John H. Gagnon

Sexual scripts: Permanence and change

A general introduction to scripting theory is offered, attempting to provide links between macrolevel considerations of sociocultural development and general theories of individual development. The scripting of behavior is examined on three distinct levels: cultural scenarios (instruction in collective meanings), interpersonal scripts (the application of specific cultural scenarios by a specific individual in a specific social context), and intrapsychic scripts (the management of desires as experienced by the individual). These concepts of the scripting of behavior are then applied to sexual behavior. Interpersonal scripts are seen as the ordering of representations of self and other that facilitate the occurrence of a sexual act; intrapsychic scripts represent the ordering of images and desires that elicit and sustain sexual arousal. Issues of stability and change in sexual scripts are then examined in terms of the changing circumstances and requirements associated with movement through the life cycle.

Prevalence and Social Distribution of Men Who Have Sex with Men: United States and Its Urban Centers

Prevalence data on the social distribution and AIDS‐related risk behavior of men who have sex with men are presented from two national probability surveys [General Social Survey (GSS) and National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS)] and a probability survey of urban centers in the U.S. [National AIDS Behavioral Surveys (NABS)]. Men residing in large cities, the highly educated, and Whites were more likely to report sex with men. In the urban sample (NABS), one third reported sex with women. In addition, minority men were more likely to report sex with men and women. More than half of the men with an HIV risk factor reported consistent condom use. The surveys were based on two different modes of interviewing (self‐administered and telephone), conducted independently of each other and by different organizations. The prevalence estimates from these surveys are consistent with each other and with other population‐based surveys in the United States and Europe. We discuss these data in light of the ongoing d...

Demographic Characteristics of Heterosexuals with Multiple Partners: The National AIDS Behavioral Surveys

In a study of risk behavior among heterosexuals, 9% of a national sample and 12% of a sample drawn from high-risk cities report having two or more sexual partners in the year before the survey. In both samples, sex with multiple partners is most common among men, younger people and the unmarried. Multivariate analyses show that racial and ethnic differences in the proportion of respondents with multiple partners vary by marital status. The results indicate that many heterosexuals are failing to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases: Among respondents with multiple partners, only 18% of men and 22% of women always use condoms with their primary partner, and 28% of men and 32% of women always use them with secondary partners. These proportions do not increase significantly with the number of partners; in general, almost half of men and women with multiple partners never use condoms.

Homosexuality: the formulation of a sociological perspective.

Homosexuality, as well as other forms of social or sexual deviance, has tended to require special conceptual approaches, approaches that all too often treat non-deviant forms of behavior (e.g., heterosexuality, noncriminal behavior, nonsuicidal behavior, etc.), as unexplained residual categories. The failure to link deviant and non-deviant behaviors or roles has produced a literature that grossly exaggerates the deviant component in behavior and role management. Often the deviant is located in a social landscape that has been stripped of everything but his deviant commitment. The present paper considers the homosexual within the conceptual framework of general developmental processes; it approaches homosexuality as a heterogeneous category, indicating the diversity of homosexual and non-sexual roles the homosexual may play, the significance of transitions associated with life-cycle changes, and, reversing the typical approach, takes into consideration the way in which non-sexual roles and commitments influence sexual roles and commitments.

In Changing Times: Gay Men and Lesbians Encounter HIV/AIDS

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been a major catastrophe for gay communities. In less that two decades, the disease has profoundly altered the lives of gay men and lesbians. HIV has become an opportunistic social invader, reshaping communities and the distribution of wealth, altering the social careers of gay profesionals and the patterns of entry into gay and lesbian life, and giving birth to groups like ACT UP and Queer Nation. This volume discusses the ways HIV/AIDS has changed collective and individual identities, and how our perceptions of the disease have been affected. It covers such topics as the impact of the epidemic on small towns, cultural barriers to AIDS prevention, gay youth and inter-generational relations, and the roles of lesbians in AIDS organizations. The book seeks to provide insights into the new communities among gay men and lesbians, and the new kinds of identities and relationships which are emerging form the social and cultural ferment engendered by HIV/AIDS. Martin Levine was a pioneer AIDS researcher who died of AIDS in 1993.

Beyond anxiety and fantasy: the coital experiences of college youth.

Counting virgins is described as social bookkeeping, a necessary but not sufficient task for social scientists. More important is the development of an understanding of the social processes which encourage or inhibit coital behavior. The analysis in this paper uses the socialbookkeeping approach to document the relatively stable rates of early and premarital coitus since the Kinsey report. The data are drawn from a 1972 study of 14–18-year-olds and a 1967 study of college students. When appropriate controls for educational attainment and age are introduced, it is shown that, in comparison to the change in rates at the beginning of the century, the rates since the 1940s have increased only a fourth as much. More importantly, coital behavior is shown to be still strongly linked to traditional patterns of restraint and facilitation. Traditional factors, such as relationships with parents and religious attendance, are shown to restrain early coital experience (defined as coitus before age 18), while factors linked to the courtship process such as dating frequency, facilitated this early behavior. During college both restraining and facilitating factors were operative, but levels of coital behavior in most cases stayed surprisingly low. Rates of frequent coitus rarely reached 40% among female college seniors and the proportion of college female seniors with three or more partners never reached 20%. The factors which encourage sexual activity during college are the courtship factorsdating behavior and being in love. In terms of initial coitus, women overwhelmingly report that they were in love with their partner. Given the relative stability of rates of early and premarital coitus and continuity of the role of courtship factors in facilitating this behavior, popular discussions of the contemporary sexual revolution are seen as being out of touch with reality and possibly inducing anxiety among young people when they do not experience the sexual revolution.

The Anomie of Affluence: A Post-Mertonian Conception

Mertons conceptualization of anomie theory is examined in terms of the influence of the economic and social conditions surrounding its initial formulation: circumstance of chronic depression. The anomie potentially generated by unanticipated affluence, a more central concern for Durkheim, is discussed by way of contrast. A tentative typology of deviant adaptation is constructed utilizing questions of (a) commitment to approved cultural goals and (b) the degree to wich achievement of substantial progress toward such goals is realized. It is suggested that this typology might be particularly effective in the understanding of deviance at higher socioeconomic levels. The essay also consider implication of Durkheims underlying model of the human.

Attitudes and responses of parents to pre-adolescent masturbation

As part of a larger study of parental roles in sex education, a stratified probability sample of 1482 parents of three- to eleven-year-old children were interviewed about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices with reference to “masturbation” on the part of their children. A large majority of parents accepted the fact that children did masturbate, a smaller majority agreed that masturbation among children was alright, but less than half wanted their children as adolescents to have a positive attitude toward masturbation. Identified events of masturbation were reported to be more common among boys than girls, with mothers reporting higher incidences for both boys and girls than fathers reported. Parents with higher levels of education and liberal sexual attitudes were more positive on most attitudinal items about masturbation and reported a higher incidence of such conduct among their children. Parents who attended church more frequently were less likely to report positive views and conduct. Parents who reported they had masturbated as children were most likely to report positive views and a high incidence of masturbation on the part of their children. In general mothers played a more important role than fathers in transmitting knowledge and were more liberal in their attitudes. Negative information and attitudes toward masturbation remains a common response of parents when they are confronted with childrens masturbation.

A comparative study of the couple in the social organization of sexuality in France and the United States

This study presents the results of a comparative analysis of two national surveys of sexual behavior of adults ages 18 to 59 living in France and in the United States. While persons living in a couple in the two countries are quite similar, controlling for gender, age, and relationship status points to a number of important differences among those who are not living in a couple. Among these individuals, the French are more likely to be monogamous than persons living in the U.S. Gender differences are more marked in the U.S. than in France, especially among older U.S. women who are more likely than U.S. men and French men and women to report no sexual partners. These findings suggest that the model and the influence of the committed couple, whether cohabiting or not, is more widespread in France than in the U.S.

Femininity in the Lesbian Community

A major deficiency in the limited available literature on the female homosexual has been its use of a deviant sexual commitment as a primary explanatory variable. The present paper re-examines selected aspects of both the sexual and non-sexual adaptations of lesbians in terms of general female patterns. Within the limits set by a deviant gender preference, much of the behavior of the lesbian can be explained in terms of non-deviant sex role expectations. The analysis points to the need to consider the lesbian, as well as other deviant actors, in terms not only of the degree of failure of conventional socialization, but also the degree of success of conventional socialization.