What you’ll learn to do: explain sexual attitudes and practices

Figure 1. Purity rings signal that the wearer is waiting until marriage to have sex. This practice is typically associated with a religious belief that sex should only happen between two people who are married. (Photo courtesy of Bibleknowledge/Wikimedia Commons)

When studying sex and sexuality, sociologists focus their attention on sexual attitudes and practices, not on physiology or anatomy. Norms regarding sexual orientation and sexuality vary across cultures and are taught from early ages just like gender role norms. Compared to its Western counterparts, especially European countries, the United States tends to be fairly conservative in its sexual attitudes; however, compared to some other countries’ norms—like Indonesia’s disapproval of premarital sex, Afghanistan’s average age of marriage (20 years of age for women), or the prohibition on masturbation in certain cultures, the U.S. seems quite open in its acceptance of sexuality.