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TENTH EDITION
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HUMAN SEXUALITY
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Diversity in Contemporary Society
William L. Yarber
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Barbara W. Sayad
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, MONTEREY BAY
HUMAN SEXUALITY: DIVERSITY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY, TENTH EDITION
Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2019 by McGraw-Hill
Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2016, 2013, and
2010. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored
in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but
not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the
United States.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 LWI 21 20 19 18
ISBN 978-1-260-39712-3 (bound edition)
MHID 1-260-39712-2 (bound edition)
ISBN 978-1-259-91105-7 (loose-leaf edition)
MHID 1-259-91105-5 (loose-leaf edition)
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a
website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill
Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
Dedication
Elton had a special relationship with Ryan White and has said
that Ryan’s activism, compassion, and courage inspired him to
change his life—to stop abusing drugs and to do something to
honor Ryan and give purpose to his life. After seeking
treatment for his addiction, he created the Elton John AIDS
Foundation, one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS programs in
the world. President Bill Clinton said “My friend Elton has
touched us all with his music and with the countless lives he
has saved through his AIDS foundation.”
—w. l. y.
iii
Brief Contents
1 Perspectives on Human Sexuality 1
iv
Contents
PREFACE xviii | LETTER FROM THE AUTHORS xxix |
ABOUT THE AUTHORS xxxi
v
SEX RESEARCH METHODS 31
Research Concerns 32
Clinical Research 33
Survey Research 33
■ Practically Speaking ANSWERING A SEX RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE: MOTIVES FOR FEIGNING
ORGASMS SCALE 34
Observational Research 37
Experimental Research 37
■ Think About It A CONTINUED CHALLENGE FACING SEX RESEARCHERS: SELECTING THE BEST WAY TO
TO MORALITY? 46
The National College Health Assessment 47
The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior 48
Internal Structures 65
■ Practically Speaking PERFORMING A GYNECOLOGICAL SELF-EXAMINATION 69
Other Structures 70
©Ingram Publishing/SuperStock
The Breasts 70
vi Contents
FEMALE SEXUAL PHYSIOLOGY 71
Sex Hormones 72
The Ovarian Cycle 73
The Menstrual Cycle 74
■ Practically Speaking VAGINAL AND MENSTRUAL WELL-BEING 79
■ Practically Speaking SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE: WHAT DO MEN NEED? 102
Spermatogenesis 104
Semen Production 105
Homologous Organs 105
FINAL THOUGHTS 109 | SUMMARY 109 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 110 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 110 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 110 | SUGGESTED READING 110
Contents vii
GENDER-ROLE LEARNING 118
Theories of Socialization 118
Gender-Role Learning in Childhood and Adolescence 119
Gender Schemas: Exaggerating Differences 123
FINAL THOUGHTS 139 | SUMMARY 139 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 140 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 140 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 140 | SUGGESTED READING 141
6 Sexuality in Childhood
and Adolescence 142
SEXUALITY IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD (AGES 0 TO 11) 143
Infancy and Sexual Response (Ages 0 to 2) 144
Childhood Sexuality (Ages 3 to 11) 144
The Family Context 146
FINAL THOUGHTS 165 | SUMMARY 165 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 165 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 166 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 166 | SUGGESTED READING 166
viii Contents
Cohabitation 179
Same-Sex Marriage 179
FINAL THOUGHTS 190 | SUMMARY 190 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 191 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 191 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 191 | SUGGESTED READING 191
JEALOUSY 202
The Psychological Dimension of Jealousy 203
■ Think About It THE SCIENCE OF LOVE 204
Contents ix
CONFLICT AND INTIMACY 217
Sexual Conflicts 218
■ Practically Speaking LESSONS FROM THE LOVE LAB 219
Conflict Resolution 219
FINAL THOUGHTS 220 | SUMMARY 220 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 221 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 221 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 222 | SUGGESTED READING 222
AUTOEROTICISM 238
Sexual Fantasies and Dreams 239
Masturbation 241
■ Practically Speaking ASSESSING YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD MASTURBATION 245
FINAL THOUGHTS 262 | SUMMARY 262 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 263 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 263 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 263 | SUGGESTED READING 263
OF PSYCHOLOGY 266
FINAL THOUGHTS 285 | SUMMARY 285 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 286 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 286 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 287 | SUGGESTED READING 287
ABORTION 312
Methods of Abortion 312
Safety of Abortion 313
Women and Abortion 314
Men and Abortion 315
The Abortion Debate 315
FINAL THOUGHTS 318 | SUMMARY 318 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 319 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 319 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 319 | SUGGESTED READING 320
Contents xi
12 Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth 321
FERTILIZATION AND FETAL DEVELOPMENT 323
The Fertilization Process 323
Development of the Conceptus 324
PREGNANCY 327
Preconception Health 327
Pregnancy Detection 327
Adjustments and Psychological Changes in Women During Pregnancy 328
Complications of Pregnancy and Dangers to the Fetus 329
■ Think About It SEXUAL BEHAVIOR DURING PREGNANCY 330
INFERTILITY 338
Female Infertility 338
Male Infertility 338
Emotional Responses to Infertility 339
Infertility Treatment 339
FINAL THOUGHTS 348 | SUMMARY 349 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 349 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 350 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 350 | SUGGESTED READING 350
xii Contents
ADDITIONAL SEXUAL HEALTH ISSUES 374
Toxic Shock Syndrome 374
Vulvodynia 375
Endometriosis 375
Prostatitis 375
FINAL THOUGHTS 377 | SUMMARY 377 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 378 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 378 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 379 | SUGGESTED READING 379
FINAL THOUGHTS 417 | SUMMARY 417 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 419 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 419 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 419 | SUGGESTED READING 419
Contents xiii
15 Sexually Transmitted Infections 421
THE STI EPIDEMIC 422
STIs: The Most Common Reportable Infectious Diseases 423
Who Is Affected: Disparities Among Groups 424
Factors Contributing to the Spread of STIs 426
■ Practically Speaking PREVENTING STIs: THE ROLE OF MALE CONDOMS, FEMALE CONDOMS, AND
FINAL THOUGHTS 453 | SUMMARY 453 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 454 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 454 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 455 | SUGGESTED READING 455
xiv Contents
16 HIV and AIDS 456
WHAT IS AIDS? 458
Conditions Associated With AIDS 458
■ Think About It THE STIGMATIZATION OF HIV AND OTHER STIs 459
Symptoms of HIV Infection and AIDS 460
Understanding AIDS: The Immune System and HIV 460
The Virus 461
AIDS Pathogenesis: How the Disease Progresses 462
©Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY AND TRANSMISSION OF HIV 463
The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the United States 464
Modes and Myths of Transmission 467
Sexual Transmission 469
Substance and Injection Drug Use 471
Mother-to-Child Transmission 472
FINAL THOUGHTS 495 | SUMMARY 496 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 497 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 497 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 497 | SUGGESTED READING 497
Contents xv
HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER, AND QUEER PEOPLE 509
Heterosexual Bias 509
Prejudice, Discrimination, and Violence 509
Ending Anti-Gay Prejudice and Enactment of Antidiscrimination Laws 512
■ Practically Speaking BEING SAFE: STRATEGIES FOR AVOIDING BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED 521
■ Practically Speaking HAVING SEX AGAIN AFTER BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED: RECLAIMING ONE’S
SEXUALITY 530
Effects of Child Sexual Abuse 532
Treatment Programs 533
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse 533
FINAL THOUGHTS 534 | SUMMARY 534 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 535 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 535 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 536 | SUGGESTED READING 536
HARMFUL? 546
Censorship, Sexually Explicit Material, and the Law 548
■ Think About It WHAT POPULAR MEDIA SAYS ABOUT SEXUALLY EXPLICIT VIDEOS AND RELATIONSHIPS:
xvi Contents
SEXUALITY AND THE LAW 561
Legalizing Private, Consensual Sexual Behavior 561
■ Think About It SHOULD SEX WORK BE DECRIMINALIZED AND LEGALIZED? 562
Same-Sex Marriage 563
Advocating Sexual Rights 564
FINAL THOUGHTS 564 | SUMMARY 565 | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 566 | SEX AND
THE INTERNET 566 | SUGGESTED WEBSITES 566 | SUGGESTED READING 566
GLOSSARY G-1
REFERENCES R-1
Contents xvii
Preface
xviii
Speaking Practically about Human Sexuality
The Practically Speaking feature asks students to examine their own values and the ways they
express their sexuality. Topics include sexual communication, effective condom use, having
sex again after sexual assault, and a glossary on sex, gender, and gender variation terms. These
features help students apply the concepts presented in the book to their own lives.
Preface xix
Heat Map and the Power of Student Data
For this edition, data were analyzed to identify the concepts students found to be the most
difficult, allowing for expansion upon the discussion, practice, and assessment of challenging
topics. The revision process for a new edition used to begin with gathering information from
instructors about what they would change and what they would keep. Experts in the field
were asked to provide comments that pointed out new material to add and dated material
to review. Using all these reviews, authors would revise the material. But now a new tool has
revolutionized that model.
McGraw-Hill Education authors now have access to student performance data to analyze
and inform their revisions. This data is anonymously collected from the many students who
use SmartBook, the adaptive learning system that provides students with individualized
assessment of their own progress. Because virtually every text paragraph is tied to several
questions that students answer while using the SmartBook, the specific concepts with which
students are having the most difficulty are easily pinpointed through empirical data in the
form of a “heat map” report.
Here’s how the “heat map” works:
STEP 1. Over the course of three years, data points showing concepts that caused students
the most difficulty were anonymously collected from SmartBook for Human Sexuality:
Diversity in Contemporary America, 9e.
STEP 2. The data was provided to the authors in the form of a Heat Map, which graphi-
cally illustrated “hot spots” in the text that impacted student learning.
STEP 3. The authors used the Heat Map data to refine the content and reinforce student
comprehension in the new edition. Additional quiz questions and assignable activities were
created for use in Connect for Human Sexuality to further support student success.
RESULT: Because the Heat Map gave the authors empirically based feedback at the para-
graph and even sentence levels, they were able to develop the new edition using precise
student data that pinpointed concepts that caused students the most difficulty.
Powerful Reporting
Whether a class is face-to-face, hybrid, or entirely online, M
cGraw-Hill Connect provides the
tools needed to reduce the amount of time and energy instructors spend administering their
courses. Easy-to-use course management tools allow instructors to spend less time adminis-
tering and more time teaching, while reports allow students to monitor their progress and
optimize their study time.
■■ The At-Risk Student Report provides instructors with one-click access to a dashboard
that identifies students who are at risk of dropping out of the course due to low
engagement levels.
■■ The Category Analysis Report details student performance relative to specific learning
objectives and goals, including APA learning goals and outcomes and levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy.
■■ Connect Insight is a one-of-a-kind visual analytics dashboard—now available for both
instructors and students—that provides at-a-glance information regarding student
performance.
■■ The LearnSmart Reports allow instructors and students to easily monitor progress and
pinpoint areas of weakness, giving each student a personalized study plan to achieve
success.
xx Preface
New to the tenth edition, Power of Process, now available in McGraw-Hill Connect, guides
students through the process of critical reading, analysis, and writing. Faculty can select or
upload their own content, such as journal articles, and assign analysis strategies to gain
insight into students’ application of the scientific method. For students, Power of Process
offers a guided visual approach to exercising critical thinking strategies to apply before,
during, and after reading published research. Additionally, utilizing the relevant and engaging
research articles built into Power of Process, students are supported in becoming critical
consumers of research.
Concept Clips help students comprehend some of the most difficult concepts in human
sexuality. Colorful graphics and stimulating animations describe core concepts in a step-by-
step manner, engaging students and aiding in retention. Concept Clips can be used as a
presentation tool in the classroom or for student assessment. New in the tenth edition,
Concept Clips are embedded in the eBook to offer an alternative presentation of these chal-
lenging topics. New clips cover topics such as attraction, mate selection, and learning gender
roles.
Interactivities, assignable through Connect, engage students with content through experi-
ential activities. Topics include first impressions and attraction.
Through the connection of human sexuality to students’ own lives, concepts become more
relevant and understandable. Powered by McGraw-Hill Education’s Connect for Human Sex-
uality, NewsFlash exercises tie current news stories to key psychological principles and learn-
ing objectives. After interacting with a contemporary news story, students are assessed on
their ability to make the link between real life and research findings.
At the Apply and Analyze level of Bloom’s, Scientific Reasoning Exercises, now available
in Connect, offer in-depth arguments to sharpen students’ critical thinking skills and prepare
them to be more discerning consumers regarding information in their everyday lives. For
each chapter, there are multiple sets of arguments related to topics in the Human Sexuality
course, accompanied by autograded assignments that ask students to think critically about
claims presented as facts. These exercises can also be used as group activities or for
discussion.
And McGraw-Hill Education Psychology’s APA Documentation Style Guide helps s tudents
properly cite and document their writing assignments.
The Instructor Resources have been updated to reflect changes to the new edition. These
can be accessed by faculty through Connect. Resources include the test bank, instructor’s
manual, PowerPoint presentation, and image gallery.
Preface xxi
Supporting Instructors with Technology
With McGraw-Hill Education, you can develop and tailor the course you want to teach.
With Tegrity, you can capture lessons and lectures in a searchable for-
mat and use them in traditional, hybrid, “flipped classes,” and online
courses. With Tegrity’s personalized learning features, you can make
study time efficient. Its ability to affordably scale brings this benefit to every student on campus.
Patented search technology and real-time learning management system (LMS) integrations make
Tegrity the market-leading solution and service.
xxii Preface
Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Human Sexuality
This debate-style reader both reinforces and challenges students’ viewpoints on the most cru-
cial issues in human sexuality today. Each topic offers current and lively pro and con essays
that represent the arguments of leading scholars and commentators in their fields. Learning
Outcomes, an Issue Summary, and an Issue Introduction set the stage for each debate topic.
Following each issue is the Exploring the Issue section with Critical Thinking and Reflection
questions, Is There Common Ground? commentary, Additional Resources, and Internet References
all designed to stimulate and challenge the student’s thinking and to further explore the topic.
Customize this title via McGraw-Hill Education Create at http://create.mheducation.com.
Chapter-by-Chapter Changes
The research on sexuality is ever increasing, thereby providing the material to allow this new
edition to be current and relevant. Not only does our book incorporate the latest research
on sexual diversity and expression, but it also reflects current social and cultural trends in
sexuality that are pertinent to the development of a healthy and pleasurable sexuality. Below
are listed the major additions and changes to the tenth edition of Human Sexuality: Diversity
in Contemporary Society.
Preface xxiii
■■ New section on menstrual products
■■ Expanded discussion on human sexual response
■■ New approach to material on desire and arousal
■■ New (to this chapter) Think About It box: “Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Human
Rights Violation or Cultural and Social Norm?”
xxiv Preface
■■ New research and discussion on same-sex marriage
■■ A new data on sexual frequency, by age
■■ New to this chapter and updated Think About It box: “Are Same-Sex Couples and
Families Any Different from Heterosexual Ones?”
■■ Expanded discussion on sex in middle and late adulthood
■■ New research on biological changes in late adulthood and recommendations on
menopausal hormone therapy
Preface xxv
Chapter 12: Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth
■■ Reexamination and data on pregnancy as a choice
■■ New research on preconception health
■■ Expanded discussion and data on sexual patterns during pregnancy
■■ Clarification of the nature and effects of teratogens during pregnancy, including new
material on the Zika virus
■■ Updated material on infertility, including causes and methods for treating it in both
males and females
■■ New and expanded material on breastfeeding verses bottle-feeding
■■ Expanded discussion of the postpartum period
xxvi Preface
Chapter 16: HIV and AIDS
■■ New material for the Think About It box: “The Stigmatization of HIV and Other STIs”
■■ Updated information on the prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS in the United
States and worldwide
■■ Updated research on the lifetime risk for HIV diagnosis in the United States by
transmission category, race/ethnicity, and men who have sex by race/ethnicity
■■ New material of the estimated probability of acquiring HIV from an infected source
during one episode of a specific behavior
■■ Updated and expanded discussion of HIV/AIDS among minority races/ethnicities and
sexual minorities such as transgender individuals
■■ New Think About It box: “Which Strategies Would You Use to Reduce Your Risk of
STI/HIV? What One Group of Women Did”
■■ Expanded discussion of pre-exposure prophylaxis and new material on post-exposure
prophylaxis
■■ New and updated information on HIV/AIDS testing, diagnosis, and treatment
■■ New material for the Think About It box: “‘Do You Know What You Are Doing?’
Common Condom-Use Mistakes Among College Students”
Chapter 18: Sexually Explicit Materials, Sex Workers, and Sex Laws
■■ New research on the percentage of adults who report having watched sexually explicit
videos and utilized various sexually explicit materials
■■ New material on the challenges of research on sexually explicit materials
■■ New Think About It box: “Who Watches the Different Types of Sexually Explicit
Videos?”
■■ Renamed and new material for the Think About It box: “Sexually Explicit Video Use
in Romantic Couples: Beneficial or Harmful?”
■■ New Think About It box: “What Popular Media Says About Sexually Explicit Videos
and Relationships: Supported by Research?”
■■ Updating of the Think About It box: “Sex Trafficking: A Modern-Day Slavery”
■■ Renamed prostitution as sex work
■■ New Think About It box: “Should Sex Work Be Decriminalized and Legalized?”
■■ Update on the number of countries that have legalized same-sex marriage
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments
In addition to student-user feedback through McGraw-Hill Education’s LearnSmart, feedback
from instructor reviews were instrumental in guiding this revision. Special thanks to the
following:
Gretchen Blycker, University of Rhode Island
Meghan Brodie, Valencia College
Lisa Hoopis, Rhode Island College
Nathan Matza, California State University, Long Beach
Brent Powell, California State University, Stanislaus
Melissa Schreiber, Valencia College
Laurie Wagner, Kent State University
Jay Warden, Cape Cod Community College
Michelle Worley, Saddleback College
We would also like to thank our team at McGraw-Hill Education: Senior Portfolio Manager
Nancy Welcher, Lead Product Developer Dawn Groundwater, Senior Product Developer Sara
Gordus, Product Developer Joni Fraser, Senior Marketing Manager AJ Laferrera, C ontent
Production Manager Sandy Wille, Content Licensing Specialists Ann Marie Jannette and
Designer, David Hash. Additional thanks go out to Rebecca Ryan, personal assistant and
input editor, Martha Ghent, freelance proofreader, and David Tietz, freelance photo researcher.
xxviii Preface
Letter From the Authors
Since its first edition, we have focused on making our book relevant to the diverse and
contemporary students we teach and have expanded our reach to a broader representation
of students from around the world. With better access to global research and scholarship,
our discussion of human sexuality has increasingly cited research studies and writings from
countries beyond America, thus broadening student understanding of the diverse meanings
and expressions of human sexuality. The desire to reflect these changes has prompted us to
alter the title of our textbook to Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary Society. We hope
that this title and updated content helps you explore new and varied perspectives and increase
your understanding and appreciation of human sexuality in the contemporary society we all
share.
We have found that when students first enter a human sexuality class, they may feel
excited, nervous, and uncomfortable, all at the same time. These feelings are common. This
is because the more an area of life is judged “off limits” to public and private discussion,
the less likely it is to be understood and embraced. Yet sex surrounds us and impacts our
lives every day from the provocative billboard ad on the highway, to the steamy social media
images of the body, to men’s and women’s fashions, and to prime-time television dramas.
People want to learn about the role and meaning of human sexuality in their lives and how
to live healthy psychologically and physically, yet they often do not know whom to ask or
what sources to trust. In our quest for knowledge and understanding, we need to maintain
an intellectual curiosity. Author William Arthur Ward observes, “Curiosity is the wick in the
candle of learning.”
Students begin studying sexuality for many reasons: to gain insights into their sexuality
and relationships, to become more comfortable with their sexuality, to learn how to enhance
sexual pleasure for themselves and their partners, to explore personal sexual issues, to dispel
anxieties and doubts, to validate their sexual identity, to avoid and resolve traumatic sexual
experiences, and to learn how to avoid STIs and unintended pregnancies. Many students
find the study of human sexuality empowering: They become more free to explore and dis-
cover their sexuality, and they develop the ability to make intelligent sexual choices based
on reputable information and their own needs, desires, and values rather than on stereotyp-
ical, unreliable, incomplete, or unrealistic information; guilt; fear; or conformity. They learn
to differentiate between what they have been told about their own sexuality and what they
truly believe; that is, they begin to own their sexuality and develop a sexuality that fits them.
Those studying this subject often report that they feel more appreciative and less apologetic,
defensive, or shameful about their sexual feelings, attractions, and desires.
The study of human sexuality calls for us to be open-minded: to be receptive to new ideas
and to various perspectives; to respect those with different experiences, values, orientations,
ages, abilities, and ethnicities; to seek to understand what we have not understood before;
xxix
to reexamine old assumptions, ideas, and beliefs; and to embrace and accept the humanness
and uniqueness in each of us.
Sexuality can be a source of great pleasure and, yes, the “cement” of a relationship.
Through it, we can reveal ourselves, connect with others on the most intimate levels, create
strong bonds, and bring new life into the world. Paradoxically, though, sexuality can also be
a source of guilt and confusion, anger and disappointment, a pathway to infection, and a
means of exploitation and aggression. We hope that by examining the multiple aspects of
human sexuality presented in this book, you will come to understand, embrace, and appre-
ciate your own sexuality and the unique individuality of sexuality among others; to learn how
to make healthy sexual choices for yourself; to integrate and balance your sexuality into your
life as a natural health-enhancing component; and to express your sexuality with partners in
sharing, nonexploitive, and nurturing ways.
William L. Yarber
Barbara W. Sayad
WILLIAM L. YARBER is senior scientist at The Kinsey Institute and Provost Professor in
the Indiana University School of Public Health–Bloomington. He is also senior director of
the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention and affiliated faculty member in the Department
of Gender Studies at IU.
Dr. Yarber, who received his doctorate from Indiana University, has authored and co-
authored numerous scientific reports on sexual risk behavior and AIDS/STD prevention in
professional journals and has received federal and state grants to support his research and
prevention activities. He is a member of the international Kinsey Institute Condom Use
Research Team that has for two decades investigated male condom use errors and problems
and developed behavioral interventions designed to improve correct and consistent
condom use.
At the request of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Yarber
authored the country’s first secondary school AIDS prevention education curriculum, AIDS:
What Young People Should Know (1987, 1989). He is founder and co-editor of the Handbook
of Sexuality-Related Measures, Fourth Edition (2019). Dr. Yarber and Dr. Sayad’s textbook,
Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary Society (McGraw-Hill), which is used in colleges
William L. Yarber and universities throughout the United States, was published in 2012 by the Beijing World
©Charles Rondot Publishing Company as the most up-to-date text on human sexuality published in China in
the past half century. Also in 2012, the text was published in Korea and in 2018 it was
published in Taiwan.
Dr. Yarber chaired the National Guidelines Task Force, which developed the Guidelines
for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten–12th Grade (1991, 1996, 2004), pub-
lished by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)
and adapted in six countries worldwide. Dr. Yarber is past president of The Society for the
Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) and a past chair of the SIECUS board of directors. His
awards include the SSSS Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award; the Professional Stan-
dard of Excellence Award from the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and
Therapists; the Indiana University President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching; and the
inaugural Graduate Student Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award at Indiana University.
Dr. Yarber has been a consultant to the World Health Organization Global Program on
AIDS as well as sexuality-related organizations in Brazil, China, Jamaica, Poland, Portugal,
and Taiwan. He regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in human sexuality.
He was previously a faculty member at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota,
as well as a public high school health science and biology teacher. Dr. Yarber endowed, for
perpetuity, at Indiana University the world’s first professorship in sexual health, the W
illiam L.
Yarber Professorship in Sexual Health and the annual Ryan White & William L. Yarber Lecture.
xxxi
BARBARA WERNER SAYAD is a teacher, trainer, writer, and consultant in the field of
human sexuality. As a retired faculty member from California State University, Monterey
Bay, Dr. Sayad has taught a wide variety of courses ranging from human sexuality to multi-
cultural health education and promotion. Her work among students and in the classroom
has earned her several teaching awards, each of which she is most proud. Additionally, she
has chaired university committees, spoken at dozens of university-related events, trained and
collaborated with other faculty members and colleagues, and helped to raise monies for both
national and international non-profit organizations.
Dr. Sayad has presented her work at a variety of institutions, the most significant of
which has focused on comprehensive sexuality education. One that she is most proud of is
her alliance with Aibai, the largest LGTBQ organization in China, where she twice traveled
to present to the Asian Conference on Sexual Education in Beijing and Changdu. There she
also led workshops and roundtables with and for American delegates and Chinese scholars
at the U.S. Embassy, U.S. State Department, and UNESCO and was invited to present at
Xixi, the equivalent of a TED Talk, in Shanghai. Most recently, Dr. Sayad helped to facilitate
Barbara Werner Sayad
a trip to Cuba, where she collaborated with colleagues and met with delegates from CENE-
©Robert Sayad
SEX, Cuba’s government-sponsored sexuality education and gender equity organization.
The vast majority of Dr. Sayad’s 35-year career has been connected to issues of social
justice: women’s reproductive rights, sexuality education and advocacy, and health access.
Her commitment to social justice has fueled all of her professional work, including her con-
tributions to health-related texts, curricular guides, publications, training programs and con-
ference presentations.
Dr. Sayad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Foods and Nutrition, a Master’s degree
in Public Health, and a PhD in Health Services.
Above all, Dr. Sayad is most proud of her three children, two young grandchildren, and
extended family. She is also eternally grateful and happy to be married for 40 years to
Dr. Robert Sayad.
1
Perspectives
on Human Sexuality
©Peopleimages/iStock/Getty Images
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Studying Human Sexuality Sexuality Across Cultures and Times
Sexuality, Popular Culture, and the Media Societal Norms and Sexuality
1
©Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
“The media, especially magazines and stomach was as hard and flat as a board,
television, has had an influence on shaping with their flawless skin and perfectly coifed
my sexual identity. Ever since I was a little girl, hair. I cringed when I realized that my legs
I have watched the women on TV and hoped seemed to have an extra ‘wiggle-jiggle’ when I
I would grow up to look sexy and beautiful walked. All I could do was watch the television
like them. I feel that because of the constant and feel abashed at the differences in their
Student Voices barrage of images of beautiful women on TV bodies compared to mine. When magazines
and in magazines young girls like me grow up and films tell me that for my age I should
with unrealistic expectations of what beauty is weigh no more than a hundred pounds,
and are doomed to feel they have not met I feel like saying, ‘Well, gee, it’s no wonder
this exaggerated standard.” I finally turned to laxatives with all these
—21-year-old female pressures to be thin surrounding me.’
I ached to be model-thin and pretty. This
“The phone, television, and Internet became fixation to be as beautiful and coveted as
my best friends. I never missed an episode of these models so preoccupied me that I had
any of the latest shows, and I knew all the no time to even think about anyone or
words to every new song. And when anything else.”
Facebook entered my life, I finally felt —18-year-old female
connected. At school, we would talk about
status updates: whom we thought was cute, “I am aware that I may be lacking in certain
relationship status, and outrageous photos. All areas of my sexual self-esteem, but I am
of the things we saw were all of the things we cognizant of my shortcomings and am willing
fantasized about. These are the things we to work on them. A person’s sexual
would talk about.” self-esteem isn’t something that is detached
—23-year-old female from his or her daily life. It is intertwined in
every aspect of life and how one views his or
“Though I firmly believe that we are our own her self: emotionally, physically, and mentally.
harshest critics, I also believe that the media For my own sake, as well as my daughter’s, I
have a large role in influencing how we think feel it is important for me to develop and
of ourselves. I felt like ripping my hair out model a healthy sexual self-esteem.”
every time I saw a skinny model whose —28-year-old male
TV 4:07
Radio 1:27
Print 0:28
Newspapers 0:16
Magazines 0:12
Other 0:22
Total 12:05
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Hr/Min per day
• FIGURE 1
Average Time Spent Per Day in the United States With Media, Aged 18+ and Over, 2016.
Source: www.eMarketer.com [June 2016]
The media are among the most powerful forces in people’s lives today. Adults ages 18 and over
spend more time engaging with the media than in any other activity—an average of 12 hours per
day, 7 days per week (see Figure 1). Watching TV, playing video games, texting, listening to music,
and searching the Internet provide a constant stream of messages, images, expectations, and values
about which few (if any) of us can resist. Whether and how this exposure is related to sexual out-
comes is complex and debatable, depending on the population studied. However, the data that are
available may provide an impetus for policymakers who are forming media policies, parents who
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
so has been the number of sexual references in programming. To understand the impact of “The vast wasteland of TV is not
interested in producing a better
this phenomenon, it is important to recognize its prevalence. In prime-time television alone, mousetrap but in producing a worse
sexually objectifying portrayals of women have been noted to appear among 46% of young mouse.”
adult female characters (Smith, Choueiti, Prescott, & Pieper, 2012) and among 50% of female —Laurence Coughlin
cast members in reality television programs (Flynn, Park, Morin, & Stana, 2015). Because
reality programs (e.g., The Bachelor and America’s Next Top Model) and social media feature
“real” people (as opposed to actors), it is possible that exposure to their objectifying content Watching female icons such as
can have even a more significant impact than other types of programming. Add to the list Rihanna dance in a provocative
of media genres the images and verbal references in music videos, advertising, video games, manner has become mainstream
in most music videos.
and magazines, and it becomes apparent that sexualized women are often the dominant way
©The Image Gate/Getty Images
that girls and women are represented in the media (Ward, 2016).
While it is apparent that exposure to television does not affect all people in the same way,
it is clear that the sexual double standard that does exist taps into our national ambivalence
about sex, equality, morality, and violence. In spite of this, television is making strides to
educate teens and young adults about sexuality and parenting. Programs such as Teen Mom,
13 Reasons Why, Andi Mack, The Mindy Project, and The Fosters have consulted with profes-
sional organizations to help educate viewers. This type of alliance is good for all of us.
Unlike the film industry, which uses a single ratings board to regulate all American
releases, television has been governed by an informal consensus. In 1997, networks began to
rely on watchdog standards and practices departments to rate their shows; however, these
divisions have few, if any, hard-and-fast rules. While the Federal Communication Commission
(FCC) does not offer clear guidelines about what is and is not permissible on the airwaves,
the agency does permit looser interpretations of its decency standards for broadcasts between
10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Additionally, in 2006, the television industry launched a large campaign
to educate parents about TV ratings and the V-chip, technology that allows the blocking of
programs based on their rating category.
Music and Game Videos MTV, MTV2, VH1, BET, and music Internet programs are
very popular among adolescents and young adults. Unlike audio-recorded music, music videos
play to the ear and the eye. At the same time, young female artists such as Beyoncé, Lady
Gaga, and Selina Gomez have brought energy, sexuality, and individualism to the young
music audience. Male artists such as Justin Timberlake, Drake, and The Weeknd provide
young audiences with a steady dose of sexuality, power, and rhythm. On the other hand,
music videos have also objectified and degraded women by stripping them of any sense of
power and individualism and focusing strictly on their sexuality.
Video games that promote sexist and violent attitudes toward women have filled the aisles
of stores across the country. Pushing the line between obscenity and amusement, games often
people. The biggest hurdle remains in showing adults, particularly two males, kissing on
screen as their heterosexual counterparts would. While teen shows may have somewhat
overcome this barrier, most “adult” programs have not.
More frequent in movies is what has been referred to as queerbating, a term used to
describe media where the creators integrate homoeroticism between two characters to lure
in LGBTQ and liberal audiences, yet never fully include actual representation for fear of
alienating a wider audience (Lawler, 2017). For example, in Disney’s remake of Beauty and
the Beast there’s a momentary shot that shows Le Fou dancing with another man, along with
coded words about his feelings for Gaston. This bait-and-switch technique leaves many
LGBTQ fans disappointed not to see themselves represented in meaningful ways that shed
For anyone with a computer,
light on their lives and relationships. social networks provide readily
accessible friends and potential
Online Social Networks partners, help maintain
friendships, and shape sexual
Using the Internet is a major recreational activity that has altered the ways in which individ-
culture.
uals communicate and carry on interpersonal relationships. Though social theorists have long
©Dean Mitchell/Getty Images
been concerned with the alienating effects of technology, the Internet appears quite different
from other communication technologies. Its efficacy, power, and influence, along with the
anonymity and depersonalization that accompany its use, have made it possible for users to
more easily obtain and distribute sexual materials and information, as well as to interact
sexually in different ways.
It is apparent that social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are well
integrated into the daily lives of most people around the world. Their popularity cannot be
underestimated: Facebook alone reports to have nearly 2 billion global users (Statista, 2017).
Add this to the additional 8 billion users with other or supplemental platforms, and it’s
obvious that the digital landscape has taken over the globe.
Social networking sites provide an opportunity for many to display their identities: religious,
political, ideological, work-related, and sexual orientation, to name a few. While doing so, indi-
viduals can also gain feedback from peers and strengthen their bonds of friendship. At the
The popularity and accessibility of digital media and tech- mobile dating sites or apps, compared with 11% who reported
nology, including Internet social networking sites (SNS), have doing so in 2013 (see Figure 3). And since 2013, usage by 18- to
allowed individuals to present themselves publicly in ways that 24-year-olds has increased nearly threefold, while usage by 55- to
were previously never possible. In fact, text messaging and social 64-year-olds has doubled.
networking sites are the most popular means of digital communi- Just how successful or risky are these sites and apps? After all,
cation among young adults (Champion & Pedersen, 2015). Dating once the work of creating a profile is complete, can getting a date
sites such as Tinder, Match.com, and Grindr, along with platforms really be that difficult? To some degree, that depends on what it is
such as Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat enable individuals to that people want—to hook up or have casual sex, to date casually,
find potential partners in just minutes with the simple click on or to date as a way of actively pursuing a relationship. No doubt,
an app or website. Social media facilitate communication and the use of the Internet by any age provides a means of avoiding the
support, play a prominent role in navigating and documenting pitfalls inherent in relying solely on real-world meetings and experi-
romantic relationships, provide an outlet for sexual exploration ences. Most users believe that technology has enhanced their ability
and expression and, for a small minority, are a means to exploit to find a date and in doing so, fulfilled their desire to flirt, date, and
another. Using technology, individuals negotiate over when, with in some cases, find a suitable life partner (Goluboff, 2015; Hobbs,
whom, and how to meet and interact. Owen, & Gerber, 2016; Meenagh, 2015). For the isolated, underrep-
Over time, traditional sites and avenues for meeting singles, resented, and disenfranchised individuals, many of whom hide their
including universities, clubs, and workplaces, have been partially sexual identities from others, Internet dating sites may play an even
replaced by the Internet, thereby allowing people to meet and more prominent and useful role in navigating romantic relationships
form relationships with others with whom they have no knowledge because it allows them to be honest about who they are.
or social connections. According to the Pew Research Center Even as online daters themselves give the experience high
(2016), 15% of adults surveyed in 2015 reported using online or marks, many recognize or have experienced its downsides. Given
11
Total
15
10
18–24
27
22
25–34
22
17
Age
35–44
21
8
45–54
13
6
55–64
12
3 2013 2015
65+
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Percentage
• FIGURE 3
Percentage of Those Who Have Ever Used Online Dating Sites or Mobile Apps, by Age.
Source: Adapted from Pew Research Internet Project, 2016
For the first time, ice now began to be a factor in our cruise. We had
noted a little along the Siberian shore churned by the surf when the
whaleboat attempted a landing off Serdze Kamen, but now as we
stood away from the coast, pack ice to the westward making out
from Koliutchin Bay bothered the ship noticeably, with loose ice in
large chunks bobbing about in the waves, necessitating constant
conning by the officer of the watch to avoid trouble. Finally at 10 p.m.,
with ice growing heavier, while our course to Wrangel Land lay N.W.
by N., the captain changed course to N.E. for a few hours to take her
out of it, and then having come to open water, back to N.W., on
which course under sail and steam we stood on through the night
and all next day with beautifully clear cold weather attending us.
About a hundred miles to the southward of where Wrangel Land
should be, we made out the ice pack once more, extending this time
from dead ahead uninterruptedly around to the westward as far as
eye could see. Confronted thus by the solid pack across our path,
there was nothing for it but to head the Jeannette off to the eastward,
away from our objective, skirting as closely as we dared that pack on
our port side, solid ice now seven feet thick!
Meantime a fine southeast breeze sprang up and to this we made
all sail, heading northeast with wind abeam and the ice dead to
leeward, while from the crow’s-nest, grizzled old Dunbar, our ex-
whaler ice-pilot, closely scanned the pack for any lead of open water
through it going northward, but he found not the slightest sign of one.
On that course we were constantly increasing our distance from
Wrangel Land instead of diminishing it, so De Long after morosely
regarding for some time the fine wake which our six-knot speed was
churning up in the icy water astern, finally ordered me when
darkness fell to stop the engines, bank fires, and save the coal,
letting her go under sail alone for the night.
Late in the first watch then, the engines were secured, the fires
heavily banked in the boilers to burn as little coal as possible, and
stocky Bartlett, fireman in charge of the watch, instructed to keep
them so. With all secured below I came up on deck, for a few
minutes before turning in looking off to leeward across the black
water at the vague loom of that solid ice pack fringing the near
horizon.
Eight bells struck, the watch was changed, the men relieved
tumbling below to the forecastle with great alacrity for in spite of the
southeast breeze, there was a sharp chill in the cutting wind as the
Jeannette, with all sails drawing, plunged ahead at full speed.
Deeply laden and well heeled over by a stiff beam wind, we were
running with the lee scuppers awash, and the cold sea threatened
momentarily to flood over our low bulwark. What with the icy water
and the chilly air, the contrast with the warmth of the boiler room I
had just left was too much for me. With a final glance overhead at
our straining cordage and taut canvas and a wave to Dunbar who
with dripping whiskers dimly visible in the binnacle light on the bridge
above me, had just taken over the watch on deck, I ducked aft into
the poop and wearily slid into my bunk.
On the starboard tack with the wind freshening, the Jeannette
stood on through the night. One bell struck. In the perfunctory routine
drone of the sea, the lookout reported the running lights burning
bright and the report was gravely acknowledged by Mr. Dunbar,
though we might just as well have saved our lamp oil, for what ship
was there besides ourselves in that vast polar solitude to whom
those lights, steadily burning in the darkness, might mean anything
in the way of warning?
Nevertheless we were underway. Habit and the law of the sea are
strong, so on deck the incongruity of the reports struck no one. Hans
Erichsen, a huge Dane posted in the bow as lookout, turned his eyes
lazily from the gleaming lights in the rigging toward the bowsprit once
more, gradually accustoming them again to the darkness ahead.
And then hoarse and loud, nothing perfunctory this time about the
call, came Erichsen’s cry,
“Ice ho! Dead ahead and on the weather bow!”
On the silent Jeannette, that cry, cutting through the whistling of
the wind and the creaking of the rigging, echoed aft in the poop to
bring up in the twinkling of an eye, tumbling half clad out of their
bunks, Captain De Long, Mr. Chipp, and all the other officers.
“Hard alee!” roared Dunbar to the helmsman, desperately
endeavoring to bring her into the wind to avoid a collision, for with ice
alee, ahead, on the weather bow, there was no way out except to
tack.
But the Jeannette, heavily laden and with a trim by the stern as
she then was, had never successfully come about except with the
help of her engines. And now the fires were banked! But she must
tack or crash!
“All hands!”
Through the darkness echoed the rush of feet tumbling up from
the forecastle, racing to man sheets and braces, the shrill piping of
the bosun, hoarse orders, then a bedlam of curses and the howling
of dogs as all over the deck, men and animals collided in the night.
In response to her hard over rudder, the Jeannette’s bow swung
slowly to starboard while from ahead, plainly audible now on our
deck, came the roar of the waves breaking high on the solid pack.
Would she answer her helm and tack?
Breathlessly we waited while with jibs and headsails eased and
spanker hauled flat aft, the Jeannette rounded sluggishly toward the
wind and the open sea and away from that terrible ice.
Then she stopped swinging, hung “in irons.” With our useless sails
flapping wildly and no steam to save us, helplessly we watched with
eyes straining through the darkness as the Jeannette drove
broadside to leeward, straight for the ice pack!
CHAPTER IX
We struck with a shivering crash that shook the Jeannette from keel
to main truck, and hung there with yards banging violently. Lucky for
us now, that nineteen inch thickness of heavily reenforced side and
the stout backing of those new trusses below—that impact would
have stove in the side of any ordinary vessel!
But though we had survived that first smashing blow, we were in
grave danger. Impotent with sails and rudder to claw off that ice
bank, we lay there in a heavy seaway, rolling and grinding against
the jagged shelf on which the wind was pushing us.
That put it up to the black gang. I rushed below into the fireroom.
“Bartlett!” I yelled. “Wide open on your dampers! Accelerate that
draft!”
“Sharvell! Iversen!” I sang out sharply to my two coalheavers.
“Lively with the slice bars! Cut those banked fires to pieces! Get ’em
blazing!”
For thirty anxious minutes we fought before our two Scotch boilers
with slice bars, rakes, and shovels to raise steam, while through our
solid sides as we toiled below the water line, we heard the groaning
and the crunching of the ice digging into our planking and from
above the slapping of the sails, the howling of the dogs, and the
kicks and curses of the seamen still struggling futilely to get the ship
to claw off to windward.
At last with fires roaring, the needle of our pressure gauge started
to climb toward the popping point; I reported we were ready with the
engines.
De Long doused all sail; under steam alone with our helm hard
aport and propeller turning over at half speed, we swung our bow at
last to starboard into the wind and slowly eased away from the pack,
decidedly thankful to get clear with no more damage than a terrible
gouging of our stout elm planking. And under steam alone for the
rest of the night we stood on dead slow nearly to windward between
east and southeast, keeping that ice pack a respectable distance on
our port hand till dawn came and with it, a fog!
For the next few watches, we played tag with the ice-fields,
standing off when the fog came in, standing in when the fog lifted,
searching for an open lead to the northward. At one time during this
period, the fog thinned to show to our intense astonishment, off to
the southeast a bark under full sail, a whaler undoubtedly, standing
wisely enough to the southward away from the ice, but so far off,
anxious as we were not to lose any northing while we sought an
open lead, we never ran down and spoke him.
Soon, a little regretfully, we lost him in the fog, the last vessel we
ever saw, homeward bound no doubt and a missed opportunity for
us to send a farewell message home before we entered the ice-pack
around Wrangel Land.
Finally with nothing but ice in sight except to the southeast, De
Long decided to try a likely looking lead opening to leeward, toward
the northwest. So with the captain in the crow’s-nest and the ice-pilot
perched on the topsail yard, we entered the lead, Lieutenant Chipp
on the bridge conning the ship as directed from aloft. Cautiously we
proceeded in a general northwesterly direction up that none too wide
lead of water with broken ice-fields fairly close aboard us now on
both sides, for some seven hours till late afternoon, when
simultaneously the lead suddenly narrowed and the fog thickened so
much that we stopped, banked fires, and put out an ice-anchor to a
nearby floe.
Chilled, cramped, and dead-tired from his long day in the crow’s-
nest, De Long laid down from aloft and promptly crawled into his
bunk, while the fog continuing, we lay to our ice-anchor till next day.
For the first time on our cruise, the temperature that night dropped
below freezing, with the odd result that by morning between the fog
and the freezing weather, our rigging was a mass of shimmering
snow and frost, magically turning the Jeannette into a fairy ship, a
lovely sight with her every stay and shroud shining and sparkling in
the early dawn, and the running rigging a swaying crystal web of
jewels glistening against the sky.
But as the fog still hung on, and we consequently could not move,
I am afraid our captain, more interested in progress northward than
in beauty, gave scant heed, and it was left to Ambler and me, being
early on deck, really to drink in the soul-satisfying loveliness of that
scene.
Some new ice, a thin film only, made around the ship during the
night, the weather being calm and the surface of our lead therefore
undisturbed and free to freeze, but it was insignificant in thickness
compared to the pack ice surrounding us, which seemed everywhere
to be at least seven feet in depth, of which thickness some two feet
were above water and the rest below, with some hummocks here
and there pushed up above the smooth pack to a height of six feet
perhaps.
By afternoon, the fog cleared enough for us to haul in our ice-
anchor, spread fires and get underway along our lead, which running
now in a northeasterly direction we followed for two hours, poking
and ramming our way between drifting floes. Then to our delighted
surprise, we emerged into the open sea again, open, that is,
between east and north only, with ice filling the horizon in all other
directions.
With some searoom to work in, we speeded the engines and
headed north, where we soon passed a drifting tree, torn up by the
roots, an odd bit of flotsam to encounter in those waters, but which
as it must have come from the south encouraged us since it lent
some weight, however slight, to the Japanese Current theory about
which we were beginning to entertain serious doubts. But we had
little time to speculate on this, for soon from the lookout came the
cry,
“Land ho!”
Sure enough, bearing northwest, apparently forty miles off and
much distorted by mirage, was land which from our position and its
bearings we judged to be Herald Island. This island I must hasten to
explain was so named, not after the New York Herald whose owner,
Mr. Bennett, was financing our expedition, but after H.M.S. Herald,
whose captain, Kellett, had discovered and landed on that island
thirty years before, in 1849.
Immediately from alow and aloft all hands were scanning the
island, through binoculars, through telescopes, and with the naked
eye. There was much animated discussion among us as to its
distance, but regardless of that we could do nothing to close on it, for
the ice-field lay between. So as night fell, we merely steamed in
circles at dead slow speed, just clear of the pack.
Day broke fine and crisp with a light northerly breeze off the ice.
Picking the most promising lead toward Herald Island, we pushed
the Jeannette into it, and for two hours amidst drifting floes we made
our way with no great trouble, when, to our dismay, we began to
meet new ice in the lead, from one to two inches in thickness. For
another two hours, we pushed along through this, our steel-clad
stem easily breaking a path through which we drove our hull, with
the thin ice scratching and gouging our elm doubling, when we came
at last smack up against the thickest pack we had yet seen, some
ten to fifteen feet of solid ice. This, needless to say, brought us up
short. Since we could do nothing else, we ran out our ice-anchor to
the floe ahead, while we waited hopefully for some shift in the pack
to make us a new opening.
With clearer weather, several times during the morning as we lay
in the ice, we made out distinctly not only Herald Island but other
land beyond, above, and also to the southwest of it, which from
everything we had been told, should be part of that Wrangel Land on
which we were banking so much to afford us a base for our sledging
operations toward the Pole. Consequently we searched the distant
outlines of this continent with far greater interest than we had
bestowed on the nearer profile of Herald Island, but to no conclusion.
Danenhower, Chipp, and De Long, all experienced seamen, strained
their eyes through glasses, scanning what could be seen of the
coast of Wrangel Land, but so far even from agreeing on its
remoteness, looking across ice instead of water so upset their habits
of judging, that their estimates of its distance varied all the way from
forty to one hundred miles, while De Long even doubted whether
what he saw beyond Herald Island was land at all but simply a
mirage. Being only an engineer, I took no part in these discussions,
more concerned myself in staring at the unyielding edges of the
nearby floes and wondering, if our navigation for the next few weeks
was to consist mostly of traversing leads filled with such floating ice
cakes, how long we could hope to go before an ice floe sucked in
under our counter knocked off a propeller blade, and how long a time
would elapse before our four spare blades were all used up. But
there was no great occasion for such worry on my part. Not till
afternoon could we move at all, and then only for a couple of hours,
when once more we were brought up by solid ice ahead and with
banked fires again anchored to a floe, called it a day, and laid below
for supper.
Supper was an unusually somber meal. Such an early season
encounter with the ice-fields and at so low a latitude, was a sad blow
to our hopes of exploration. De Long, at the head of the table, served
out silently as Tong Sing placed the dishes before him; I, on his left,
carved the mutton and aided him at serving—to Chipp first, then to
the others on both sides of the table down to Danenhower, who as
mess treasurer sat at the foot of the table opposite the captain.
Potatoes, stewed dried apples, bread, butter, and tea made up the
rest of our unpretentious meal, the simplicity of which perhaps still
further emphasized our situation and put a damper on any
conversation. Only the shuffling of the Chinese steward’s feet on the
deck as he padded round the little wardroom with the plates broke
the quiet.
De Long, brooding over the ship’s situation, was gradually struck
by the absence of conversation and its implications. More I think to
make conversation than in the hope of gaining any information, he
picked out the ice-pilot on my left, sawing earnestly away at his
mutton, and asked him,
“Well, Mr. Dunbar, do you think we’ll get through this lead to
Herald Island?”
Dunbar, absorbed like the rest of us in his thoughts, surprised me
by the speed, so unusual for him, with which without even looking up
he snapped out his reply,
“No, cap’n, we won’t!” Then more slowly as he turned his grizzled
face toward the head of the table, he added vehemently, “And what’s
more, while God’s giving us the chance, I’d wind her in that little
water hole astern of us and head out of this ice back to open water
before the bottom drops out of the thermometer and we’re frozen in
here for a full due!”
Astonished by the heat of this unexpected reply, De Long looked
from the old whaler, who in truth had hurled a lance into the very
heart of each man’s thoughts, to the rest of us, all suddenly
straightened up by the thrust.
“And why, Mr. Dunbar?” in spite of a pronounced flush he asked
mildly. “Where can we do better, may I ask?”
“Further east, off Prince Patrick’s Land, to the north’ard of the
coast of North America,” replied Dunbar shortly. “A whaler’ll stay in
open water further north’n this over on the Alaska side most any
time; the current sets that way toward Greenland, not this side
toward Siberia.”
De Long calmly shook his head.
“No use, pilot; we’re not whaling and we’ll not go east. That would
take us away from Wrangel Land, and sledging north along the
coasts of Wrangel Land’s our only hope for working into the real
north from Behring Strait. No, we can’t do it. We’ll have to take our
chances here.”
Dunbar, his suggestion overruled, made no reply, masking his
disappointment by hunching a little lower over his plate and hacking
away once more at the chunk of mutton before him. And as suddenly
as it had flared up, all conversation ceased.
September 6 dawned, for us on the Jeannette a day to which we
often looked back with mingled feelings. During the night our water
lead froze up behind us. In the morning, as far as the eye could see
in every direction now was only ice—no water, no open leads
anywhere. A fog hung over the sea, blotting out Herald Island, but a
light northerly wind gave some promise of clearing the atmosphere
later on.
We gathered at breakfast in the cabin, a somber group. Under way
for a week since leaving Cape Serdze Kamen, we had made but 240
miles to the north, to reach only lat. 71° 30′ N., a point easily to be
exceeded by any vessel all year round in the Atlantic. But here we
were, completely surrounded by ice. Was this the exceptionally open
Arctic summer, so free of ice, that in Unalaska we had been informed
awaited us?
Danenhower, loquacious as always, broke the silence, observing
to no one in particular,
“This damned coffee’s even worse than usual, all water and no
coffee beans. Ah Sam’s had time enough to learn by now. Can’t
anyone persuade that Chink to put some coffee in the pot? What’s
he saving it for?”
“Maybe the sight of all that ice discourages him,” observed Ambler.
“Perhaps he thinks we’re in for a long hard winter and he’s got to
save. I reckon he’s right too, for that ice pack sure looks to me as if it
never has broken up and turned to water yet.”
“Right, surgeon.” Captain De Long at the head of the table, busily
engaged in ladling out a dish of hominy, looked up at Ambler and
nodded pessimistically,
“And what’s worse for us, it looks to me as if it never will, unless
someone whistles up a heavy gale to break up the pack.”
Chipp, uncomplainingly engaged in drinking down his portion of
the insipid coffee, took objection at this.
“Don’t try that, captain! In any gale that’d break up this pack the
pack’d break the Jeannette up in the process. No, let Nature take her
course melting that ice; it may be slower but it’s safer.”
“Come down to earth!” broke in Danenhower. “Let’s leave the pack
a minute; it’ll be there for a while yet. I was talking about coffee.
Hasn’t anybody in this mess got influence enough to get Ah Sam to
pack a little coffee in the pot for all this water to work on?”
“Well,” grinned Collins, seeing a chance to slip in a pun, “you’re
the navigator, Dan. Why don’t you try shooting that Celestial’s
equator? That ought to stir him up.”
Collins, chuckling happily, glanced round for approval.
Danenhower twisted his broad shoulders in his chair, directed a
blank stare at Collins.
“Huh? If that’s another one of your puns, Mr. Meteorologist, what’s
the point?”
Collins stopped laughing and looked pained.
“Don’t you see it, Dan?” he asked. “Why, that one’s rich! Celestial,
equator, and you’re a navigator. Now, do you get it?”
Danenhower, determined with the rest of us to squelch Collins’
puns, looking as innocent of understanding as before, replied flatly,
“No! I’m too dumb, I guess. Where’s the point?”
“Why, Ah Sam’s a Chinaman, isn’t he?”
“If he’s not, then I’m one,” agreed Danenhower. “So far I’m with
you.”
“Well, all Chinamen are sons of Heaven, aren’t they? So that
makes him a Celestial. See? And you’re a navigator so you shoot
the stars; they’re celestial too. And anybody’s stomach’s his equator,
isn’t it? You see, it all hangs together fine. Now do you get it?”
inquired Collins anxiously.
“I’m damned if I see any connection in all this rigmarole of yours
with my attempts at getting better coffee,” muttered Danenhower.
“Does anybody?” He looked round.
Solemnly first De Long, then Chipp, Ambler and I all shook our
heads, gazing blandly at Collins for further elucidation as to what the
joke might be.
Collins looked from one to another of us, then in disgust burst out,
“The farther all of you get from San Francisco, the weaker grow
your intellects!” He leaned back sulkily. “By the time we get to the
Pole, you won’t know your own names. Why, that one’s good! They’d
see it in New York right off. I’ve half a mind to try it out on that Indian,
Alexey. I’ll bet even he sees it!”
“Why don’t you try it on Ah Sam instead, then?” queried
Danenhower, rising. “If our cook sees it, there’s hope. Maybe next
you can make him see why he ought to put some coffee berries in
the pot when he makes coffee, and that’ll be something even my
thick skull can understand!” He jerked on his peacoat, lifted his bulky
form from his chair, and strode to the door. “I’m going on deck. I’m
too dumb, I guess, to see the points of Collins’ puns. But maybe if
I’m not too blind yet, I can see the ice, anyway.”
With a wink at Ambler, our navigator vanished. It seemed to be
working; perhaps we might yet cure Collins of his continuous stream
of puns, for most of them were atrocious, and anyway, having now
had a chance to get acquainted at close range with punning, I
heartily agreed with whoever it was, Samuel Johnson I think, in
averring that a pun was the lowest form of wit. With us the case was
serious—here with the long Arctic night approaching, locking us
within the narrow confines of our vessel, we were shipmates with a
punster and no escape except to break him of it!
I rose also and went out on deck, the while Collins turned his
attention to Dunbar, trying to get him, who also knew something of
navigation, to admit that he at least saw the point in the
meteorologist’s play on words, but I am afraid he picked the wrong
person, for Dunbar’s grim visage remained wholly unresponsive.
Out on deck, clad in a heavy peacoat with a sealskin cap jammed
tightly down over my bald spot, for the temperature was down to 26°
F., I looked around. A distant view was impossible because of fog.
Nearby were a few disconnected pools of water covered by thin ice,
but short of miraculously jumping the ship from one pool to another
over the intervening floes, there seemed no way for us to make
progress. I glanced down our side. For several feet above the
waterline, the paint was gone and our elm doubling was everywhere
scraped bright with here and there a deep gouge in the wood from
some jagged floe.
De Long joined me at the rail, looked despondently off through the
mist, his pipe clenched between his teeth, the while he puffed
vigorously away at it.
“A grand country for any man to learn patience in, chief,” he
remarked glumly. “Since we can’t push through the pack to Wrangel
Land over there on the western horizon, I’ve been hoping and
praying at least to get the ship in to Herald Island to make winter
quarters before we were frozen in, but look what’s happened!” He
gazed over the bulwark at the nearby hummocks. “Yesterday I hoped
today would make us an opening through to the land; today I hope
tomorrow’ll do it. And tomorrow—?” He shrugged his shoulders and
left me, to climb our frosted ratlines to the crow’s-nest on the chance
that from that elevation he might see over the fog. This turned out a
futile effort, since not till one p.m. when the fog finally lifted, were we
able to move.
With the weather clearing, I got up steam while De Long, armed
with binoculars, perched himself once more in the crow’s-nest,
Dunbar again straddled the fore topsail yard, Chipp took the bridge,
and we got underway for as odd a bit of navigation as all my years of
going to sea have ever witnessed.
To start with, the only possible opening was on the port bow, but
with heavy ice ahead and astern, there was insufficient room to
maneuver the ship by backing to head her for the opening. So over
the side went Bosun Cole and half the starboard watch, dragging
with them one end of a six-inch hawser. Selecting a sizeable ice
hummock a few shiplengths off on the port side which gave a proper
lead to our forecastle bitts, Cole expertly threw a clove hitch in the
hawser round the hummock, using the ice, so to speak, as a bollard;
while on deck, Quartermaster Nindemann heaved in on the ship end
of that line with our steam winch, warping the bow smartly round to
port till it pointed fair for the opening, when Chipp gave me the
signal,
“Slow ahead!”
With a few turns of the propeller, we pushed our bow into the crack
between the floes. After that, with the line cast off, it was a case of
full out on the throttle. With connecting rods, cranks, and pistons
flying madly round, we certainly churned up a wild wake in that
narrow lead wedging those cakes apart while the Jeannette
squeezed herself in between the ice floes.
And so it went for the next three hours, the captain and the ice-
pilot directing from aloft, while in the engine room we nearly tore the
engines off their bedplates and the smoking thrust block off its
foundation with all our sudden changes from “Full ahead” to “Full
astern” and everything in between, while the Jeannette rammed,
squeezed, backed, and butted her way through the ice, sometimes
relying only on the engines, sometimes only on Jack Cole and his
mates plodding along on the floes ahead of the ship dragging that
six-inch hawser and occasionally taking a turn with it on some
hummock to help warp the ship into position for ramming. Our solid
bow and thick sides took a terrific beating that watch as we
hammered our way through pack ice deeper than our keel, but
everything held, and when we finally ceased a little after four, it was
not from any fear of the consequences to the Jeannette, but only
because the fog came down again, blotting out everything.
Once more we ran out our ice-anchor, and with that secured,
recalled aboard the warping party. I came up out of the engine room,
having taken enough out of our engines in a few hours to drive us
halfway to China. Chipp, Danenhower, and the captain all were
gathered on the bridge over my head.
“Well, Dan, how much’ve we made good toward Herald Island?” I
enquired eagerly of Danenhower.
The navigator’s thickset brows contracted dejectedly as he peered
down at me over the after rail.
“Maybe a mile, chief,” he answered.
Maybe a mile? And to get that mile, keeping up a full head of
steam all the time for ramming, I had been burning coal furiously
these past three hours. A hundred miles of progress at that rate and
our coal would be completely gone. I turned questioningly toward the
captain, asked,
“I suppose it’s bank fires now and save coal, hey, brother?”
Before answering De Long looked off through the fog. Ice ahead,
ice astern, ice on both beams, with only tiny disconnected patches of
water showing here and there among the floes. He shook his head.
“No, chief, we won’t bank this time. Let your fires die out
altogether; save every pound of coal you can. If a good chance
comes to move, I’ll give you ample time to get steam up again.”
And so we left it. As the day ended, the Jeannette, hemmed in by
ice, lay an inert ship, unable to move in any direction, as a matter of
form only, held to an ice-anchor; while below, after securing the
engines, I reduced the watch to one man only, young Sharvell,
coalheaver, left to tend the boilers while the fires died out in them.
The temperature, which never during that day rose above the
freezing point, started to drop toward evening and soon fell to 23°.
The result was inevitable. Young ice, making during the night over all
patches of open water, had by morning completely cemented
together the old pack.
One look over the side in the midwatch satisfied me there would
be no call for the engines next day, nor unless something startling
happened, for many a day. All the steam I could put behind my
engines could not stir the Jeannette one inch from her bed, and as
for warping her now with our winch, our stoutest hawsers would be
about as useful as threads in tearing her from that grip of ice.
And so September 6, 1879, ended with the helpless Jeannette
solidly frozen into the Arctic ice pack.
CHAPTER X