Concept

Human sexual activity

Overview

Sexual activity, sexual practice, sexual behaviour or, very broadly, sex is the set of activities people engage in that typically includes any combination of physical intimacy, physical contact with the reproductive organs (genitals) or erogenous zones, and erotic stimulation. Sexual acts range from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) to acts with another person (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, oral sex, etc.) or multiple persons (e.g., orgies) in varying patterns of frequency, for a wide variety of reasons. Sexual activity usually results in sexual arousal and physiological changes in the aroused persons, some of which are pronounced while others are more subtle. Certain conduct is intended to arouse the sexual interest of another or enhance one's already-existing sex life with another or between individuals (for instance, foreplay or BDSM).

Certain activities, such as strategies to find or attract partners (flirting, courtship and display behaviour), are not usually considered sex, though they are commonly used to lead to sexual arousal and more explicitly sexual activities.

Human sexual activity has sociological, cognitive, emotional, behavioural and biological aspects. It involves personal bonding, sharing emotions, the physiology of the reproductive system, sex drive, sexual intercourse, and sexual behaviour in all its forms.

In some cultures, sexual activity is considered acceptable only within marriage, while premarital and extramarital sex are taboo. Some sexual activities are illegal either universally or in some countries or subnational jurisdictions, while some are considered contrary to the norms of certain societies or cultures. Two examples that are criminal offences in most jurisdictions are sexual assault and sexual activity with a person below the local age of consent.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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Among these processes which resist the ill effects of abstinence, one in particular has won cultural significance. Sexual desire relinquishes either its goal of partial gratification of desire, or the goal of desire toward reproduction, and adopts another aim, genetically related to the abandoned one, save that it is no longer sexual but must be termed social. This process is called "sublimation," and in adopting…
Sigmund Freud, A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
States what Human sexual activity is.
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Again and again, sentiment instead of argument! Such tactics are generally resorted to in the course of political discussions. Of course, the sex life of the child is different from that of the adult. Sexual functions, from the very beginning until they assume those ultimate forms which are well known to us, undergo a process of complicated development. Many component urges, each driving in a different direction…
Sigmund Freud, The problem of lay-analyses
States what Human sexual activity is.
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The property of causing such a cycle of occurrences is called "discomfort"; the property of the mental occurrences in which the cycle ends is called "pleasure." The actions constituting the cycle must not be purely mechanical, i.e. they must be bodily movements in whose causation the special properties of nervous tissue are involved.
Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind
States what Human sexual activity is.
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Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of Philosophy of sex.

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