Sexual preference

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexual preference or sexual preference (including sexual inclination ) is an umbrella term for sexual preferences , inclinations , desires and fantasies that can be expressed in corresponding sexual behavior. The preferences can relate to certain sexual practices , to certain sexual partners or objects.

The term sexual preference is mostly only used for those sexual preferences or inclinations that can be viewed as deviating from a norm .

basis

One distinguishes

  • non pathological , harmless, healthy sexual preferences and
  • pathological , pathologically disturbed sexual preferences.

In the latter, the underlying disorders are referred to as paraphilias and are defined by the fact that sexuality focuses on inanimate objects, on pain, humiliation or on non-consenting and incapable of consenting people such as children and that the disorders are clinically meaningful suffering or impairment in affected person or their victim.

A distinction must be made between sexual preference or sexual inclination and sexual orientation , which relates to the gender of the preferred love or sexual partner . This distinction is fundamental in psychology , psychiatry, and sexology . Sexual preference and sexual orientation are two independent dimensions; whether someone likes BDSM is independent of whether he or she is straight, homosexual or bisexual. The sexual preference is thus an addition to the concept of sexual orientation. A person's sexual desires and behaviors can be characterized by combining (1) their sexual preference (s) with (2) their sexual orientation. More recently, attempts have been made to introduce “sexual orientation” as a third dimension, which relates to the age of the preferred sexual partner; however, this approach has not yet been established.

Change of concept

Which sexual behavior is to be judged as “normal” or healthy and which as “perverted” or sick has been discussed for a long time. There are several reasons for this:

  • People need to be protected from sexual violence or sexual exploitation.
  • People with sexual compulsions seek help from therapists because without these behaviors they are hardly or not at all sexually aroused and suffer from it.
  • Legitimation of psychiatry: According to Michel Foucault , psychiatry has legitimized its existence as an independent science within medicine, above all by the fact that it began to divide sexual deviations into healthy and sick. ( See also: History of Sexology )

According to Haeberle (1985), the definition of which sexual behavior is "normal" and which is disturbed is made by the following social authorities:

  • Religious communities and sects: division into “natural” and “unnatural”, “moral” and “immoral” sexual behavior
  • Legislation: division into “legal” and “illegal” sexual behavior
  • Science (especially psychiatry and psychology): division into "healthy" and "sick" sexual behavior

The boundaries between “healthy” or adapted sexual preferences and behaviors on the one hand and mental disorders on the other hand shift depending on historical and social change and current research results. These factors also influence the classification systems for mental disorders and for diseases, DSM and ICD .

history

One of the first sexual practices that psychiatry classified as sick was masturbation at the beginning of the 19th century . The father of American psychiatry, Benjamin Rush , blamed masturbation for insanity, spinal cord vertigo, poor eyesight, epilepsy, and other diseases. Coupled with the Roman Catholic Church's classification of masturbation as a sin, this led to widespread feelings of guilt.

From the Middle Ages onwards, the Roman Catholic Church regarded all sexual behavior that was not exclusively for procreation as sin. From the 19th century onwards, most psychiatrists were of the opinion that sexuality outside of heterosexual relationships prevented healthy personality development. They have always developed broader lists of sexual deviations; the most famous example is the work of sexual psychopathology of the Viennese psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing in 1886. Despite the warnings of Magnus Hirschfeld (1899) and Sigmund Freud (1905), there was a pathologizing of homosexuality .

According to the Kinsey Reports (1948, 1953), masturbation was no longer considered sick or personal harm, and homosexuality was depathologized in 1973. Even if masturbation and homosexuality are not sexual preferences, they are cited in sexology as examples of changes in the assessment of sexual tendencies and behavior.

Sexology Today

The derogatory terms perversion (Latin for twisting) and aberration (Latin for confusion) are no longer used in technical languages ​​today. Instead, the more neutral psychiatric term paraphilia has established itself. However, the sex researcher Haeberle points out that the use of the term paraphilia also means a valuation according to which there is a “correct” and an inferior sexuality, and suggests: “Instead, the reasons for medical or legal concerns should be precise in each individual case can be specified. They will then prove to be convincing at times and mere prejudices at other times. "

Sexual acts that are consensual and do not involve coercion, exploitation or exploitation are considered to be adapted or healthy in sexology today. Such a view tries to tolerate sexual practices that are satisfactory for people, even if other people reject them - for aesthetic reasons, for example. B. Oral intercourse and anal intercourse as well as the preferences currently still classified as paraphilias: fetishism, transvestism and sexual masochism. However, certain sexual behaviors are still rejected as immoral (and punished in various countries) if they are consensual and none of the parties involved suffer from it.

Definition of terms

The term sexual preference or sexual preference is differentiated in technical terms from the following terms:

Sexual orientation
It is the alignment of a person's emotional , romantic, and sexual interests in relation to the gender of the desired partner. The term sexual orientation describes the spectrum from heterosexuality to bisexuality to homosexuality or asexuality as the opposite of the entire spectrum. Sexual preference is independent of sexual orientation. For example, people of different sexual orientations practice BDSM . In colloquial language, the term sexual preference is sometimes incorrectly used when referring to sexual orientation.
Sexual identity
This is another term than sexual orientation , it also includes gender identity . In colloquial language and in the language of legislation, the term sexual identity is sometimes used when referring to what is referred to here and in psychological terminology as sexual orientation. The reason for this use of the term is the statement made by those affected that their sexual orientation forms part of their identity and their cultural and political self-image or identification.
perversion
This is a derogatory term that was first used to denote general violations of social norms ; in the 20th century it was increasingly used for sexually deviant behaviors or desires. The term perversion is no longer used in technical language.
Paraphilia
Mental disorder, sexual preference disorder. There are two groups of sexual preferences: paraphilic (pathological or disordered) and non-pathological sexual preferences. The more neutral term paraphilia has replaced the earlier term perversion in the clinical field.
Dissexuality
This term encompasses all sexual behaviors in which the well-being and sexual self-determination of other people is impaired or damaged.
Sexual delinquency
A sexual behavior primarily defined as delinquency by the respective legal system .

Forms of sexual preferences

Adjustment and Sexual Disorder

In the following overview, various sexual preferences are classified according to whether non-human objects are included in the sexual behavior, which sexual practices are preferred, and which age of the sexual partner is preferred. The non-pathological variant is compared with the pathological variant (paraphilia). For some preferences there is only one pathological variant (e.g. pedophilia) or only one non-pathological variant. The classification of preferences as paraphilias is based on the current diagnostic criteria of the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV-TR.

Exemplary overview

preference for non-pathological sexual preferences
( special interests )		 Disorder of sexual preference
(paraphilia)		 comment
Non-human objects involved in sexual behavior
Objects, e.g. B. Shoes and socks sneaks 'n' sox Fetishism , e.g. B. Shoe and sock fetishism Fetishism is considered "non-problematic" paraphilia.
Clothing of the opposite sex Cross dressing Transvestite fetishism (DSM-IV), fetishistic transvestism (ICD-10) Cross-dressing and drag are actually not sexual preferences, since i. A. Not about sexual arousal. Transvestism is considered a "non-problematic" paraphilia.
urine Pee , piss games, watersports, golden showers Urophilia Urophilia is sometimes referred to as a special form of sexual fetishism , but this is controversial in sexology and psychiatry.
Preferred sexual practices / sexual behavior
Showing one's own genitals, mostly to strangers     --- exhibitionism  
Watching naked people or sexual acts     --- Voyeurism  
Touching or rubbing against other people (unnoticed, mostly in crowded public places) BDSM when public Terrycloth  
Domination (domination), humiliation, slapping or tying ( bondage ) of the sexual partner BDSM , sadomasochism (consensual) Sexual sadism (DSM-IV),
"Sadomasochism" (ICD-10)		 Note that the ICD-10 uses the term "sadomasochism" for paraphilia, as opposed to the DSM-IV.
Submission to the sexual partner, being humiliated, beaten or tied up ( bondage ) by the sexual partner BDSM , sadomasochism (consensual) Sexual masochism (DSM-IV),
"sadomasochism" (ICD-10)		 Note that the ICD-10 uses the term "sadomasochism" for paraphilia, as opposed to the DSM-IV.
Preferred age of the sexual partner
Children (usually 13 years and younger)     --- pedophilia If a pedophile engages in sexual activity with children, there is also dissexuality . Among the sex offenders convicted of child sexual abuse , the proportion of pedophiles is 12 to 20%. Most of the cases of sexual abuse of children are not pedophilia, but sexual violence by non-pedophile adults, e.g. B. by the father.
Sexually mature significantly younger sexual partners Neoterophilia no paraphilia
pubescent boys or girls Hebephilia no paraphilia  
sexually mature male adolescents Ephebophilia , pederasty no paraphilia  
sexually mature (virgin) female adolescents Parthenophilia no paraphilia  
Old people Gerontophilia no paraphilia The term gerontophilia is misleading insofar as there is no paraphilia.

Frequency of sexual preferences viewed as deviant

The Kinsey Reports were the first to show that sexual preferences, sexual fantasies, and behaviors that might be viewed as deviating from moral norms are very common. In a follow-up study with 94 men on sexual fantasies , z. B. 61% of men had fantasies of seducing young girls and 33% had fantasies about rape.

A study with 60 students investigated the question of actual behavior . 65% of the respondents reported sexual behavior deviating from the norm. 42% had secretly watched other people have sexual intercourse (voyeurism), 35% stated that they had rubbed against others in groups of people to get sexually aroused (frotteurism), 3% stated that they had sexual contact with girls who were younger than 12 years old (pedophilia).

According to the research by Klaus Michael Beier (Professor of Sexology / Sexual Medicine at Charité Berlin) and his colleagues (2006) “the prevalence of paraphilic tendencies is higher than previously assumed”. According to this, 57.6% of the men surveyed over the age of 40 have sexual fantasies that can be thematically assigned to the paraphilias (without necessarily always being a paraphilias), and 43.9% live them out on the behavioral level. However, the authors conclude that “because of the (unavoidable) selection effects, transferring these numbers to the general population appears inadmissible” and that “most of the 'deviating' impulses are rooted in 'normal' sexual responsiveness and only through their isolation and generalization to disease values Become a disturbance ".

According to a systematic review published in 2008, between 31% and 57% of women have had sexual fantasies in which they are forced to have sex against their will. Rape fantasies are paradoxical as it is unclear why a person has an erotic and pleasurable fantasy about an event that would be hated and traumatic in real life . Several theories can be considered to explain this paradox: masochism , avoidance of feelings of guilt , sexual openness, sexual desire, male rape culture ( conditioning ), biological predisposition to submission, accompanying physiological responses, and the transformation of adversaries.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ch. J. Ahlers, GA Schaefer & KM Beier: The spectrum of sexual disorders and their classifiability in DSM-IV and ICD-10. Sexology , 2005, 12 (3/4), 120–152.
  2. ↑ a b c Peter Fiedler : Sexual Orientation and Sexual Deviation . Beltz-PVU, Weinheim 2004, ISBN 3621275177 .
  3. ↑ Erwin J. Haeberle : dtv-Atlas Sexualität . German paperback publishing house 2005.
  4. ↑ Udo Rauchfleisch : Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals. Lifestyles, prejudices, insights. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-01425-2 .
  5. ^ APA - American Psychological Association : Dangerous sex offenders. A task force report . American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, 1999.
  6. ↑ E. Crepault, M. Coulture: Men's erotic fanatsies. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1980, 9, 565-581.
  7. ^ TL Templeman, RD Stinnett: Patterns of sexual arousal and history in a 'normal' sample of young men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1991, 10, 137-150.
  8. ↑ Klaus M. Beier, Gerard A. Schäfer, David Goecker, Janina Neutze, Christoph J. Ahlers: Prevention project dark field. The Berlin Approach to the Therapeutic Primary Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse (PDF) ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Humboldt spectrum , No. 3, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / forschung.hu-berlin.de
  9. ↑ JW Critelli, JM Bivona (2008): Women's erotic rape fantasies: an evaluation of theory and research . In: Journal of Sex Research . Volume 45, No. 1, pp. 57-70.