ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on cultural variation regarding sexual activities and erotic practices. First, there is a presentation of how research data on these questions have been collected historically, acknowledging scientific and moral shortcomings of such compilations. Then, an empirical example—heterosexual intercourse—is used to show that there is wide cultural variation even in “dominant” sexual practices around the world. Sexual script theory is presented to introduce the overarching theoretical lens, social constructionism, that most scholars in the social sciences and humanities use to understand and describe sexuality. Cultural variation in views of acceptable sexual expressions may create challenges in multicultural societies, and this is discussed with respect to the fraught issue of sexuality and children. The chapter ends with a discussion of cultural change and globalization, pointing to current and future directions in anthropological approaches to understanding human sexuality.
