Deviant Sexual Behavior Research

Question #7
What we classify as normal varies for each individual. Normal is defined as conforming to the regular, usual or natural. A relationship between a man and a woman was considered normal, and all of the sexual behavior that included kissing, foreplay, role play is considered normal. Normal is defined statistically, by culture and time. We tend to consider sexual behaviors abnormal or deviant, for example when they run counter to our religious values, when they make most of us wince (Rathus Pg. 506). I have learned that a deviant sexual behavior is when they involve the persistent preference for non-genital sexual outlets (Rathus Pg. 507).
Paraphilia’s involve sexual arousal in response to unusual stimuli such as children or other nonconsenting persons,
non-human objects or pain, and humiliation (Rathus 507).
One Paraphilia is called Fetishism, in which an inanimate object such as an article of clothing or items made of rubber, leather, or silk elicit sexual arousal. Women’s Undergarments, leather boots or high heel shoes are popular. Many Fetishists cannot achieve sexual arousal without the contact of desired objects, and that desired object was women’s hair. Some married couples may play fantasies out by role playing or engage in oral or anal sex, this by statistics is no longer deviant behavior. Some things that were considered deviant sexual behavior are classified as normal such as masturbation. According to the Judaeoa-Christian tradition masturbation was consider a sin because it did not promote procreation. There is a story in the Bible in the Book of Genesis that talks about a man by the name of Onan who was the son of Judah who was struck down by God because he withdrew while having sex with his wife. It was the custom of that day to marry your brother’s wife if he died in order to carry on the lineage. Since he withdrew from his wife and spilled his life producing seed he was guilty
of disobeying a command of God to Procreate to fill the earth. The withdrawing is called Coitus Interruptus. Some other sexual behaviors were condemned as well such as homosexuality, sex with animals, prostitution, infidelity, sex before marriage, orgies, lust, and even sex with someone who was not a Christian was considered a sin. I think sexual behavior becomes abnormal when it crosses the line with children, animals or anything that can cause pain, and not pleasure. Studies appear to confirm that paraphilics have higher than normal sex drives. Researchers are investigating whether there are biological factor in paraphilic behavior (Rathus Pg. 523).
Many people with paraphilia’s do not seek treatment voluntarily. Treatment s for this condition includes Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which focuses on resolving unconscious conflicts that are believed to originate in childhood, and to give rise in adulthood (Rathus Pg. 527). Another form of treatment is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy that attempts to directly change the ways in which people view events and respond to them relying frequently on principle learning. Systematic desensitizing attempts to break the link between the sexual stimulus and the appropriate response, There is also Aversion therapy that uses a method for terminating undesirable sexual behavior in which the behavior is repeatedly paired with an aversive stimulus such as electric shock to condition an aversion (Rathus Pg. 527). There is no medical cure for Paraphilia’s, but some progress has been made in using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are mainly anti – depressants in treating paraphilia’s. (Rathus Pg. 528). 7.5/7.5