Human sexual behavior

:This article concentrates on physical activity. Social and psychological issues are covered in other, related articles such as heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Sexuality and sensuality

There is no clear borderline between sexual and nonsexual enjoyment of touching someone else's body. For example, holding hands may or may not have a sexual connotation, depending on culture, situation and other factors. There are, however, actions that are clearly sexual by almost anyone's definition but which have been argued by an accused as not having sexual relations since the most common form of heterosexual sexual intercourse had not occurred. The distinction between sexual and nonsexual behavior can be relevant due to social rules.

Related Topics:
Touching - Holding hands - Culture - Heterosexual - Sexual intercourse

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Some criteria that may be applied are:

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• the body parts involved (see also intimate parts)
• physical signs of sexual arousal
• subjective feeling

Enjoying touching someone else's body implies enjoying one's own body also; the latter may also happen without another person; enjoying one's own body also may or may not be of a sexual nature. If it is, it is called autoeroticism.

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The whole of one's sexual activities (including erotic dreams and waking sexual fantasies and daydreams) is called one's sex life.

Related Topics:
Erotic dreams - Fantasies - Daydream

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Desire and fantasy

Sexual desire or libido is the desire for sexual behavior. Most people focus their sexual desire on someone that they have a sexual relationship with, or would desire to have a sexual relationship with. See also sexual arousal, sexual orientation.

Related Topics:
Libido - Sexual arousal - Sexual orientation

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Many people enjoy fantasizing about, or reading or viewing depictions of, sexual fantasies of activities that they do not wish to engage in in their own lives, or that they would be unable to engage in in their own lives; see pornography and erotica.

Related Topics:
Sexual fantasies - Pornography - Erotica

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Sexual relationships

Opinions and norms vary about whether an emotional bond of a certain intensity and durability should be a prerequisite for sex (see also below).

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Like other primates, Homo sapiens use sexuality for reproduction and for maintenance of social bonds. It is generally acknowledged that children are capable of feeling sexual pleasure, even if they are not yet able to engage in sexual intercourse with each other, and/or are not yet biologically able to reproduce. Yet, child sexuality has historically been severely limited in western societies; in the late 19th century, the hysteria surrounding so-called "self-abuse" (masturbation) among children reached its peak and fueled the adoption of circumcision (including female circumcision) in some cultures.

Related Topics:
Primate - Homo sapiens - Sexual intercourse - Child sexuality - Hysteria - Masturbation - Circumcision - Female circumcision

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Many sexual activities can be engaged in by same sex or opposite sex partners. However some, most notably vaginal sexual intercourse, can only be engaged in by partners of opposite sexes. And others, such as tribadism and frication can only be engaged in by partners of the same sex.

Related Topics:
Sexual intercourse - Tribadism - Frication

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As with other behaviors, our high intelligence and complex societies have produced in us the most complicated sexual behaviors of any animal. Most people experiment with a range of sexual activities during their lives, though they tend to engage in only a few of these regularly. Most people enjoy some sexual activities. However, most societies have defined some sexual activities as inappropriate (wrong person, wrong activity, wrong time, etc.) Some people enjoy many different sexual activities, while others avoid sexual activities altogether for religious or other reasons (see chastity, sexual abstinence, asexuality). Historically, most societies and religions have viewed sex as appropriate only within marriage. There is still a widespread belief that sex acts are devalued when engaged in outside of a long-term, monogamous romantic relationship, but extra-marital sexual activity and casual sex became increasingly accepted in modern society during the sexual revolution.

Related Topics:
Chastity - Sexual abstinence - Asexuality - Religions - Marriage - Monogamous - Romantic relationship - Casual sex - Sexual revolution

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Norms and rules

Sexual behavior, like other kinds of social activity, is generally governed by rules which are culturally specific and vary widely (see sexual morality, sexual norms).

Related Topics:
Sexual morality - Sexual norm

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Some activities are actually illegal in some jurisdictions even between (or among) consenting people (see sex crime, sodomy law, incest).

Related Topics:
Sex crime - Sodomy law - Incest

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Some people engage in various sexual activities as a business transaction; this is called prostitution.

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Nearly all cultures consider it a serious crime to force someone to engage in sexual behavior or to engage in sexual behavior with someone who does not consent. This is called sexual assault, and in the case of sexual intercourse it is called rape, the most serious kind of sexual assault. Details on this distinction may vary. Also, precisely what constitutes effective consent to have sex varies from culture to culture and is frequently debated. Laws regulating what constitutes consent, including the minimum age at which a person can consent to have sex, are frequently the subject of debate; see age of consent.

Related Topics:
Rape - Age of consent

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