What will sexual behavior look like in the year 2050? That is the central question of this course.

Perhaps people will live to be 90 years old and thanks to medical science, that will still be an age at which sexual activity is perfectly possible? Perhaps your children don’t have to reproduce by sex and will mainly have sex with robots or porn or AI-generated characters? Or do you think that sexual behavior and sexual emotions will remain roughly the same as they are today, and are you in favor of a more timeless, universal view of this? In the field of sexology, a lot has happened over the past 25 years (for example, the advent of Viagra, more people identifying as non-heterosexual), and perhaps things will only change at a faster pace.

Sexology (the study of human sexual life and intimate relationships) is perhaps best categorized as an interdisciplinary scientific enterprise, and we will examine what this means as our point of departure for this course. We will use existing data to predict how the trends are likely to evolve and use a bio-psycho-social perspective to investigate different hypotheses, a few you can think of: (bio) medicalization will enhance sexual functioning in all ages, (psycho) sexual addiction will increase because of porn, (social), people will be freer re sexual orientation and sexual preferences. These are only ideas and together we will choose some themes to discuss in depth.

The course consists of two parts. In the one part, we will thoroughly read and discuss the papers selected by you and me. This part will be concluded with an exam. In the other part, each student will be challenged to carry out their own research project. You are free to choose an empirical approach, qualitative or quantitative, working together in subgroups. During the classes, we will discuss progress and help each other.

The examples mentioned at the beginning (such as medicine or robots) are just examples! As far as I’m concerned, all ideas are welcome. Together, we can make a selection, and in the end, I’m curious to see whether we will face the future with optimism or with pessimism.

Coordinator

Dr. Mark Spiering

Timetable

All lectures will take place on-campus and we assume you can be physically present during the scheduled hours. You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Registration

Registration is possible for students participating in an Honours program. The registration period for the Honours courses will be from Friday, November 28, 10:00 am to Tuesday, December 2, 11:59 pm. You can register through the online registration form that will appear on Honoursmodules IIS. (registration is NOT through SIS)

Please note: Placement is not guaranteed if you register after December 2, so make sure you register on time. You will hear which course(s) you are registered for before December 31. 

For questions about registration, please contact us at: Honours-iis@uva.nl