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America Institutionalizing Marriage
Since the beginning of marriage, its purpose has been based on financial or business benefits. Today, we tend to hold the opposite belief, where marriage is a loving, committed relationship between two people. Throughout history, marriage and its societal expectations have changed drastically. However, rights surrounding marriage have had a slow progression. A fight we
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The History of Prostitution and Its Economic Power
Prostitution is the oldest profession in our society and has changed dramatically over time with legalities, expectations in exchanges, culture, and power. The growth of a leisure and tourist economy has contributed the most significant influence to the changes we see in prostitution today compared to when it began. After World War II, Western society
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Violence Against Women in Pornography
In society today, it isn’t hard to find pornography. With internet access only continuing to become less controlled, especially with the introduction of AI, pornography is becoming easier to access as technology advances. Growing up in Las Vegas, I’ve continued to hear opposing views supporting, and opposing pornography and sex workers working in the porn
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What do Sexologists Consider to be ‘Normal’ vs. ‘Abnormal’ in Sexual Behavior?
The well-known forensic psychiatrist and physician, Richard von Kraft-Ebing became known as the role model sexologist responsible for the science of sex. In “A Sociology of Sex and Sexuality” we see how the author, Hawkes, gives us an in-depth perspective on Kraft-Ebing’s conducted studies that retained normative elements, while representing indifferent objectivity. Krafft-Ebing conducted hundreds
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The History of America’s Abortion Laws
The idea of race, gender, and class when it comes to abortion laws in the 19th century, has significant power and influence. Starting in 1858, the American Medical Association began a campaign to criminalize abortion at every stage of pregnancy. Almost all states passed laws criminalizing abortions by 1890. It was not until the Supreme
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Were Medieval Knights Gay?
Medieval knights are commonly known to be the heroes you learn about as a child in storybooks. They are usually acknowledged for their bravery, chivalry, fighting battles, and saving damsels in distress. However, something not widely known is how common “queerness” was amongst medieval knights, and generally medieval culture. In today’s society, opinions on homosexuality
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Is sex special? Student insight on author, Gail Hawkes, and what she describes as the “specialness of sex”.
Every person has their own values and morals surrounding the topic of sex. In the book,“A sociology of sex and sexuality”(Hawkes, 1996) by Gail Hawkes, goes into depth on this topic of the “specialness of sex” we see in modern society. Hawkes describes there to be two different perspectives on the “specialness of sex”. One
An educational weekly blog post on sex and sexuality in sociology. A college students perspective and insight on her SOC 449 university class. 