Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Human Sexuality
Other languages of instruction: English, Spanish,
Teaching staff
You should contact one of the coordinators in advance to set up an appointment:
mgalsina@uic.es
eruisanchez@uic.es
Introduction
Today we find ourselves in a cultural environment marked by profound economic and social changes. We are facing a "cultural and anthropological transformation that generates new languages and discards without discernment the paradigms that history has given us". These changes bring new opportunities, but also new challenges that must be faced in order to discern with the eyes of faith the direction of these transformations and to act accordingly.
One of the main areas that has been profoundly transformed is the understanding of sexuality and human affectivity. In a positive way, talking about sexuality is now a socially accepted practice that has facilitated new approaches to sexuality. However, this has been accompanied by a lack of education and information that has led to the adoption of reductionist models. Specifically, these are models that separate sexuality from 1) human love, 2) identity, and 3) human affectivity. These new models tend to emphasize only aspects related to sexual health, physicality, and the exercise of sexuality, without considering the richness and complexity of sexuality. When we understand the person as a whole and dignified being, separating sexuality from love, identity and affectivity changes the way we interact and relate to others.
Following the goal of the Interdisciplinary Center of Thought (CIP) to promote reflection on the mission of the University and the implications of its Christian identity, this course aims to teach about sexuality and human love, illuminating it with the richness and beauty of the transcendent anthropological gaze.
The course covers biological, physiological and psychological concepts related to human sexuality, such as falling in love and love, sexual intercourse and its dysfunctions, fertilization and implantation, family planning and infertility. The course also includes current issues in human sexuality such as affectivity education, the impact of adolescent sexuality and the importance of understanding human fertility as a significant and far-reaching aspect of sexuality
Pre-course requirements
We recommend having passed the course “Care from the beginning of life till adolescence” which is included in the curriculum of the 3rd year.
Objectives
- To teach the difference between sexual health and healthy sexuality. To deepen the knowledge of sexual health and to broaden the training of healthy sexuality. To give students the opportunity to know, accept and treat themselves and their relationships in a healthy way.
- To provide an integrated vision of the bio-psycho-social and spiritual dimensions of human sexuality.
- To provide knowledge of the affective dimension of the human being.
- To become familiar with the physiology of male and female fertility, fertility indicators, the fertility window, and combined fertility.
- To acquire knowledge of the dysfunctions and causes of infertility and addressing this issue from the perspective of restorative fertility medicine
- To promote critical thinking in the face of new problems in the field of sexuality: pornography, violence, emotional wounds and toxic relationships
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 10. B - Protecting the health and welfare of individuals or groups by ensuring their safety.
- 11. E - Establish effective communication with patients, families, social groups and partners and promote health education.
- 18. E - Ability to lead nursing care in any area of professional practice.
- 19. B - Ability to make decisions based on critical thinking and reflective practice.
- 1. G - Ability to provide technical and professional health care appropriate to the health needs of the people they treat, with full technical and scientific autonomy, according to current and available scientific knowledge and to the quality standards and safety requirements set forth in the applicable legal standards and code of ethics.
- 20. B - Multidisciplinary teamwork
- 21. B - Oral and written communication.
- 24. G - Ability to work autonomously.
- 26. G - Ability to generate knowledge from practice.
- 28. E - Leadership in nursing care and in nursing teams to improve quality care for people, participation in health policy and professional development.
- 6. E - Base nursing care on scientific evidence and available resources.
- 7. B - Understand people without prejudice, considering their physical, psychological and social aspects, as autonomous and independent individuals, ensuring respect for their opinions, beliefs and values, ensuring their right to privacy through confidentiality and professional secrecy.
- 8. B - Promote and respect the right of participation, information, autonomy and informed consent in decision-making of people treated, according to the way they live their health - disease process..
- 9. E - Promote healthy lifestyles, self-care, as well as the maintenance of therapeutic and preventive behaviors.
Learning outcomes of the subject
The student who has successfully completed this course:
- Has acquired an integrative vision of sexual health that encompasses the different dimensions of human sexuality.
- Critically assesses the scientific evidence in this area and the different sex education programs that exist today.
- Knows the ovarian cycle and is able (if female) to record fertility indicators on her own chart.
- Is able to identify the fertility window on a chart.
- Understands infertility as a health problem that can be diagnosed through the use of a natural method and treated from a holistic view of the person.
Syllabus
Module 1. Biology and Health
- Anatomy and physiology of the male and female reproductive systems
- Menstrual cycle, fertility indicators, combined fertility, and fertility window (including a hands-on session with a charting workshop)
- Disorders of the ovarian cycle and their treatment from the perspective of restorative medicine
- Impact of lifestyle, diet, exercise, stress, rest, and endocrine disruptors on human fertility
- Infertility and sterility and their psychological impact
Module 2. The Person as a Being of Encounter
- Anthropology of human sexuality
- Differences in Male and Female Sexual Responses
- The Person as a Being of Encounter: Male and Female
Module 3. Identity, Affectivity, and the Dynamism of the Heart
- The Alphabet of Affections: Emotions and Feelings
- Affective Dynamism
- Attraction and Falling in Love
- Friendship and Mature Love
- The Connection Between Affectivity and Sexuality
- The Body as the Language of the Person
- Workshop: “The 5 Love Languages”
Module 4. Current Challenges
- Emotional Wounds and Toxic Relationships
- Intimate Partner Violence
- Pornography and Hypersexualization
- Current Trends in Sexuality
Teaching and learning activities
In person
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Training activity |
Methodology |
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Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
40% Evaluation of Two Simulation Workshops
Workshop on Interpreting Graphs: Determining the Fertility Window
Workshop: “The 5 Love Languages”
Workshop on Emotional and Sexual Issues and Infertility
60% Final exam
- Written exam with multiple choice questions with 4 answer options on all the theoretical-practical content of the subject.
- Multiple choice questions: 1 minute per question; each error subtracts 0.33 points
*IMPORTANT: Attendance is mandatory, and attending 80% of classes is a necessary condition to be eligible for the final exam, as the course requires participation and discussion in class. If a student is having difficulty meeting this requirement, they should report it on the first day of class so that an alternative can be found.
The subject will be approved with a minimum average of 5 taking into account all the evaluated parts (passed and failed). That is, to pass the subject, the average has to be approved and it is essential to pass the final exam with a 5 to be able to take the average. If this part is suspended, it must be recovered in the second call.
2nd Call:
In the exams of the second call, the grade of the continuous evaluation is maintained, therefore the student must pass the recovery exam with a minimum of 5 to be able to make average.
Bibliography and resources
De Irala, Un momento inolvidable, 2020
Menárguez, M., Solo quiero que me quieran, 2021
Arraztoa, Chiva y Granados, Reconocimiento Natural de la Fertilidad. Eunsa 2024
Ceriotti, M. (2018). Erótica y Materna. Rialp
Ceriotti, M. (2019). Masculino. Rialp
OMS. Learning Package for Family Fertility Education. 1978
González-Merlo J. Ginecologia. Ed. Espasa. 1988
Gotzon Santamaria M. Ecologia sexual. Ed. Palabra. 2005
Gary Chapman. Loa 5 lenguajes del amor. Ed. Unilit 2017
Dr Francisco Güell. El último in vitro. Edición propia 2025
Louan Bruzendine.El cerebro femenino. Debolsillo. 2006
Louan Bruzendine.El cerebro masculiino. Debolsillo. 2010
Articles:
Carlos S, Osorio A, Calatrava M, Lopez-Del Burgo C, Ruiz-Canela M, de Irala J. Project Yourlife (What Young People Think and Feel about Relationships, Love and Sexuality and Related Risk Behavior): Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Protocol. Front Public Health. 2016;4:28. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00028.
Fertilidad e infertilidad en el ciclo ovárico: Aplicaciones clinicas y lineas de investigacion. Actas del Curso Precongreso organizado por RENAFER en el 12 World Congress Perinatal Medicine. Madrid. 2015.
De Irala J., Osorio A., Ruiz-Canela M., Carlos S., López-del Burgo C. Informing Youth about the Age of Sexual Initiation Using Means or Percentages. Health Communication 2014;29(6):629-33
Ruiz-Canela M., López del Burgo C., Carlos S., Calatrava M., Beltramo C., Osorio A., De Irala J. Observational Research with Adolescents: a Framework for the Management of the Parental Permission. BMC Medical Ethics. 2013, 14:2.
Calatrava M., López-del Burgo C., de Irala J. Factores de riesgo relacionados con la salud sexual en los jóvenes europeos. Medicina Clínica. 2012; 138(12):534-540.
Toledo E., López-del Burgo C., Ruiz-Zambrana A., Donazar M., Navarro-Blasco I., Martínez-Gonzalez M.A., De Irala J. Dietary patterns and difficulty conceiving: a nested case–control study. Fertility and Sterility. 2011; 96:1149-1153.
Menarguez, M.; Odeblad, E., Temprano, H. Recent research in cervical secretion: some biophysical aspects. Sveikatos Mokslai Health Sciences. 2011. Vol 21, Nº 3 pp 55- 60,
López-del Burgo C., López- de Fez C., Osorio A., López Guzmán J., De Irala J. Spanish women's attitude towards post-fertilization effects of birth control methods. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. 2010; 151, 56-91.
Menarguez, M.; Pastor, L.M., Odeblad, E. Morphological characterization of different human cervical mucus types using light and scanning electron microscopy. Human Reproduction. 2003 Vol.18. Nº 9, pp 1782- 1789
Rutllant M. Fertilidad Humana y Modernidad. La Vanguardia. Agosto 1988
Unseld, M; Rötzer E & alt. Use of Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Its Effect on Couple Relationships and Sexual Satisfaction: A Multi Country Survey of NFP Users from US and Europe. Frontiers in Public Health 13/03/2017.
Ignacio Segarra1,2*, Micaela Menárguez3 and María Victoria Roqué. Women’s health, hormonal
balance, and personal autonomy. Frontiers in medicine. 10/6/2023
Additional bibliography:
Bibliografía adicional:
Chapman, G. (1992). Los 5 lenguajes del amor. Unilit
Menarguez, M., (2021). Solo quiero que me quieran.
De Irala, J. (2020). Te quiero, por eso no quiero. El valor de la espera.
Noriega, J. (2022). Diccionario de sexo, amor y fecundidad. Didaskalos
Silva, J.M. (2018). Sexo: cuándo y por qué. La sexualidad al desnudo. Palabra
De Irala, J. (2019). Sedientos de misericordia. Los jóvenes, el amor y su sexualidad.
Villena, A. (2023). ¿POR qué NO? Cómo prevenir y ayudar en la adicción a la pornografía. Alienta.
Gutiérrez, J.(2021). La trampa del sexo Digital: Guía definitiva para prevenir y superar la adicción a la pornografía. Almazara.
López-Moratalla, N. (2007)., El primer viaje de la vida. Palabra.
Chiclana, C. (2013). Atrapados en el sexo. El amargo placer de la hipersexualidad. Almuzara.
Gottman, J., Silver, N. (2010). Siete reglas de oro para vivir en pareja. Debolsillo.
Aysa, M. (2001). Sexo, un motivo para amar. Palabra.
Munilla, J.I., Pereda, B. (2015). Sexo con alma y cuerpo. Freshbook.
López- Moratalla, N. (2007). Cerebro de mujer y cerebro de varón. Rialp.
López-Guzmán, J. (2009). Cuando el hijo no llega. Manual para parejas infecundas. Formación Alcalá.
De Irala, J. (2023) Mírale a los ojos.