Sexual norm

A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define normal sexuality to consist only of certain legal sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, relatedness or social role and status.

In most societies, the term 'normal' is actually a spectrum. In other words, rather than each act being simply classified as "acceptable" or "not acceptable", in practice many acts are viewed as "more or less accepted" by different people, and the opinion on how normal or acceptable they are greatly depends on the individual making the opinion as well as the culture itself. Based on information gained from sexological studies, a great many ordinary people's sex lives are very often quite different from popular beliefs about normal, in private.

If non-restrictive sexual norms are regarded positively, they may be called sexual freedom, "sexual liberation" or "free love". If they are regarded negatively, they may be called "sexual licence" or "licentiousness". Restrictive social norms, if judged negatively, are called sexual oppression or "compulsory heterosexuality;" if the restrictive norms are judged positively, they may be regarded as encouraging chastity, "sexual self-restraint" or "sexual decency", and negative terms are used for the targeted sexuality, e.g. sexual abuse and perversion.

Overview

Studies have shown that human sexual behavior does not generally fit neatly within structures imposed by societies or religions, with masturbation being almost universal, and pre-marital sex, serial monogamy, adultery and homosexual and bisexual behavior being far more common than these societies are willing to acknowledge.

There is much hypocrisy about sexual behavior in all directions. Societies which aggressively regulate sexual behavior tend to have high levels of hidden child sexual abuse or spousal abuse , the public discussion of which is taboo in polite society. This behavior has been documented in Pakistan, the Philippines and Victorian England.

Social attitudes

In the West, many people have relaxed the traditional definitions of normality, choosing instead to define normal sexuality as any sexual practice which does not involve what are regarded as sexual perversions. However, using this definition makes use of a long list of sexual perversions which themselves show up hidden assumptions about cultural norms. Recently, in Western society, consensual paraphilias are becoming more acceptable, in particular "any activity, not otherwise illegal, performed between consenting adults in private."

This liberalization of attitudes has resulted in the legalization of homosexuality in many countries, following the ground-breaking Wolfenden report in the UK.

There is a tendency in Western countries towards serial monogamy as a normal heterosexual lifestyle. In the reverse direction, there is also a movement towards recognizing long-term homosexual relationships (see same-sex marriage).

These liberalizing trends can be contrasted with conservative social trends that seek to reverse these patterns of behaviour, with encouragement for young people to choose traditionally accepted roles, beliefs and behaviors, and to exercise sexual abstinence or non-promiscuous lifestyles before marriage.

This is an opposing trend in reaction, that views such changes as a socially destructive force, and is opposed to them. These are often associated with people and societies having strong religious feelings, and are prevalent in much of Christianity in America, as well as Islam in the Middle East and Asia, and other devout religious groups such as Hasidic Jews in Israel. In such countries, social roles are often strictly delineated, with the wife in a marriage often (but not always) playing a secondary role as home-maker, or obliged to be socially retiring. The wearing of obscuring clothing and the like is not uncommon as women are viewed as persons needing far greater protection or even restriction. In such countries there are often strong feelings about non-traditional sexualities and sexual liberation, and covertly very different standards operate between the genders for matters such as sexual relationships and affairs.

A large part of present social unrest in both Eastern and Western cultures is due to this conflict between these two trends, and views upon acceptability and control of social and sexual norms.

See also

• Religion and sexuality
• Same-sex marriage
• Sex-positive feminism

External links

• Sex, AIDS, and the Pursuit of Happiness
• Investigative Reports Focused on Sexual Freedom
• Sexual Freedom Why It Is Feared