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What is normal? Paraphilias

“Normality” in sex

  • Normality in sex is almost impossible to define

  • Sexual normality may exclude certain groups

  • Normality is highly dependent on context

  • Why are we worried about what is normal sex?

    • Reality checking

Diversity

  • “Normal” has changed dramatically across time and culture

  • Diversity, rather than normality, characterises sexual activity

  • 20% of the population is not interested in sex at all it appears

  • Amount of times people have sex in a day ranges from 0-19 and length rannges from 32 seconds - 44 mins

Some myths about sex

  • Masturbation is bad for you

  • Sex affects athletic performance

  • Sex will help you lose weight

  • ‘Real’ orgasms only occur with penetrative sex (only 18% of women say intercourse led to orgasm and around 27% said that clitoral stimulation was necessary for orgasm during sex)

  • Men get aroused faster than women

  • Women don’t care about orgasms as much as men

  • Porn causes erectile dysfunction

  • There is no male birth control

  • Men and womem have sexual peaks at different ages (myth: men in their teens and women in their 30s)

  • Size matters

The porn industry

  • Any sexually explicit material intended to arouse

  • Been around for a long time

  • First indications over 35,000 years ago in statue form

  • Subjective and socially constructed

  • Debate about harmless or dangerous addiction

  • 97% of men consume it & 40% of women (in Denmark 80% of women do)

Good or bad?

  • Pros

    • Sexual education and curiosity

    • Aids communication and arousal with partner

    • Promotes greater understanding of sexual diversity

    • Can create an open environment to talk about sex with a partner

    • Couples can explore erotic fantasies together

  • Cons

    • Creates unrealistic expectations

    • Links with gender-based violence

    • Potential for addiction (About 10% of adults admit to online sex addiction)

Paraphilias

  • experiencing intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasis, people or behaviours

  • Over 500 different paraphilias recognised today (ranging from feet to poetry)

  • Most are benign; some are illegal

  • Paraphilias vs paraphilic disorder

    • Distress or impairment in functioning

    • Non-consenting individuals

  • Kinks vs fetishes

    • Fetish is when the individual requires the thing to be present in order to be sexually aroused

    • A kink adds to the sexual experience and satisfaction

How do paraphilias develop?

  • Classical conditioning

    • Type of learning

    • Neutral stimulus evokes a response originally evoked by something else