Normal vs Deviant Sexual Behavior example

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Normal Versus Deviant Sexual Behavior Questions

Question 1

Discuss the differences between 'normal' and 'deviant' sexual behavior. What makes an act or practice 'deviant'? Does labeling something 'deviant' only make sense in comparison to what is normal?

Deviant sexual behavior is a feeling of sexual arousal to atypical individuals, physical objects, situations and fantasies. The act or practice becomes 'deviant' when it is not a common in the society or community practice, and consequently the judgment about 'deviance' should be made through the prism of the society the individuals that commit the act belong to. Labeling something as 'deviant' can be made not only in comparison with the normal behavior, but also by assessment of the behavior itself, if it is acceptable, if harms any living being and if this behavior does not arise disgust and total aversion, being unacceptable by its nature (for example, pedophilia, necrophilia).

Question 2
Why do certain acts seem to be 'deviant' in some societies but 'normal' in others, and why do other acts seem to be universally 'deviant'?

There are no definite borders between what is considered to be 'deviant' and normal as there is a lot of unusual sexual interests. Many various factors affect stance in the society towards different types of sexual behavior. For example, some religions as Muslim do not tolerate homosexuality and consider this to a deviance and dangerous pathology. In Somalia society there is a special attitude towards sperm that is considered to 'strengthen' women and through them children and this is why they often practice oral sex for this purposes. By contrast, in the community of the Irish peasants there is no any other sexual practice between couples except for the traditional intercourse for the procreation purposes. Universally deviant sexual behavior is that affects vulnerable and unprotected objects and or harms other people.

Question 3
Describe three types of perspectives (i.e., statistical, sociological, psychological, medical, anthropological) used to understand what is 'normal' and what is 'deviant'.

From the statistical perspective, is 'normal' is the social behavior that is practiced by the majority of people in the community (country, society) in certain time. In medical practice, deviant medical behavior is considered to be a
pathology that in some cases needs therapy (psychological and even pharmacological). However, medical criteria of deviant sexual behavior have been changing through the time. For instance, homosexuality has been
treated in the 50s with drugs that causes medical castration while today this practice seems to be barbarian. Through the anthropological perspective, judgment about normal vs. deviant behavior can be made in consideration of what was acceptable and practiced and what was not tolerated in the society in certain historical period. Anthropological perspective allows assessing what was 'deviant' in the …

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