How do you define sexuality?

There is no simple answer to the question of sexuality. Generally, the word sexuality has a broad meaning since it refers to all aspects of being sexual. It means a dimension of personality instead of referring to a person’s capacity for erotic response alone.

Our language for talking about sex and sexuality is limited. We may distinguish between sex acts (such as masturbation, kissing, and sexual intercourse) and sexual behavior (which includes not only specific sex acts but being flirtatious, dressing in certain ways, reading and watching pornographic material) without having scratched the surface of understanding sexuality. We may describe different types of sex as procreative (for having children), recreational (for having fun, with no other goal), or relational (for sharing with a cared-for person) and find our categories are still too few.

Research shows there are five dimensions to human sexuality; Biological, psychosocial, behavioural, clinical, and cultural.

Biological Dimension

Biological factors largely control sexual development from conception until birth and our ability to reproduce after puberty. The biological side of sexuality also affects our sexual desire, our sexual functioning, and (indirectly) our sexual satisfaction. Biological factors are also thought to influence certain sex differences in behavior, such as the tendency of males to act more aggressively than females. Biological forces are also responsible for sexual turn-ons, no matter what their source, produce specific biological events: the pulse quickens, the sexual organs respond, and sensations of warmth or tingling spread through our bodies.

Psychosocial Dimension

The psychosocial side of sexuality is important because it sheds light not only on many sexual problems but also how we develop as sexual beings. From infancy, a person’s gender identity (the personal sense of feeling male or female) is primarily shaped by psychosocial forces. Our early sexual attitudes –which often stay with us into adulthood-are based largely on what parents, peers, and teachers tell us or show us about the meanings and purposes of sex. Our sexuality is also social in that it is regulated by society through laws, taboos, family, and peer group pressures that seek to persuade us to follow certain paths of sexual behavior.

Behavioural Dimension

The behavioural perspective of sexual behavior allows us to learn not only what people do but to understand more about how and why they do it.

In discussing this topic, it’s important to avoid judging other peoples’ sexual behavior by our own values and experiences. Too often people have a tendency to think about sexuality in terms of “normal” versus “abnormal.”  “Normal” is frequently defined as what we ourselves do and feel comfortable about, while the “abnormal” is what others do that seems different or odd to us. Trying to decide what is normal for others is not only a thankless task but one ordinarily doomed to failure because our objectivity is clouded by our values and experiences.

Clinical Dimension

Although sex is a natural function, many types of obstacles can lessen the pleasure or spontaneity of our sexual encounters. Physical problems such as illness, injury, or drugs can alter our sexual response patterns or knock them out completely. Feelings such as anxiety, guilt, embarrassment, or depression, and conflicts in our personal relationships can also hamper our sexuality.  The clinical perspective of sexuality examines the solutions to these and other problems that prevent people from reaching a state of sexual health and happiness.

Two key changes have contributed to better understanding the multidimensional nature of sexuality; the training of professionals in developing knowledge of the multidimensional approach, and the development of a new discipline called sexology.

Cultural Dimension

Sexual topics are often controversial and value-laden, but the controversy is often relative to time, place and circumstance. What is labeled as “moral” or “right” varies from culture to culture, from century to century. Many of the moral issues pertaining to sex relate  to certain religious traditions, but religion has no monopoly on morality. People who have no closely held religious creed are just as likely to be moral as those whose values are tied to a religious position. There is no comprehensive sexual value system that is right for everyone and no single moral code that is indisputably correct and universally applicable.

It is a mistake to think that cultural viewpoints are ever frozen in place. Currently, there is some evidence that alarm over increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases coupled with a growing trend toward political and religious conservatism, and celibacy may cause a shift away from the sexual permissiveness that prevailed in the 60s and 70s which also influenced modern attitudes to a degree. Many observers now believe that the so-called sexual revolution is over with a new era dawning that will emphasize commitment and fidelity in intimate relations instead of experimentation, instant gratification, and sexual variety.  But cultural trends are notoriously changeable, so there is no certainty how this new direction will evolve.