When it comes to addressing topics of Human Sexuality, Yarber and Sayad (2021) orient around the expansive domain of mediums for conducting professional work in the field. From pop psychology and influencer roles comes the relevancy of information based practices for spreading awareness and scaled comprehensive curricula. Rooted in scientific methods of psychology, topics of human sexuality are spun in ways that promote the interests of the “sponsor” (Yarber and Sayad, 2021).
From this sentiment comes the notion that thinking objectively is a necessity when discussing human sexuality because it is not solely a compulsion, “but it requires value judgements” where implicit and explicit beliefs are put aside in effort to further understand. Yarber and Sayad (2021) utilize dominant narratives and schemas within the realm of egocentrism, ethnocentrism, and energetic fallacy to compound on the idea that human sexuality can be generalized to the perspective of one wielding the lens.
This is why it is pivotal to focus sexuality research in unbiased systematic methods that consider ethical concerns of informed consent, sampling, and research methods on humans. While there are many ways to look at sexual research methods, clinical settings examining groups and individuals emphasize medical modalities for pathologizing and diagnosing, while surveys and observational research garner information in alternative systematic formats (Yarber and Sayad, 2021).
Many researchers in sex and sexuality have pushed the research field far beyond stigmatized expectations resulting in large scale initiatives for understanding human sexuality on a macro level. Whether it’s a survey of sexual health and behavior, college health assessments, or research at the site of the family, human sexuality research expands well beyond academic settings to show up as attitudes and behaviors of individuals and collectives in society.
- If we are living in an information based society for human sexuality, who / what entities or systems might be most responsible for pushing human sexuality information? Whether explicitly or implicitly, what pillars or societal structures for information push topics of human sexuality the most even if it is maladaptive or positive?
- What ethical and methodological concerns arise in the study of human sexuality, particularly in research methods such as self-report, observation, and experimental studies, and how do these concerns impact the reliability and validity of findings?
- How do media influences shape public understanding of human sexuality, and what are the potential consequences of their role in disseminating information? What are the positives in this style of disseminating information?