The freedom to express sexual behavior in public is subject to considerable social control. Institutions such as the family, church, peers, the media, and government all play roles in defining acceptable displays of affection. The social scripts developed by these institutions dictate the intensity of sexual expression permissable in public.
Sexual behavior can be described on a continuum based on the intensity of intimacy involved. Thus, kissing and necking are viewed as less intense than petting or sexual intercourse. The degree to which sexual activity in public is permitted is largely a function of community legal statutes. As Atkinson (1989) notes, "Almost any sexual behavior a human being could commit is illegal under some state or federal sexual statute" (p. 466). In general, crimes against public decency and morality include breast or genital fondling, exposure of private body parts, and sexual intercourse. These prohibitions hold true, regardless of whether the couple engaged in the activity is married or not. Couples can kiss and hold hands in public, but the public display of behavior that is termed erotic is seldom condoned by society.
Because of the eroticization of female body parts evident in American culture, certain levels of sexual behavior are routinely engaged in by males, with impunity. This behavior involves the observation of women by men: "Feminist writers often refer to 'the male gaze,' sometimes using the term in a more general and figurative sense. This everyday, literal type of gaze is in fact much more like a gape" (Schur, 1988, p. 71). Women are viewed by these men as sexual objects and appraised on the basis of their sex appeal. Although most males defend this activity as their right to the enjoyment of feminine beauty, in reality this type of observation is a means to subordinate women in society and is a form of sexual harassment.
Observation takes place in public locales suc...