Introduction
Sexual behavior is a way of interaction between individuals focused on satisfying sexual needs. Sexual behavior involves social, personal, and family life and has three functions: reproductive, hedonic (getting pleasure), and communicative. Sexual behavior depends directly on the goals and objectives that arise from human needs.
The culmination is the discharge of sexual tension achieved through appropriate sexual behavior. A distinction is made between a single and a double standard of sexual behavior. A single standard has advantages, such as avoidance of stereotypes, fairness, and equality, and disadvantages, such as the risk of spreading unethical behavior.
Double Standards
In today’s society, women’s sexual behavior has changed considerably, contradicting established stereotypes. The emphasis has shifted to leader behavior – more aggressive behavior. The leading feature of women’s sexual behavior is the emphasized sexuality of the modern female social stereotype.
Thus, there is a contradiction between male behavioral stereotypes and external female features. Women’s sexual behavior has shifted from the zone of femininity to the zone of androgyny and sometimes masculinity (Gunn, 2021). Such traits as ambitiousness, assertiveness, independence, and risk-taking, which belong to the traits of masculine behavior, are now observed in women.
Social life and domination in most spheres of family life, including sexual, have significantly changed the attitude of married women both toward the manifestation of their sexuality and directly toward their spouses as sexual partners. Many factors influence modified female behavior in general and sexuality in particular. They include physiological, psychological, socio-psychological, social, sociocultural, economic, and other factors.
The behavior of men, just like that of women, has changed greatly in recent years. They have taken better care of themselves, become more educated, physically weaker, and, most importantly, more feminine. Men began to lead sedentary lifestyles; excess weight problems also affected their sexuality. A few decades ago, men’s top priorities were respect, money, and thirst for adventure, achievement, and pleasure; today, it is the search for spirituality, self-determination, family, intuition, and honesty.
Internal, more profound ones have replaced external manifestations and stimuli. Men strive to understand themselves to establish a balance between their desires and their actions (Grunt-Mejer, 2022). This phenomenon is positive because women are no longer oppressed; they are no longer expected to behave stereotypically. Society is moving away from long-established assumptions, which helps it evolve.
The concept of “norm” may vary according to circumstances, context, place of residence, religion, and cultural traditions. Therefore, one should not be in a hurry to put stamps on acquaintances, strangers, and oneself. It is because of an opinion imposed by someone else that a person may have problems with their sexuality, not because of the peculiarity of its manifestation.
According to society’s beliefs, a person is normal if they can have sexual pleasure in different ways and are not fixated on one thing, if they actively continue to communicate, function, live, and fulfill themselves in society. People are also competent and fit within the context of the society, religion, and upbringing in which they were raised (BjorkâJames, 2020). However, such frameworks can severely limit people and prevent them from enjoying and living as they desire.
Fairness
Unlike the double standard, the single standard is more equitable. The double standard of sexual behavior is a double set of moral standards for men and women, usually with stricter standards applied to women, especially about premarital virginity and acceptable sexual behavior. Women are expected to have fewer sexual partners than men for the same duration of sexual activity (Goldberg et al., 2020).
Conversely, in a uniform standard, women and men can have the same sexual behavior and not be judged. This helps people feel freer and moves away from the belief that everyone can live as they wish. For a long time, women have often felt guilty about their “wrong” sexual behavior. Gradually moving toward a uniform standard will help restore justice by allowing women to stop worrying about their behavior and the opinions of others.
Equality
A common standard of sexual behavior will help take a step toward gender equality. Gender norms, which are rules of behavior, and sociocultural prescriptions about how the sexual behavior of a man or a woman should be, play an important role in maintaining the gender system of society and constructing gender consciousness. New socioeconomic situations cause changes in sociocultural notions of masculinity and femininity, which shape men’s and women’s normative patterns of behavior (Rost, 2021).
According to traditional models, male and female areas of competence and functions were separated. Today, men and women in all spheres of life share tasks, share responsibilities, and substitute for each other in different social roles, which also applies to common standards of sexual behavior. The current gender situation is characterized by the parallel existence of two male and female behavior norms: traditional (more typical of the last century) and modernized models of masculinity and femininity.
The experience of intrapersonal or interpersonal conflict can accompany the mix of traditional and modernized (egalitarian) attitudes created under the impact of differentially directed rules of male and female behavior (Mickelson & Marcussen, 2023). This happens when numerous jobs overlap or when expectations and goals for role behavior clash. Boys and girls must determine on their own experience what gender standards, guidelines, and models are the most adaptable for them, choosing from the time-tested, traditional, and relevant to modern realities, modernized.
Traditional gender norms in sexual relations prescribe a man to be the initiator of sexual interaction and to use any opportunity for sexual intimacy. A guy is required to display increasing sexual desire, activity, and an expert position while avoiding emotional attachment, according to these norms (Jarska, 2019). In contrast, a woman is expected to use sexual attraction to cement the emotional connection, showing restraint in expressing sexual interest and the position of a disciple. This phenomenon, in my opinion, reinforces gender inequality, predetermining the limits of male and female sexual behavior.
The Risk of Spreading Unethical Behavior
A uniform standard of sexual behavior carries a drawback, as it may increase the risk of unethical conduct spreading. The possibility that people might feel a loosening of the “frame” could cause a surge of crime and a change in society. The fact that women will not be judged for a certain sexual behavior may reduce the number of marriages and increase the number of divorces. In a sense, this is a positive development since members of society can choose how they want to live their lives.
If these actions are ill-conceived, many families will be destroyed, worsening the situation. To this extent, behavioral frameworks are good for controlling society by influencing each person. People feel more responsible for their actions, which improves their actions, which can be compared to criminal justice. With laws defining how one can and cannot behave, people are more humane, living as they should to maintain an adequate society. That flaw, meanwhile, is the only one I could find in the uniform standard of sexual behavior.
Under the dynamic influence of the conditions of human existence, women began to compete with members of the stronger sex in education, profession, position, and earnings, and did not seek in marriage only protection and material well-being; the traditional role of the man began to change. In the sexual sphere, there have also been significant changes. The updated rules of sexual behavior are not formalized, are not as stable, and are not shared by everyone. This determines the relevance of research on the prevalence of traditional and egalitarian gender norms in the sphere of sexual relations in the views and behavior of modern youth. In parallel with the shifts in behavior, the socio-moral attitudes of young people, especially attitudes towards premarital sex, are also changing.
Traditional morality officially condemned them, although not always consistently or effectively, when it came to men. In Sweden, it has gradually become normal for a couple to live outside of marriage without entering into a legal marriage until they decide to have offspring. According to American statistics, the number of unmarried couples living together tripled from 1970 to 1980, with a particularly large, double increase between 1975 and 1980 (McFarland et al., 2020). Sexual behavior within marriage is also undergoing significant shifts. Improved nutrition has increased sexual activity (Rodriguez et al., 2021). The crisis of traditional religious taboos and the advent of effective contraceptives have contributed to a greater separation of the sexual-erotic relationship from the reproductive function.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a common standard of sexual behavior allows people to create fairness in society, move away from beliefs, and take a step toward equality. However, this standard may risk spreading unethical behavior and rash actions, leading to irreversible consequences. This shortcoming is the only one that proves the effectiveness of a single standard of sexual behavior. Empirical research is needed to further study people’s sexual behavior under this standard, which will help to understand this phenomenon better and assess the pros and cons.
References
BjorkâJames, S. (2020). White sexual politics: The patriarchal family in white nationalism and the religious right. Transforming Anthropology, 28(1), 58-73. Web.
Goldberg, S. K., Rothblum, E. D., Russell, S. T., & Meyer, I. H. (2020). Exploring the Q in LGBTQ: Demographic characteristic and sexuality of Queer people in a US representative sample of sexual minorities. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 7(1), 101â112. Web.
Grunt-Mejer, K. (2022). The history of the medicalisation of rapid ejaculationâA reflection of the rising importance of female pleasure in a phallocentric world. Psychology & Sexuality, 13(3), 565-582. Web.
Gunn, A., Hoskin, R. A., & Blair, K. L. (2021). The new lesbian aesthetic? Exploring gender style among femme, butch and androgynous sexual minority women. In Women’s Studies International Forum (Vol. 88, 1-13). Pergamon. Web.
Jarska, N. (2019). Modern Marriage and the Culture of Sexuality: Experts between the State and the Church in Poland, 1956â1970. European History Quarterly, 49(3), 467-490. Web.
McFarland, M. J., Hauer, M. E., & Reuben, A. (2022). Half of US population exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(11), 1-7. Web.
Mickelson, K. D., & Marcussen, K. (2023). Gender and the Transition to Parenthood: Understanding the A, B, Câs. Springer Nature.
Rodriguez, L. M., Litt, D. M., & Stewart, S. H. (2021). COVID-19 psychological and financial stress and their links to drinking: A dyadic analysis in romantic couples. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35(4), 377-390. Web.
Rost, L. A. (2021). ‘By sharing work we are moving forwardâ: change in social norms around menâs participation in unpaid care work in Northern Uganda. Oxford Development Studies, 49(1), 39-52. Web.