published voluminously on gender, families, and cultural roles, drawing on social science, history, and sexology. 33 To a certain extent, Staples shared a set of normative conceptions of the family with Moynihan, but he defended the integrity of its gender roles, blaming the ordeals of the diaspora and slavery for the particular cast of black sexuality. He identifi ed a kind of a black sexual double standard in which black women, unlike white women, lacked the ability to protect or defend their chastity and then were depicted as sexually ravenous.…”