ABSTRACT

Sexual behavior has a long history of emotionally charged social and cultural expectations, rules, taboos, myths, and misconceptions. “Normal” versus “dysfunctional” or “deviant” sexual behaviors are socially constructed, determined arbitrarily, and are tied to the social norms of a particular time and place (Marecek, Crawford, & Popp, 2004). In ancient Greece, for example, a male mentor might have sex with his male adolescent student as part of their relationship, which was relatively accepted at that time as a way of demonstrating social standing or hierarchy (King, 1996; Plante, 2006). Today, this behavior is generally considered unethical, abusive and/or illegal, depending on the age of the student and mentor. In the Sambian tribe in New Guinea, an important rite involves younger boys performing oral sex on older boys to ingest semen, which is believed to provide strength and masculinity; when they get older, they transition into heterosexual adults (Stoller, 1985). In contrast, the Victorian era in England (during most of the 1800s) was a time of sexual conservatism, although like the Sambians, beliefs about sex were rigid and based on misconceptions about semen. The purpose of sex during this era was to produce children, not to experience pleasure. Masturbation was believed to be a cause of mental and/or physical illness, including blindness (King, 1996). In some cases, treatment for masturbation included clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris), male circumcision, or castration (King, 1996; Lips, 2006). Throughout history, we find that today’s deviance was yesterday’s normalcy, and vice versa.