ABSTRACT
By reviewing some evolutionary developments in humans, we can re-evaluate our thinking about sex and sexuality, including our beliefs and values, sex education, sexual orientation, sexual health, relationships, and the pleasure principle. There are many aspects of the reflective mind, which influence how we think and feel about sex and sexuality and how we behave sexually. A useful model to understand this further is that of ego states, developed by Berne. The idea is that we have three aspects to our personality: parent, child, and adult. The parent includes conditioning and socialisation: beliefs about what we should do. The child is seen to include our natural spontaneous reactions: emotions, feelings, needs, and desires, and is related to our past, our childhood. The adult aspect is seen as the part of us capable of making informed choices: we are able to process the information from our parent and child part, think and reflect, and make decisions about our behaviour.
