Sexual intercourse is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure, reproduction, or both. This is also known as vaginal intercourse or vaginal sex. Other forms of penetrative sexual intercourse include anal sex, oral sex, fingering and penetration by use of a dildo. These activities involve physical intimacy between two or more individuals and are usually used among humans solely for physical or emotional pleasure and can contribute to human bonding.
The sexual revolution, also known as a time of sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1960s to the 1970s. Sexual liberation included increased acceptance of sex outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships. The normalization of contraception and the pill, public nudity, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, masturbation, alternative forms of sexuality, and the legalization of abortion all followed.
Sexual abstinence or sexual restraint is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, financial, philosophical, moral, or religious reasons. Sexual abstinence is distinct from asexuality, which is a sexual orientation where people do not feel sexual attraction. Celibacy is sexual abstinence generally motivated by factors such as an individual's personal or religious beliefs. Sexual abstinence before marriage is required in some societies by social norms, or by law in some countries. It is a part of chastity.
The views of the various different religions and religious believers regarding human sexuality range widely among and within them, from giving sex and sexuality a rather negative connotation to believing that sex is the highest expression of the divine. Some religions distinguish between human sexual activities that are practised for biological reproduction and those practised only for sexual pleasure in evaluating relative morality.
Female ejaculation is characterized as an expulsion of fluid from the Skene's gland at the lower end of the urethra during or before an orgasm. It is also known colloquially as squirting, although research indicates that female ejaculation and squirting are different phenomena, squirting being attributed to a sudden expulsion of liquid that partly comes from the bladder and contains urine.
Sex manuals are books which explain how to perform sexual practices; they also commonly feature advice on birth control, and sometimes on safe sex and sexual relationships.
Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde was a Dutch physician and gynæcologist who served as director at the Gynæcological Institute in Haarlem.
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), hyposexuality or inhibited sexual desire (ISD) is considered a sexual dysfunction in some jurisdictions and is characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity, as judged by a clinician. For this to be regarded as a disorder, it must cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulties and not be better accounted for by another mental disorder, a drug, or some other medical condition. A person with ISD will not start, or respond to their partner's desire for, sexual activity. HSDD affects approximately 10% of all pre-menopausal women in the United States, or about 6 million women.
India has developed its discourse on sexuality differently based on its distinct regions with their own unique cultures.
The Ratirahasya is a medieval Indian sex manual written by Kokkoka, a poet, who is variously described as Koka or Koka Pundit. The exact date of its writing is not known, but it is estimated the text was written in the 11th or 12th century. It is speculated that Ratirahasya was written to please a king by the name Venudutta. Kokkoka describes himself in the book as siddha patiya pandita, i.e. "an ingenious man among learned men". The manual was written in Sanskrit.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sexual ethics:
The Sex Orientation Scale (SOS) was Harry Benjamin's attempt to classify and understand various forms and subtypes of transvestism and transsexualism in biological males, published in 1966. It was a seven-point scale ; it was analogous to the Kinsey Scale as it relates to sexual orientation, which also had seven categories. Much like Kinsey's understanding of sexual orientation, Benjamin understood the nature of gender identity and gender expression not as a discrete scale, but as a spectrum, a continuum with many variations. However the Benjamin scale does not reflect a modern understanding of gender identity and is not useful as a contemporary diagnostic tool, especially due to its conflation of gender identity with sexual orientation.
Frederica Mathewes-Green is an American author and speaker, chiefly on topics related to Eastern Orthodox belief and practice.
Sandstone Retreat, officially the Sandstone Foundation for Community Systems Research, was a clothing-optional, open sexuality resort for swingers located at Sandstone Ranch, a 15-acre (6.1 ha) estate in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Malibu and the Pacific Ocean.
The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love is a self-help book, written by Christian writers Tim LaHaye and Beverly LaHaye.
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle.
Peggy Joy Kleinplatz is a Canadian clinical psychologist and sexologist whose work often concerns optimal sexuality, opposition to the medicalization of human sexuality, and outreach to marginalized groups. She is a full professor of medicine and clinical professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa.
Ira Leonard Reiss is a sociologist with primary interests in studying the way society impacts sexual attitudes and behaviors and how people respond to those pressures. He also has interests in the study of gender and family, particularly as they relate to sexuality. He attended Syracuse University for his B.S. degree and the Pennsylvania State University for his M. A. and Ph. D. degrees. His major area in graduate school was sociology and his minor areas were cultural anthropology and philosophy. His doctoral course work in sociology and philosophy was done at Columbia University and his French and German language study was taken at Yale University.
Oragenitalism is a book by the American folklorist Gershon Legman, published by the Julian Press in 1969. The book describes various types of oral sex. The book is intended as "instruction manual, conduct guide, and household advice book". The author claimed that it was the earliest book of its kind on the subject, and for a long time the only one. Its contents are divided into four sections: "Cunnilinctus" written under the pen-name Roger-Maxe de la Glannege and published by Jacob Brussel of New York in 1940; the three remaining sections "Fellatio", "Irrumation", and "Sixty-Nine" were not published until 1969.
Al-Wishāḥ fī Fawāʾid al-Nikāḥ is an Arabic literary work on sex education written by the Egyptian Muslim scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in the late 15th century. It has been called the apex of its genre of Islamically based sex and marriage manuals in Arabic, a form of literature that originated in 10th-century Baghdad. The work is one of a number of such works written by Al-Suyuti dealing with sex, the others including Nawāḍir al-Ayk fī Maʻrifat al-Nayk, Nuzhat al-Mutaʾammil, and Shaqāʾiq al-Utrunj fī Raqāʾiq al-Ghunj.
