Lit review
Before you begin, write a 1-2 paragraph goal statement (on a separate sheet of paper to be stapled at the end of your paper after your references) clearly and THOROUGHLY explaining in future tense: 1) The purpose of this lit review – how will it help you? how will it help the reader? how will it differ from other sections of your overall project; 2) Your goals for this paper – what do you hope to/will you accomplish by the end of this paper? 3) Your target audience – who is this prepared for? Who do you hope will read this?How will you tailor your writing for this audience?
1) the purpose of this literature review is to clearly show my readers that I have a thorough and in depth knowledge base concerning the work that others have already done in this field, as well as how previous research informs my hypothesis. Synthesizing the most important research that I have read will help me as a researcher and as an author by forcing me to re examine as well as synthesize the information available to me.
2) By the end of this literature review, I will clearly demonstrate to readers that I am a knowledgeable researcher and that my research is a new and important contribution to understanding oral sex in college students, but that it conceptually supported by work that has already been done by other researchers in the field of sexology. I will do this by effectively demonstrating ties between previous research and my own.
3) My target audience is a challenge, as my paper is a scientific examination of a subject that is both important and interesting to not only scientists but also interdisciplinary peers as well as an academic yet more general audience that finds sex research to be sensational and interesting. As such, my goal is to clearly demonstrate my knowledge and expertise in a scientific manner without making my work inaccessible to a wide audience that may be unfamiliar with reading primary research.
Literature Review:
Due to the broad implications and taboo nature of sex as subject matter, audiences are sometimes led to believe through sensationalistic presentations of sexological research that it is somehow pseudo-scientific in nature. In fact, this could not be further from the truth. Sexual identity and expression is recognized as an important part of the self concept and well being (both physical and emotional) of people. As this realization has become cemented in the scientific community starting largely with research done by Kinsey (1948, 1953) and Masters and Johnson (1966, 1970, 1974), scientific sex research has become a strong emerging scientific discipline.
At present, there is a wealth of scientific literature available on human sexuality. As an emerging scientific discipline however, there is still much work to be done for the scientific community to strengthen its understanding of specific aspects of human sexuality, particularly those which fall outside of traditional mainstream conceptualization of penile-vaginal sex or ‘coitus’, a primary focus of much of the existing body of data. In researching the beliefs and practices surrounding oral sex in college undergraduates, I will be contributing to the field in a unique way by using the knowledge that other research that I have read to help craft an effective model for collecting and analyzing data. A thorough understanding of the implications of previous research is of particular importance for my work due to my qualitative model. In order to create effective questions for my interviewees and later analyze the information that they provide, it is vital for me to have a firm understanding of what previous researchers have discovered about oral sex, as well as reviewing the methods that they used to gather their data.
A key article in developing my understanding of how oral sex beliefs differ is Bersamin and Walker(2006)’s “Correlates of Oral Sex and Vaginal Intercourse in Early and Middle Adolescence,” from the Journal of Research on Adolescence. This survey study examined various factors that predicted oral sex in 1,105 teens ages 12-16 (average respondent age 14.1 years). Their survey used a single yes/no question to determine whether or not teens had ever engaged in oral sex (defined as when a boy/girl puts their mouth on your genitals or when you put your mouth or tongue on a boy/girl’s genitals [Bersamin and Walker 2006]) The rest of the survey had respondents answering three questions assessing the respondent’s beliefs about the probability of several outcomes, both good and bad, as a result of oral or vaginal sex.
The results of this study indicated that more teens participate in oral sex (10.9%) than vaginal sex (8.0%). Peer attitudes and behavior were found to be the second strongest predictors of oral sex, supporting my hypothesis that students in a college population are likely to take normative cues from their specific peer groups in terms of oral sex beliefs and practices. Interestingly, they also discovered that for this age group, parental communication was a strong correlate to vaginal sex behavior but not oral sex. Researchers hypothesized that this may be due to parent-child sex discussions traditionally focusing solely on penile-vaginal intercourse.
Many of the findings in this research are relevant to my own work. Several of the factors found to predict oral and vaginal sex would logically extend to a college population, such as drinking habits and peer values and behaviors. In formulating my research questions, this information is helpful because it tells me as a researcher that I need to ask respondents where they get information on oral sex as well as what other activities they are likely to engage in beforehand, such as alcohol use in social settings with potential sexual partners.
My study will be examining oral sex beliefs and practices both inside as well as outside of committed relationships. “Whats Love Got to Do with it? Sexual Behaviors of Opposite-Sex Couples Through Emerging Adulthood” (Kaestle and Halpern 2007) examines perceived feelings of love and its correlation to fellatio, cunnilingus and anal sex in 6,421 respondents involved in heterosexual relationships of at least three month durations.
Kaestle and Halpern asked respondents how much they loved their partner, and how much they thought their partners loved them, as well as a variety of questions designed to measure the type and frequency of four sexual activities: fellatio, cunnilingus, vaginal sex and anal sex. As “almost all” of the respondents participated in vaginal sex in their current relationship, the outcome of this variable was dropped from the final statistical examination.
Results of this survey tell me a great deal about what to expect in my data. Oral sex was far more likely to occur in relationships where the respondent loved their partner(both reciprocated and non-reciprocated), or when their partner loved them. Cunnilingus was most common when the male respondent loved their partner a lot (unreciprocated), likelihood being 5.91 times higher than a relationship where neither partner has strong feelings of love. This relationship was less powerful but still present for fellatio, with females having non-reciprocated love for their partners being 2.01 times more likely to give fellatio than females in non-loving relationships. The researcher’s hypothesize that in relationships with non-reciprocated love, sexual activities may be used as a way to strengthen relationship ties and increase the perceived benefit of the relationship to the non-loving partner.
Also of importance for my work was the following discovery: “(D)ating relationships of less than one month’s duration include more frequent fellatio but less frequent cunnilingus than longer term dating relationships” (Kaestle and Halpern 2007). Based on this finding as well as the statistical data reviewed above, I may find that women view fellatio as a way to interest men in relationships, while men may be more likely to give cunnilingus later in relationships to increase their perceived value to their partner. If this is not the case, it will be important for me to discover from my respondents when they think oral sex is most likely and most appropriate both in terms of giving and receiving, and why certain situations make oral sex more or less likely.
Perhaps the most insightful and informative research that I have reviewed in perpetration for my own work is Halpern-Felchser et al (2005)’s study, “Oral Versus Vaginal Sex Among Adolescents: Perceptions, Attitudes and Behaviors.” This study gathered survey data from 580 adolescents (mean age 14.54) on their self-perceived risks and benefits of oral and vaginal sex in order to determine “whether adolescents view oral sex as less risky, more beneficial, more acceptable, and more prevalent among peers than vaginal sex” (Halpern-Felscher et al., 2005) Results from this study indicate a strong need for more effective sex education from even the most basic health standpoint, as 13% of respondents indicated that they (erroneously) believed that there is no chance of contracting HIV from oral sex. There were also other naive responses that were empirically incorrect, such as the 9.31% of respondents who reported that oral sex carried a pregnancy risk. There were several beliefs expressed that are directly tied to my topic, e.g. that respondents were more likely to experience pleasure from vaginal sex than from oral sex (which is empirically incorrect at least in terms of occurrence of orgasmic relief in women [Richters et al., 2006].) Statistical analysis of the data also indicated that adolescents believed that for their age group, oral sex was more socially acceptable and carried less risk, in terms of risk of infection as well as emotional well-being, social stigmatization by peers, and the potential to feel guilt or get in to trouble.
The respondents also indicated that oral sex is more acceptable than vaginal sex for their age group in terms of the health of their relationship with their partner, both in dating and non-dating relationships. This finding links with Kaestle and Halpern (2007)’s hypothesis that oral sex is often used in relationships where feelings of love are unequal as a way of increasing the perceived value of the relationship for the partner who is expressing less love and receiving more fellatio or cunnilingus. My research will address this question by uncovering the respondent’s motivations for having oral sex, specifically by asking if they are more likely to give or receive oral sex, and if this is their preferred role or if they find themselves preforming more for their partner’s enjoyment than they would like to in an ideal relationship.
At the end, on the same page as above, write 1-2 paragraphs clearly and THOROUGHLY responding to the same questions but in past tense this time, explaining how you accomplished these goals/challenges. You will need to have your paper proofread by at least one other person in order to complete this assignment and get feedback, especially for questions 3.
1) the purpose of this literature review was to clearly show my readers that I have obtained a thorough and in depth knowledge base concerning the work that others have already done in my field, as well as how previous research has informed my hypothesis. Synthesizing the most important research that I have read has aided me as a researcher and as an author by prompting me to re examine as well as synthesize the information that i have collected.
2) At the end of this literature review, I have clearly demonstrated to readers that I am a knowledgeable researcher and that my research is a new and important contribution to understanding oral sex in college students, and that it conceptually supported by work that has already been done by other researchers in the field of sexology. I have done this by effectively demonstrating ties between previous research and what i propose to do in my own.
3) Writing an article designed for a scientifically community while still making it broadly accessible was a challenge. I did this by using a combination of both racy as well as technical language, and having peer reviewers rigorously examine my work to ensure that it is accessible, engaging and that my voice as an author comes across as credible by engaging readers on logical and emotional levels. I also made sure that I came across as an authority without sounding pretentious or assumptive.
