Choque entre las costumbres africanas y los derechos de las mujeres

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December 30, 2005

Women’s Rights Laws and African Custom Clash

By SHARON LaFRANIERE

LAMONTVILLE, South Africa - In theory, what happened to 14-year-old Sibongile in this hilly, crowded township outside Durban in November could not happen today - at least, not legally.

On a broiling Saturday morning, as more than a dozen women looked on, Sibongile joined 56 other Zulu girls outside a red-and-white striped tent. One by one, they lay on a straw mat beneath the tent; one by one, they received a cursory inspection of their genitals by a woman in a ceremonial beaded hat. As the inspector pronounced judgment on the state of each girl’s hymen - “virgin,” “nice,” “perfect” - each departed to the excited trilling of the women who were observers.

Sexualidad e internet

Journal of Sex Research Nov, 2005
Typing, doing, and being: sexuality and the internetMichael W. RossThe mechanical age is ending and the virtual age is unfolding. Stone (1995) indicated that “electronic communication networks–radio, television, computer networks-accompany the discourse networks and social formations now coming into being” (p. 20). These are characterized, according to Stone, by increasing awareness of self, increasing isolation of individuals in Western societies, less sharing of physical space, and by textuality and prosthetic communication. Sexuality, too, is in a state of flux, and one of the domains where this is particularly apparent is that of the internet. Simon (1996) argued that “all discourses of sexuality are inherently discourses about something else” (p. xvii). Sexuality in the unfolding of the virtual age is also a discourse about human interaction at the closing of the mechanical age. Indeed, what Stone called the unfolding of the virtual age is contemporary with what Simon called late modernity: even the most familiar aspects of social (and sexual) life become sites for conflicting or alternative options, and consensual meanings begin to dissolve. The internet becomes a new form of the expression of the self (or selves), and a non-traditional social and sexual setting.

Sobre el incesto: teorías y culturas

The Australian Journal of Anthropology April, 2005
Coming too close, going too far: theoretical and cross-cultural approaches to incest and its prohibitions

Mary Patterson

The theorisation and study of incest prohibitions, as opposed to the study of incest as practice, have a long and varied history in anthropology. One of the few aspects of kinship studies debated by physical and social anthropologists, as well as prominent figures in other disciplines, ‘incest taboos’ appeared with startling regularity until, in the Anglophone world, ‘kinship’ met its end in the 1970s. However, in the era of ‘cultures of relatedness’ (Carsten 2000) incest and incest prohibition seem an unlikely candidate for renewed interest. Nevertheless, in a recent paper Anna Meigs and Kathleen Barlow (2002) suggest, in a variant of Robin Fox’s aphorism that kinship is to anthropology as the nude is to art (Fox 1967: 1), that the incest taboo is to anthropology as Shakespeare is to English literature–’fundamental and classic’. They also provide us in this article with an exemplary rendition of the position that this volume sets out to critique; namely, that only an approach to old problems that eschews the allegedly overburdened past can reinvigorate the sub-discipline of kinship studies.

Resumen de la segunda sesión del máster

La cuestión primera que abordó Efigenio Amezúa, el director del máster, fue por dónde entrar para estudiar la sexualidad. La formulación en sí ya resulta atractiva, porque los que hemos leído algún que otro manual de sexualidad estamos bastante familiarizados con la típica parcelación académica de biología, psicología, antropología, sociología, etc. La propuesta de entrar a estudiar el sexo desde una perspectiva infrecuente, la histórico-conceptual, me produjo gran interés. Porque, lo sepamos o no, al final nos estamos moviendo dentro de algún marco teórico.

Primer contacto con Havelock Ellis

Leyendo el capítulo que Paul Robinson dedica a Ellis en La modernización del sexo me he dado cuenta de la cantidad de palabras y conceptos de uso cotidiano que le debemos. Y eso, sin duda, tiene mucho mérito. Pero lo que me ha atraído más es su libertad de pensamiento. La lectura me produjo una mezcla de avidez y cansancio. Avidez, porque leía algo nuevo, distinto. A veces, como por ejemplo lo relativo a las zonas erógenas, puede pensarse que lo que dice está muy trillado. El efecto que consiguió fue distinto. Por un lado, me transmitió esa frescura del descubrimiento. Y por otro, caí en la cuenta de que un día aquello fue un descubrimiento. Acostumbrado a encontrar en los libros de texto de sexualidad unas zonas sombreadas que señalan las zonas erógenas, había dado en pensar de modo irreflexivo que eso de las zonas eróticas era como el hígado o el corazón, algo que está ahí y cuya existencia es indiscutible. De modo que fui más consciente de que los términos que usamos para hablar de sexualidad se los ha inventado alguien en un momento determinado, no son realidades ya dadas que están ahí.

Biología y orientación sexual

Annual Review of Sex Research 2002
A critical review of recent biological research on human sexual orientation

Mustanski, Brian SThis article provides a comprehensive review and critique of biological research on sexual orientation published over the last decade. We cover research investigating (a) the neurohormonal theory of sexual orientation (psychoneuroendocrinology, prenatal stress, cerebral asymmetry, neuroanatomy, otoacoustic emissions, anthropometrics), (b) genetic influences, (c) fraternal birth-order effects, and (d) a putative role for developmental instability. Despite inconsistent results across both studies and traits, some support for the neurohormonal theory is garnered, but mostly in men. Genetic research using family and twin methodologies has produced consistent evidence that genes influence sexual orientation, but molecular research has not yet produced compelling evidence for specific genes. Although it has been well established that older brothers increase the odds of homosexuality in men, the route by which this occurs has not been resolved. We conclude with an examination of the limitations of biological research on sexual orientation, including measurement issues (paper and pencil, cognitive, and psychophysiological), and lack of research on women.

Resumen de la primera sesión del máster de sexología

En octubre empecé un máster de sexología. Este primer año se centra en la educación sexual. Aquí colgaré los trabajos que realice y que merezcan la pena. También incluiré en esta categoría resúmenes de lecturas que haga relacionadas con el máster. El resto de materiales que elabore y que no estén circunscritos específicamente al máster los colgaré en el apartado de reflexiones. Ahí va el resumen…

Adolescentes con cámara web

(Nota: Hoy 26 de diciembre publica El País un resumen de este artículo. Lo pongo detrás del original.)

The New York Times
December 19, 2005

Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World
By KURT EICHENWALD

The 13-year-old boy sat in his California home, eyes fixed on a computer screen. He had never run with the popular crowd and long ago had turned to the Internet for the friends he craved. But on this day, Justin Berry’s fascination with cyberspace would change his life.

Weeks before, Justin had hooked up a Web camera to his computer, hoping to use it to meet other teenagers online. Instead, he heard only from men who chatted with him by instant message as they watched his image on the Internet. To Justin, they seemed just like friends, ready with compliments and always offering gifts.

Now, on an afternoon in 2000, one member of his audience sent a proposal: he would pay Justin $50 to sit bare-chested in front of his Webcam for three minutes. The man explained that Justin could receive the money instantly and helped him open an account on PayPal.com, an online payment system.