Contenu du sommaire : Sexualité et société

Sonia Dayan-Herzbrun : Sexuality and the social sciences. The discourse on sexuality which developed during the course of the 19th century was based on both biology and medicine. The antinaturalist postulate which forms the basis of sociology, ethnology and anthropology leads to the substitution in these disciplines of the concepts of parenthood, marriage and family by that of sexuality which they refuse, in the vast majority of cases, to constitute as an object, despite the pathways opened up by certain respected authors. For the rare anthropologists and numerous historians who have worked on this theme, the accent was sometimes placed on the similarity between the fears, fantasies and situations in different epochs and cultures and sometimes on the differences and ruptures by explaining the very notion of sexuality in historical terms.

Alain Giami : From Kinsey to AIDS — The evolution of the construction of sexual behaviour in quantitative survey. The widespread use which is being made of sexual behaviour in a large number of quantitative research studies has led the author to investigate the history of this concept. Borrowed from the field of biology, physiology and expérimental psychology, sexual behaviour is presented first of ail as a concept exempt of variations in that it falls within the domain of the natural sciences. In contrast, the study of its use in investigations carried out within the context of different cultural, sociological and political environments clearly shows how, in each case, it involves different constructions. Originally associated with orgasm (Kinsey) and contraception (Simon), sexual behaviour is now considered in terms of HIV transmission. The author analyses these different themes, together with the oscillations and articulations between sociological and psychological approaches.

Nathalie Bajos, Alfred Spira : Analysis of sexual behaviour in France. At the request of the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA, a quantitative investigation into sexual behaviour is to be carried out on a population of 20,000 people living in France. The objective is to obtain basic information on the sexual behaviour of the population, a better definition of AIDS-prevention campaigns and to develop models for forecasting the progression of the disease. In addition to a detailed description of sexual behaviour, several lines of analysis (sociological, psycho-sociological and psychological) will be explored. The preliminary results of this telephone enquiry should be available in June 1992.

Michel Bozon : Sexual intercourse in the mating process in France. In the late 25 years, there has been a growing diversity in the ways people were gaining access to life as a couple, in the more developed countries : direct marriage has gone down, and non-marital cohabitation has markedly increased. Is this a mere institutional evolution, or has the mating process itself been deeply transformed ? The question is approached through an analysis of the function of sexual intercourse in the formation of French couples. The 'Formation of Couples' survey, which was carried out in 1984 by INED (French National Institute of Demography), on a sample of 3,000 individuals, less than 45 years of age, either married or having cohabited for at least 2 months, provides precise information on the timing of mating, and some anthropological description of the process. The traditional transition ritual, in which the sequence of stages was fixed and rigid, was gradually substituted by a more informal process, less controlled by the family, in which stages do not have to follow the same uniform order. The first sexual intercourse between partners used to be close to marriage and the beginning of co-residence. With the development of cohabitation, first sex has become an early stage of mating, typical of the 'going out' period, when the couple has not Consolidated yet. Sexual intercourse often initiates a period of semi-cohabitation, in which each partner keeps his own residence, even if part of the time during the week is already spent together at his or her place. Ironically, early sexual intercourse precipitates the establishing of the couple and at the same time makes it more gradual.

Sylvie Fainzang : Sexuality and reproduction of African immigrants (Soninke and Toucouleur) living in polygamous situations. Sexuality and reproduction are indissociable questions for immigrant African women of Soninke and Toucouleur origin living polygamously. The aim of this article is to show that not only is the reproductive finality assigned to female sexuality exacerbated in polygamous situations, but also that the two can only be dissociated with difficulty in the context of immigration, depending on the position held by the women concerned within their household. Their room for manoeuvre and the possibility of redefining their sexuality is dependent on their network of social relationships.

Hélène Puiseux : Sexuality and disease — A short circuit in the film world. In the same way as taies and legends, films are stories and can be read as forming a System. This theoretical option and the methodological problems attached to it are presented, then used in a special application — the relationship between sexuality and disease. The analysis of films of the realist tendency, confirmed by the hyperbole of horror films, shows how a System is set up to show sex and sexuality as an excess, something to be eut off. The films which take this to the extreme, mutilating those who desire or who engage in sex (disease, amputation, infirmity and death), make sexuality something of which to be guilty (and guillotined). And is it not the case that television news tends towards the same normalizing effect ?