What Is Human Sexuality?
How humans experience and express themselves sexually forms the idea behind human sexuality. Human sexuality is influenced by societal and cultural factors, self-awareness of sexual identity, and personal capacity to enjoy erotic experiences and achieve pleasure.
Since these factors are not bound to one specific area or field of interest, sexuality itself is a field that draws from various disciplines. These are:
What Is the Biological Perspective of Human Sexuality?
The key focus in the biological perspective is that of reproduction. Genetic, hormonal, and neurological considerations contribute to human sexuality.
Traditionally, human sexuality from a biological aspect has been limited to:
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Male.
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Female.
Over time and with changing cultural and anthropological views, these gender constructs have expanded to include gender assignments that people identify with rather than their genders at birth.
What Are Sex Attributes?
Sex attributes are the criteria or determining factors for what constitutes human sexuality. On the surface, these attributes may be limited to:
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Hormones.
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Secondary sexual characteristics.
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Internal and external reproductive organs and features.
On a larger scale, sexual attributes include:
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Chromosomal sex.
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Gonadal sex (sex organs).
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Hormonal sex (endocrine sex).
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Sex of internal reproductive structures in addition to the gonads.
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Secondary sexual characteristics (distribution of fatty tissues, hair growth, breast development).
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Gender identity (self-perception as male or female).
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Gender role.
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Sex of assignment and rearing.
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Legal sex.
These constructs are not singular - they are interrelated and sometimes deviate from expected combinations (as in the case of people identifying as transgender). For example, individuals' primary and secondary sexual characteristics may be at variance with each other, depending on self-perception, hormonal changes, and legal sex assignment.
Why Is the Biology of Sex Important?
Apart from the biological definition that focuses on gender identity, the biology of sex also involves reproductive mechanisms and mechanisms of sexual arousal or response. This is useful in terms of physiology, psychology, and conception.
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Physiological and Psychological Aspect: Orgasms are viewed as psychologically-mediated spinal responses. This means that the failure to orgasm or difficulty or pain experienced during orgasms may not be purely physical or physiologic in origin. Often, sexual dysfunction in relation to orgasms might be psychological in origin. However, understanding the biological or physiological basis for orgasms is essential to understanding the psychological aspect.
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Physiology and Conception: Infertile couples have been assisted through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other laboratory fertilization methods. This has been made possible because of a foundational understanding of the biology and physiology that governs human sexuality, including sexual organs and reproduction.
What Are Some Reasons for Non-conformation to the Biological Aspects of Human Sexuality?
It is important to remember that the biological attributes that define human sexuality are not stable or bound by rules. They are ever-changing. Some of the reasons for variation from the traditional norms are:
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Gender Anomalies: Disorders or abnormalities resulting in gonadal structures and hormones (e.g., ambiguous genitalia).
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Personal Choices: A person's specific sexual interests and choices that influence their sexuality.
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Sex of Rearing: Parental decisions on child-rearing - sometimes, they may choose to raise their child as a member of the opposite gender from their gender at birth.
What Are the Different Types of Human Sexuality?
Human sexuality is a gray area in terms of understanding the different ways it presents for different individuals. This is because it is unclear whether personal inclinations purely drive these presentations from a psychological standpoint or whether there is a genetic component or other reason beyond one's control for preferring a particular sexual orientation.
Generally, sexuality has been known to fall under one of several categories:
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Heterosexual: Heterosexual or straight sexual orientation is the most common type of sexuality and refers to people who are sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex.
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Homosexual: Homosexual orientation implies sexual attraction to members of the same sex. They may be gay (men attracted to men) or lesbian (women attracted to women).
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Bisexual: Bisexuality refers to sexual attraction to both genders. However, even within bisexuality, there are varying patterns of interest such as more significant attraction towards one particular sex, having and acting on equally powerful sexual feelings for both sexes, or having sexual feelings for both sexes, but limiting sexual intercourse to one gender.
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Pansexual: Pansexuality is a term that includes all forms of human sexuality - people who identify as pansexual experience attraction to all sexual forms, whether male, female, transgender, or other identities.
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Asexual: People who are asexual do not experience sexual attraction at all. They may rarely feel some degree of sexual attraction towards others, but they remain asexual for the most part.
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Autosexual: A rare phenomenon that some individuals exhibit is sexual attraction to themselves. People who feel intensely aroused by the sight of their own bodies are autosexual.
Certain other types of sexuality are more personality related, but have a direct influence on biological sexuality:
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Demisexual: Some people feel no sexual attraction (in the manner of asexuals) until they have experienced an emotional connection with the other person. Once a dynamic link has been established, they may experience feelings of sexual arousal like any other sexual orientation.
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Sapiosexual: People who are sexually aroused by a high level of intelligence are sapiosexual. Sapiosexuality is not always held to be a gender identity per se, but it is accepted and treated as such by some cultures and individuals.
There have been suggestions that sexual orientation may be mediated by genetic influences that cannot be altered. However, opinions remained divided - some researchers refuted the idea of genetic influencing factors for sexual orientation, while others claimed the existence of such a component. They termed this the gay gene or the straight gene, depending on sexual orientation. However, a large-scale study published in 2019 stated that sexuality is not influenced purely by a single gay gene or straight gene but by a combination of genes and other sociocultural factors.
How Do Politics and Society Influence the Biological Basis of Human Sexuality?
Political and societal factors form the basis of gender discrimination within the biological aspect of human sexuality. The consensus is that women are inferior to men, as the only purpose they apparently serve to society is that of reproduction. This has led to persistent gender inequality directed at women. Views such as these evolve from what is termed as an androcentric (male-biased) perspective. This perspective idealizes patriarchal mindsets that state that women must remain inferior in terms of education, empowerment, and personal development, for the good of science and society. This has also led to the glorification of male power and resulted in atrocities against women, such as rape and marital sexual and emotional abuse. However, with shifting perspectives and a better understanding of sexuality, the dynamics of gender-power imbalance are gradually changing.
Conclusion:
Understanding the biological basis of human sexuality cannot be limited to focusing solely on sexuality from an anatomical or physiological viewpoint. Human sexuality is not a pre-defined concept; it is diverse and continuously evolving and must be treated as such. The interplay between a variety of factors and attributes makes it a complex subject.
