Sexual Behavior 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 fig

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ation process: "Couples observed in the immediate environment or on television, who are 'in love,' or engage in behaviors such as kissing, caressing, or lying in bed together [usually] consist of one male and one female" (DeLamater, 1989, p. 43). In their natural quest for sexual knowledge, children often test the boundaries of acceptable sexual behavior. Children commonly explore their own bodies and the bodies of other children. In playing house, for instance, children may imitate the sexual activity that they have witnessed in adults. Parents who discover their children engaging in such experimentation often blow the incident out of proportion, responding with physical punishment or verbal threats. Thus, the child learns that certain behavior is inappropriate in public. Religion is another important means of socialization regarding acceptable public sexual behavior. The Judeo-Christian tradition, the dominant religious orientation in the Western world, is rooted in asceticism and the sanctioning of sexual activity within the confines of marriage only. Extreme asceticism manifests itself in celibacy, which is the absence of all sexual activity. Representing dissatisfaction with the sexual permissiveness that pervades
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1724
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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