Sexuality is one of the main factors that motivate people to interpersonal contacts and communications. However, in historical and evolutionary development of human, not sexuality, but rather joint labor, wealth creation and the need to ensure existence were the main factors contributing to the emergence of groups and communities of people. Together with physical and mental characteristics and, above all, with the consciousness, speech and thinking, there have also evolved social relations. Thus, a person is both a product and a builder of living conditions, in which he/she exists; in addition, he/she is also the creator of oneself and of human society, to which he/she belongs.
The study of various forms of behavior revealed the existence of a generalized model of triggers, acting in the direction of convergence of individuals of different sex. The body of one sex in a certain way indicates its ability to have sexual contact (Gagnon and Simon 79). These signals activate in an individual of the opposite sex such forms of behavior, the nature of which creates readiness in the body that initially signaled a willingness to sexual contact, directed at a specific individual. The emergence and selection of triggers at the appropriate level of biological development is phylogenetically conditioned, targeted adaptation to changing conditions within the constantly changing nature. Sexual union of two separately existing individuals embodies the objective conditions of existence and obeys to the laws of matter, and the system preparing an association of erotic signals is a function of these laws. All this applies to humans and is reflected both in the individual, ontogenetic development, and in a modified form - in the historically-culturally and biologically evolutionary phylogenetic development.
The above general model of the mechanisms underlying sexual relations and motivating them, cannot, however, determine exactly what sexuality is. The absence of a common concept of sexuality urges determining it in the descriptive categories and complicates the interpretation of sexual disorders. It should be emphasized that, despite the prevalence of different looks, considered as truisms only on the basis of their deep rooting in the mind, and in spite of the constant interest in sexuality, yet there are still much less systematic studies of sexual motivation than other important human needs such as hunger or aggression. The same applies to the theoretical concepts of sexual desire, sexual excitability or sexual arousal.
The essence of sexuality cannot be expressed in biological or psychological hedonic categories. Evolutionary concepts cannot explain how in the process of evolution there develops a sexual consciousness. Theological concept explains the meaning and purpose of life (including sexuality) as posthumous award. Psychoanalytic concepts (Ferenc, Fromm, etc.) explain the meaning and purpose of sexuality by the categories of striving to return the lost unity with the environment, but the meaning and purpose of this are beyond human consciousness. A similar contents, although in a latent form, lies in the other concepts, such as in Tantrism, in Indian philosophy. Behavioral concepts, despite the fact that they are widely accepted for explanation of sexual disorders and their treatment, also cannot explain the essence of sexuality. Exploring the various forms of human sexual behavior and finding out the cause of these behaviors, still gives no answer to the question of their meaning and value and what they testify in person.
Social background in the historical evolution of sexuality and its utilitarian functions allow us to consider it as part of the various categories of values. These values are: a) vital, considered in terms of health and energy; b) cultural, formed by historical traditions; c) moral, i.e. relating to the ethical and legal systems; g) personal, associated with the knowledge of human about oneself and about the different values of certain forms of sexual activity (McKinney and Sprecher 55). The hierarchy of values for human sexuality varies depending on the degree of development of the personality and life experience, changes in outlook, individual traits (especially temperament, the severity of sexual needs), as well as age. In addition, it depends on the severity of other needs, interests and wealth of the inner world, such as the desire for power, leadership, and so on, which can change the hierarchy of values to the detriment of the sexual needs.
Some impact on the value of sexuality provides a full range of social change, in particular, the process of popularization of liberalization, as well as fluctuations in the evaluation of other values related to sexuality, such as health, success, and satisfaction with life. In recent years, there is a discussion about the possibility of change of the traditional approach to sexuality. It has been argued that it is necessary to create a typology approach to human sexuality, and that there should be not only one universally valid model of sexuality. Among the many different views on this issue, there is the view that society should recognize the relative autonomy of sexuality, relative independence from the rest of its life, impossibility of its ethical evaluation and linking with the transcendental and religious values, i.e. recognize its relative autonomy, similar to the situation with food and sleep. In the future, in case such a typology is adopted, there is of great importance the choice of partners exhibiting the same attitude toward sexuality. It should be noted that it is of great importance at the moment, as if the person meets a partner who expects something completely different from the sexual contact (understanding, unity), this may be the cause of frustration and conflict.
Sexuality is an innate need and function of the human body, like the processes of respiration, digestion, and others. Human is born with a certain physiological sexual potential, which is formed in the framework of life experience. In general, sexuality is conditioned by integrated interaction of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors. Sexual disorders occur when this function is subject to inherent lockup or strain, or is in a state of extreme disharmony with other areas of personality. In this sense, sexuality should be seen as an undifferentiated force that returns the output in the form determined by the psychosocial and cultural factors (Sprecher 468). Sexuality is the basis of activity not only directly aimed at sexual satisfaction, but also causes many other forms of behavior, although they do not lead to sexual intercourse. The limits of these behaviors have not been studied, so they cannot yet be determined with certainty. Anyway, these behaviors specifically modify many social contacts and at the same time define the boundaries of the area of interest and sexology as a discipline.
Sexuality is a major engine of uniting people with each other and forming a joint multidimensional life. In biological terms, sexual intercourse should be seen as realization of the human desire for transcendence of his or her identity and uniting with the outside world; difficulties in creating a genuine connection with the other person are the cause of sexual disorders and interpersonal conflicts of a sexual nature. Sexual relationship between two people, the shape and depth of which depends on their personality, in turn, affects the individual partners, modifying the nature of their functioning in society (Bullough et al. 17). Thus, the meaning of sexuality lies, in particular, in the creation of certain relationships and connections between the partners, the formation of the unity ("we") of two persons of the opposite sex.
However, this social role of sexuality in many cases is not maintained to the end. In many couples, in which each partner thinks only of oneself, life together with the doll can give a greater sense of owning partner. Sexuality is important in interpersonal relationships. Phylogenetic evolution through the development of speech (as a second signal system) and culture led to significant differences in human sexuality from animal sexuality. However, there still remain common biological traits underlying the two functions - reproductive and communicative. Sexuality can be considered as a specific, psychosomatic body language, as a form of communication originally unverbalized. In this sense, sexual intercourse from a psychosomatic point of view expresses enthusiasm, affection, trust, safety and satisfaction. Nudity in turn denotes sincerity, trust and loyalty. Because affection, close contact, trust and security are universal human needs, their elements are desirable in any interpersonal relationships, including sexual. In the sexual contact, there is also a certain ambiguity in communication components of ambivalence, such as vulnerability, openness, dependence, etc. The only existing parallel meta-signals explain the true value of the signal.
In this sense, sexuality becomes not so much a source of isolated pleasure, but rather a means of expressing the essence of love relationships, but on the condition that signaled and promised by body language affection, perception, and others are genuine, real. If so, then sexual intercourse may acquire a deeper meaning, but not be limited to the provision of temporary satisfaction. Cultivation of thus understood communicative function of sexuality will create conditions for the development of human contacts and relationships and for their greater humanization.
Sexuality is a means and not an end. It can be expressed in masturbation activity or take the form of experience and spontaneous communication in the ancient Greek sense, defining it in the metaphysical categories, by which there formed the meaning of human existence. Sexual ecstasy is the ultimate expression of erotic communication between people. It, in particular, is characterized by the existence of consciousness "beside oneself" and experience of a sense of oneness with the universe. Poetically it can be defined as contact with eternity.
Sexuality can also be understood as physiological processes, techniques and manipulations that give pleasure, which is the instrumental side of erotica. Under erotica, which by some authors is considered as inherent exclusively to human as a result of development of the mind, there is understood the inner experience related to sexuality, as well as some evaluation of sexuality and attitudes. Other authors believe that eroticism is the result of layering sexual needs of social relations conducive to sexual contact and giving them relevant content and direction.
Need is a feature of the person allowing the body to function properly only under certain conditions. Proper functioning in relation to the sexual needs concerns human development and optimal behavior for the purpose of self-preservation and the preservation of ourselves as a species (Garcia et al. 161). Sexual tension that occurs in the body can be eliminated with proper recognition and the ability to avoid it. The processes of specification, mentalization and socialization can be regarded in relation to sexual needs. Concretization of sexual need is that as one gains sexual experience, person refuses from ineffective behaviors in favor of giving satisfaction. Mentalization of needs is manifested in the fact that in the mind there is reflected the existence of sexual needs and ways to meet them. Socialization of sexual needs is expressed in the subordinate nature of sexual behavior hierarchy of values accepted in a given society.
Sexual need is subject to evolution in the process of ontogenetic development, in accordance with the biological laws relating to the person's age, although the major role is played by psychological and sociocultural factors. In order to satisfy the sexual needs, of great importance is the degree of its integration with the need for emotional contact. A person from the moment of birth, has neurophysiological mechanisms necessary for sexual responses. However, awareness of sexuality as belonging to a particular gender, sexual orientation, and the role of sexual needs are determined mainly by the influence of environmental factors. For the development of sexual needs, of a great influence are non-sexual personality traits, primarily because in the process of its development they arise earlier (Gray and Garcia 513). They are formed from birth to the onset of adolescence, reaching a certain (though usually incomplete) degree of maturity. They accumulate dramatically increased during the maturation sexual needs. Depending on values reflected by the personality traits that are superimposed to sexual tension, people choose in their sexual lives one way or another.
It follows that the final form of human sexual behavior is conditioned by sexual needs, which are, above all, a dynamic factor, as well as personality traits, giving a particular character expression of sexuality. There is no "nature" of sexual need, predetermining its poly - or monogamy (Barker and Richards 244). Sexual human's need in its ontogenetic dynamic aspect usually includes elements of poly- or monogyny. It depends primarily on non-sexual tendencies toward change and new experiences, the nature of the feelings experienced and the degree of their integration with sexual needs, the specific life situation, the severity of the sexual needs, level of development of the intellectual and emotional inhibitions, as well as regular opportunities to satisfy the sexual need by erotically involving partners. This view is shared by a growing number of researchers, who believe that innate or biologically determined tendency to monogamy does not exist.
When discussing human sexuality, there is often used term of sexual desire. Sexual desire is selective state of readiness to take a partner based on the gender. In general, the term "libido" refers to motivational factors arising from the biological structure of the organism and providing such forms of behavior, the purpose of which is to meet the specific needs of the body. The term "attraction" is sometimes used as a synonym (or close within the meaning of it) to the term "motive, need." And some even use it as a synonym for "instinct". Without dwelling on the analysis of some confusion in the definition of need, desire and instinct, it is necessary to emphasize the crucial difference between sexual motivation and sexual behavior. Various manifestations of sexuality, for example, hetero- or homosexual behavior, specific sexual preferences and tastes or different sexual deviations may be different expressions of the same sexual motivational state. However, there are different forms of sexual behavior due to non-sexual motivation.
In the discussion about the model of sexuality main emphasis is not on the delimitation of congenital or acquired sexual motivation, but on the fact there is a sexual motivation state with a constantly accumulating "driving" or energy state of predisposition to respond in a certain way to certain stimuli. There are also several conceptions of sexuality: 1) narrow, treating sexuality as a source of stress and sensory discharge; 2) wider, according to which sexuality is (except source discharge of sexual tension) a source of satisfaction in relation to the satisfaction of other mental needs (e.g., leadership); 3) The widest, which treats sexuality in terms of reduction of sexual tension, meeting non-sexual needs and creating a connection with another person.
These concepts correspond to the three approaches to the problem of sexuality: biological, psychological and psychosocial. Efforts have also been made towards the establishment of a social theory of sexuality in close collaboration with other disciplines and on the basis of the theory of society. Such a theory would have to explain the social mechanisms that determine the different forms of sexual behavior, as well as socio-economic and socio-cultural mechanisms that facilitate the emergence of sexual disorders. In addition, it would have to identify mechanisms of transition of social contradictions in the individual mechanisms of socialization of sexual needs, as well as the mechanisms by which sexual frustration can become a cause of aggressive and destructive behavior. After clarifying the pathogenicity of the social system, it is possible to create optimum social model of sexuality, i.e. the social level to prevent the development of many sexual disorders.
Works Cited
Barker, Meg, and Christina Richards. "What does Bancroft’s Human Sexuality and its Problems tell us about current understandings of sexuality?." Feminism & Psychology 23.2 (2013): 243-251.
Bullough, Vern L., Vern L. Bullough, and Bonnie Bullough, eds. Human sexuality: An encyclopedia. Routledge, 2014.
Gagnon, John H., and William Simon. Sexual conduct: The social sources of human sexuality. Transaction Publishers, 2011.
Garcia, Justin R., et al. "Sexual hookup culture: A review." Review of General Psychology 16.2 (2012): 161.
Gray, Peter B., and Justin R. Garcia. "Evolution and human sexual behavior." History and Anthropology 24.4 (2013): 513-515.
McKinney, Kathleen, and Susan Sprecher, eds. Sexuality in close relationships. Psychology Press, 2014.
Sprecher, Susan. "Evidence of Change in Men's Versus Women's Emotional Reactions to First Sexual Intercourse: A 23-year Study in a Human Sexuality Course at a Midwestern University." The Journal of Sex Research 51.4 (2014): 466-472.
