sex talk.

ok. so if you're my facebook friend, you may have noticed this picture i posted last week:

so i was writing my research proposal with the aid of these books. i basically have to pretend to do research and go through all the writing that comes with it for one of my classes. i figured it i have to write a huge paper about fake research, i might as well do it on something i am passionate about: sex, wormen, orgasm, and bodies. you know, in the context of our culture. (if i did want to go to grad school and do research, this is what i would research.) so i want to do a couple posts about this and to get it all kicked off, i'm thinking you could read my research proposal. keep in mind that it's not perfect and that i haven't ever run research or used stats to analyze real data. so if it's all flawed, deal with it.
get ready for some sex talk. next week i'm gonna talk about two different books i read before getting married, one from the '60s and the other is the book in the picture, i heart female orgasm.
come on, who doesn't love talking about sex?!
no, i'm not going to talk about my own sex life. unless you have a question about something and then feel free, as always, to email me. i'm not embarrassed to talk about sex things. if you want to have orgasms and you just don't, i would love to talk to you about it.
creepy? nah, just direct and open.
enjoy!

Research Proposal for Psych 3010

Collette Charles (collette.charles7@gmail.com)

28 January 2012

Working Title of Proposed Research

Female Genital Labeling Correlates with Low Female Sexual Satisfaction and Orgasm.

How the idea developed & Objectives

            As a young girl, I was never taught what to call my female reproductive organs. I was aware of being different from my brothers, and even knew the word, ‘penis.’ I knew I had ‘privates,’ and thought of them as almost a lack of having a penis. Growing up, I participated in my public school’s Sex Education, where I learned about fallopian tubes, the ovaries, and of course, the vagina. But it wasn’t until I was preparing for marriage, and sexual intercourse, that I discovered the word, ‘clitoris’ and what it was. In my twenty two years of experience I had been unaware of a female sex organ, which I possessed, whose sole function is to provide sexual pleasure. It would be preposterous to think of a man who was unaware of his own sexual organs.  I began to wonder if other women were also unaware, and how gender sex scripts would be different if parents taught their daughters the clinical terms for their reproductive organs and if Sex Education Programs included the clitoris in their presentations. If women were educated about their sex organs and clitoris, would more women enjoy their sex lives, feel more dominant during intercourse, and experience orgasms? To investigate, I began reading the current research on this topic.

Hypothesis and Predictions

            Several scholarly articles, cited below, were of aid in supporting my hypothesis. Research shows that it is important for females to be instructed in early bodily knowledge to support sexual health and also that mothers are more likely to use vague terms such as ‘privates’ when teaching their daughters about their genitals (Martin et al.). There is also research showing that when mothers talk to their daughters about sex-related topics, they are more likely to discuss reproduction, romance, and morality issues, but not the topics pertaining to sexual pleasure (Martin et al.).  In a study conducted in the Czech Republic, women who were told in childhood and adolescence that the vagina was the organ important for orgasm were more likely to experience vaginal orgasm, suggesting that education about the female body influences her experience with sexual intercourse (Brody et al.). With the support of past research, my hypothesis predicts that vague genital labeling and incomplete education about female sex organs correlates with low female orgasm rates and women who are ill-prepared for a healthy, pleasurable sex life.

Proposed Method

My design will require a sample of participants who are female, heterosexual, sexually active, and age 18+. They will be invited to take a survey consisting of questions ranging from early sexual education, genital labeling, parental attitudes concerning sexual intimacy, orgasm frequency, and overall satisfaction with sexual experiences. The participants will be unaware of the hypothesis while taking the survey. The goal of the survey is to find a correlation between genital labeling and incomplete sex education and low satisfaction with sexual experience and orgasm.

Ethical Considerations

Due to the sensitive nature of my hypothesis, I will be keeping the participant names anonymous, something I think will encourage honesty in the participants. The participants will be told their survey is anonymous before taking it and will be debriefed afterwards, making sure they leave with complete knowledge of what we were looking for.    

Proposed Data Analysis

I plan to find a correlation between genital labeling and incomplete sexual education and low sexual satisfaction and orgasms. With the correlation, I will use the coefficient, r, to represent the measure of degree between genital labeling and low sexual satisfaction. I will use a scatter plot to demonstrate linear correlation between the two variables.

Preliminary List of References

Brody. (2011) Vaginal orgasm is associated with vaginal (not clitoral) sex education,  focusing mental attention on vaginal sensations, intercourse duration, and a preference for a longer penis. Retrieved January 26, 2012 from Academic Search Premier.

Martin, K., Veduzco, B.L., Torres, J., & Luke, K. (2011). Privates, pee-pees, and coochies: Gender and genital labeling for/with young children. Feminism & Psychology. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from Academic Search Premier (A64079949).

Martin, K., & Luke, Katherine. (2010). Gender differences in the ABC’s of the birds and the bees: What mothers teach young children about sexuality and reproduction. Sex Roles. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from Academic Search Premier (A48746743).