Mothers as Participants in Family Sexual Culture

Vol.22,No.1(2017)
Studia paedagogica

Abstract
This paper examines family sexual culture as a collection of possible expressions of human sexuality (through its meanings, activities, patterns of behavior, and ways of acting) as these are codified in a given family, where they exist as the result of socialization of older generations. Family sexual culture is reproduced particularly via unintentional influence, especially that of mothers. Based on interviews with 27 mothers, this qualitative paper shows how mothers reflect family sexual culture, how they co-form it, and which parts of family life are influenced by it. Conversation is the first part of family sexual culture because it is a common pattern of behavior for mothers who use it to (de)regulate children's access to adult conversation on sexuality. The second part of family sexual culture is a specific culture of speech and its vocabulary, which mothers use to name and talk about sexual organs, coitus, and other physiological processes related to sexuality. The third part is a culture of the body, which includes tacit rules governing how sexuality and nudity are to be expressed by sexual partners within the family. The fourth part is a culture of the environment, which regulates the household environment and especially the placement of objects related to sexuality. The fifth part of family sexual culture involves consumption of media and the ways in which mothers approach sexual scenes on television and discussions of sexuality in media.

Keywords:
family sexual culture; sexuality; sexual socialization; mothers as socialization participants
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