A Sociological Sexuality Model

The paper starts by listing the critiques for popular human sexuality theories. Freud's theory is rejected for being too psychological in approach and being centered a specific time and place (early 20th century Vienna), Marxist perspectives do not follow because gender roles are not influenced exclusively by the mode of production, and sociobiological discoveries fail to account for cross-cultural differences noted by anthropologists (Reiss, 233). His view emphasizes comparative sociology and connections to cultural anthropology.

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Having rejected there theoretical perspectives, the author constructs his own human sexuality model. His approach is at the macro-level, looking for patterns in aggregates, as micro-level interactions may contaminate the data since it wouldn't provide clear distinctions between separate categories (Reiss, 234). He then defines sex, gender role and sexuality as follows: sex is the genetic sex, gender role is what theorists referred to incorrectly as sex role-learned social behaviors, and sexuality is composed of "those cultural scripts aimed at erotic arousal that produce genitalia responses" (Reiss, 234). Furthermore, the process is not innate, but learned behavior (Reiss, 234).

Sexuality is important is all cultures as a process of human interactions; societies will either encourage or restrict it (Reiss, 235). However, the author does not think reproduction has a significant role in this cross-cultural interest in sexuality. Looking at nonindustrial cultures, he noted that becoming pregnant is not the center of sexuality, but rather the effect of a particular type of sexual interaction, "repetitive coitus with one's marriage partner", and raising children is a collective activity, not the independent responsibility of one woman (Reiss, 235).

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Next, Reiss looks at ideology as the fundamental general perspective, "our ideological beliefs [...] promote our popular perspectives on sexual normality" (Reiss, 237). Opinion polls from the era suggest that women were much more in favor of economic, political, religious and social equality, but were not as accepting of equal sexual rights (Reiss, 237). On the other hand, men were accepting sexual equality, but were reluctant to embrace overall gender equality.

Reiss talks about the male premature ejaculation again. This time he compares it to the fact that a woman being able to achieve orgasms in a short amount of time is praised for being responsive and her orgasm can help her male partner feel like an adequate lover (Reiss, 238).

Reference:
Ira L. Reiss, "A Sociological Journey into Sexuality" Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 48, No. 2 (pp. 233-242) , May, 1986