Editing Human sexuality (section)

==Sexual behavior==
===General activities and health===
{{Main|Human sexual activity}}
{{See also|Sexual intercourse#Health effects|Sexually active life expectancy}}

In humans, sexual intercourse and sexual activity {{citation needed|date=December 2020}} in general have been shown to have health benefits, such as an improved sense of smell,{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} reduction in [[Stress (biology)|stress]] and blood pressure,<ref name="webmd.com">Doheny, K. (2008) [http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/10-surprising-health-benefits-of-sex "10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex,"] [[WebMD]] (reviewed by Chang, L., M.D.)</ref><ref>Light, K.C. et al., "More frequent partner hugs and higher oxytocin levels are linked to lower blood pressure and heart rate in premenopausal women." ''Biological Psychology'', April 2005; vol 69: pp 5–21.</ref> increased [[immune system|immunity]],<ref>Charnetski CJ, Brennan FX. Sexual frequency and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA). ''Psychological Reports'' 2004 Jun;94(3 Pt 1):839–844. Data on length of relationship and sexual satisfaction were not related to the group differences.</ref> and decreased risk of [[prostate cancer]].<ref>Michael F. Leitzmann; Edward Giovannucci. Frequency of Ejaculation and Risk of Prostate Cancer – Reply. ''JAMA''. (2004);292:329.</ref><ref>Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Giovannucci E. Ejaculation Frequency and Subsequent Risk of Prostate Cancer. ''JAMA''. (2004);291(13):1578–1586.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 12887469 | volume=92 | issue=3 | title=Sexual factors and prostate cancer | date=August 2003 | journal=BJU Int. | pages=211–216 | last1 = Giles | first1 = GG | last2 = Severi | first2 = G | last3 = English | first3 = DR | display-authors = etal  | doi=10.1046/j.1464-410x.2003.04319.x| s2cid=29430415 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Sexual intimacy and orgasms increase levels of oxytocin, which helps people bond and build trust.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 19482229 | doi=10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.04.001 | volume=88 | issue=2 | title=Oxytocin: the great facilitator of life | pmc=2689929 | date=June 2009 | journal=Prog. Neurobiol. | pages=127–151 | last1 = Lee | first1 = HJ | last2 = Macbeth | first2 = AH | last3 = Pagani | first3 = JH | last4 = Young | first4 = WS}}</ref><ref>Riley AJ. Oxytocin and coitus. ''Sexual and Relationship Therapy'' (1988);3:29–36</ref><ref>Carter CS. Oxytocin and sexual behavior. ''Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews'' (1992);16(2):131–144</ref>

A long-term study of 3,500 people between ages 30 and 101 by clinical neuropsychologist David Weeks, MD, head of old-age psychology at the [[Royal Edinburgh Hospital]] in Scotland, said he found that "sex helps you look between four and seven years younger", according to impartial ratings of the subjects' photographs. Exclusive causation, however, is unclear, and the benefits may be indirectly related to sex and directly related to significant reductions in stress, greater contentment, and better sleep that sex promotes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Blum|first=Jeffrey |title=Can Good Sex Keep You Young?|url=http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51501|website=WebMD|access-date=8 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Weeks|first=David|title=Secrets of the Superyoung|year=1999|publisher=Berkley|isbn=978-0-425-17258-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780425172582/page/277 277]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780425172582/page/277}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Northrup|first=Christiane|title=Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing|year=2010|publisher=Bantam|isbn=978-0-553-80793-6|page=960|url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=V9S3keMnie8C |page=232 }} }}</ref>

Sexual intercourse can also be a [[vector (epidemiology)|disease vector]].<ref>"[http://www.4parents.gov/sexrisky/stds/common_std/common_std.html Common Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625104729/http://www.4parents.gov/sexrisky/stds/common_std/common_std.html |date=25 June 2011 }}". U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.</ref> There are 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) every year in the U.S.,<ref name="CDC">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/surv2008-Complete.pdf Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance], 2008. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; November 2009.[https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/2008survFactSheet.PDF Fact Sheet]</ref> and worldwide there are over 340 million STD infections each year.<ref name="who">World Health Organization Fact Sheet on Sexually Transmitted Diseases. {{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs110/en/print.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709030847/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs110/en/print.html |archive-date=9 July 2012  }} Accessed 27 May 2010</ref> More than half of these occur in adolescents and young adults aged 15–24 years.<ref>Weinstock H, et al. Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000. ''Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health'' (2004);36(1):6–10.</ref> At least one in four U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease.<ref name="CDC"/><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/science/12std.html?_r=1 Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls]. [[The New York Times]]. 12 March 2008.</ref> In the U.S., about 30% of 15- to 17-year-olds have had sexual intercourse, but only about 80% of 15- to 19-year-olds report using condoms for their first sexual intercourse.<ref>CDC. Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10–24 Years – United States, 2002–2007. MMWR 20009; 58 (No. SS-6):1–59 [https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5806.pdf]</ref> In one study, more than 75% of young women age 18–25 years felt they were at low risk of acquiring an STD.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 12855216 | volume=37 | issue=2 | title=Factors associated with condom use among at-risk women students and nonstudents seen in managed care | date=August 2003 | journal=Prev Med | pages=163–170 | last1 = Yarnall | first1 = KS | last2 = McBride | first2 = CM | last3 = Lyna | first3 = P | display-authors = etal  | doi=10.1016/s0091-7435(03)00109-9}}</ref>

===Creating a relationship===
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2015}}
[[File:Eugen de Blaas The Flirtation.jpg|thumb|right|''The Flirtation'', [[Eugene de Blaas]], 1904.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=326 |title=Art Renewal Center Museum™ Artist Information for Eugene de Blaas |publisher=Artrenewal.org |access-date=8 November 2016}}</ref>]]
People both consciously and subconsciously seek to attract others with whom they can form deep relationships. This may be for companionship, procreation, or an intimate relationship. This involves interactive processes whereby people find and attract potential partners and maintain a relationship. These processes, which involve attracting one or more partners and maintaining sexual interest, can include:
* [[Flirting]], the attraction of the sexual attention of another to encourage romance or sexual relations. It can involve [[body language]], conversation, joking, or brief physical contact.<ref>[http://www.sirc.org/publik/flirt.html SIRC Guide to Flirting. What Social Science can tell you about flirting and how to do it.] Retrieved 13 October 2009.</ref> Flirting is a socially accepted way of attracting someone. There are different types of flirting, and most people usually have one way of flirting that makes them most comfortable. When flirting, people can be polite, playful, physical, etc. Sometimes it is difficult to know whether or not the person is interested.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.ku.edu/2013/09/11/new-book-outlines-five-types-flirting-styles |title= New book outlines five types of flirting styles |last=Schmidt |first=Megan | publisher=KU News Service |date=9 November 2013 |website=University of Kansas |access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> Flirting styles vary according to culture. Different cultures have different social etiquette. For example, length of eye contact, or how closely one stands by someone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,419712,00.html |title=Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren |publisher=Spiegel.de |access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref>
* [[Seduction]], the process whereby one person deliberately entices another to engage in sexual behavior.<ref>{{cite book | author=Greene, Robert | author-link=Robert Greene (author) | title=The Art of Seduction | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-14-200119-6 | url=https://archive.org/details/artofseduction00robe_0 }}</ref> This behavior is one that the person you are seducing would not usually do, unless sexually aroused. Seduction can be seen as both a positive and a negative. Since the word seduction has a Latin meaning, which is "to lead astray" it can be viewed negatively.<ref>Buss, D. (1996) ''The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating''.</ref>

===Sexual attraction===
{{Main|Sexual attraction}}
Sexual attraction is [[Attractiveness|attraction]] on the basis of [[sexual desire]] or the quality of arousing such interest.<ref name="Sexual attraction">{{cite web|title=Sexual attraction|publisher=[[TheFreeDictionary.com]]|access-date=16 December 2011|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sexual+attraction|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331224102/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sexual+attraction|archive-date=31 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Sexual attraction2">{{cite web|title=Sexual attraction| publisher=Reference.com|access-date=16 December 2011|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sexual+attraction}}</ref> Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract the sexual or [[erotic]] interest of another person, and is a factor in [[sexual selection]] or [[mate choice]].  The attraction can be to the [[physical attraction|physical]] or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context in which they appear. The attraction may be to a person's [[aesthetics]] or movements or to their voice or smell, besides other factors. The attraction may be enhanced by a person's adornments, clothing, perfume, [[long hair|hair length]] and [[hair style|style]], and anything else which can attract the sexual interest of another person. It can also be influenced by [[individual]] [[Genetics|genetic]], [[psychological]], or cultural factors, or to other, more amorphous qualities of the person. Sexual attraction is also a response to another person that depends on a combination of the person possessing the traits and also on the criteria of the person who is attracted.

Though attempts have been made to devise objective criteria of sexual attractiveness, and measure it as [[individual capital|one of several bodily forms of]] [[capital asset]] (''see [[erotic capital]]''), a person's sexual attractiveness is to a large extent a subjective measure dependent on another person's interest, perception, and [[sexual orientation]]. For example, a [[Homosexuality|gay or lesbian person]] would typically find a person of the [[Same-sex attraction|same sex]] to be more attractive than one of the other sex. A [[bisexuality|bisexual person]] would find either sex to be attractive.

In addition, there are [[Asexuality|asexual]] people, who usually do not experience sexual attraction for either sex, though they may have romantic attraction (homoromantic, biromantic or heteroromantic). [[Interpersonal attraction]] includes factors such as [[propinquity|physical or psychological similarity]], [[Intimate relationship#Intimacy|familiarity]] or possessing a preponderance of [[Koinophilia#Physical attractiveness|common or familiar features]], [[similarity (psychology)|similarity]], [[Interpersonal compatibility|complementarity]], [[reciprocal liking]], and [[reinforcement]].<ref>Miller, R., Perlman, D., and Brehm, S.S. Intimate Relationships, 4th Edition, McGrawHill Companies.{{page needed|date=December 2012}}</ref>

The ability of a person's physical and other qualities to create a sexual interest in others is the basis of their use in [[sex in advertising|advertising]], [[music video]], [[pornography]], [[Sex in film|film]], and other visual media, as well as in [[Model (person)|modeling]], [[sex work]] and other occupations.

===Legal issues===

{{Main|Family law |Divorce |Marriage |Human sexual activity#Legal issues|Sex and the law}}
Globally, laws regulate human sexuality in several ways, including criminalizing particular sexual behaviors, granting individuals the privacy or [[autonomy]] to make their own sexual decisions, protecting individuals with regard to equality and non-discrimination, recognizing and protecting other individual rights, as well as legislating matters regarding marriage and the family, and creating laws protecting individuals from violence, harassment, and persecution.<ref name=SexualityLaw1>{{cite web | last1 = Mills |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Haste |first2=Polly |last3=Wood |first3=Stephen | date = 17 June 2016 | title = 1. Issues and Debates; How is sexuality regulated in law? | work = Sexuality and Social Justice: A Toolkit | location = Brighton, UK | publisher = Institute of Development Studies, Sexuality, Poverty and Law Programme | url = http://www.spl.ids.ac.uk/sexuality-and-social-justice-toolkit/1-issues-and-debates/how-sexuality-regulated-law  | access-date =  17 June 2016 }}</ref>

In the United States, there are two fundamentally different approaches, applied in different states, regarding the way the law is used to attempt to govern a person's sexuality.  The "black letter" approach to law focuses on the study of pre-existing legal precedent, and attempts to offer a clear framework of rules within which lawyers and others can work.<ref name=SexualityLaw1/> In contrast, the socio-legal approach focuses more broadly on the relationship between the law and society, and offers a more contextualized view of the relationship between legal and social change.<ref name=SexualityLaw1/>

Issues regarding human sexuality and human sexual orientation have come to the forefront in Western law in the latter half of the twentieth century, as part of the [[gay liberation]] movement's encouragement of [[LGBT]] individuals to "[[come out of the closet]]" and engaging with the legal system, primarily through courts. Therefore, many issues regarding human sexuality and the law are found in the opinions of the courts.<ref name=Minnesota1>{{cite web|title=Researching Legal Issues of Sexual Orientation|url=https://library.law.umn.edu/researchguides/sexual-orientation.html|website=library.law.umn.edu|publisher=University of Minnesota|access-date=3 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705012329/https://library.law.umn.edu/researchguides/sexual-orientation.html|archive-date=5 July 2015}}</ref>

====Sexual privacy====
{{See also|Sexual and reproductive health and rights}}
While the issue of privacy has been useful to sexual rights claims, some scholars have criticized its usefulness, saying that this perspective is too narrow and restrictive. The law is often slow to intervene in certain forms of coercive behavior that can limit individuals' control over their own sexuality (such as [[female genital mutilation]], [[forced marriages]] or lack of access to reproductive health care). Many of these injustices are often perpetuated wholly or in part by private individuals rather than state agents, and as a result, there is an ongoing debate about the extent of state responsibility to prevent harmful practices and to investigate such practices when they do occur.<ref name=SexualityLaw1 />

State intervention with regards to sexuality also occurs, and is considered acceptable by some, in certain instances (e.g. same-sex sexual activity or [[prostitution]]).<ref name=SexualityLaw1 />

The legal systems surrounding [[prostitution]] are a topic of debate. Proponents for criminalization argue that sex work is an immoral practice that should not be tolerated, while proponents for decriminalization point out how criminalization does more harm than good. Within the feminist movement, there is also a debate over whether sex work is inherently objectifying and exploitative or whether sex workers have the agency to sell sex as a service.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/kate-heartfield-do-prostitutes-sell-themselves-or-a-service-1.877652|title=Kate Heartfield: Do prostitutes sell themselves or a service?|last=Heartfield|first=Kate|website=Times Colonist|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref>

When sex work is criminalized, sex workers do not have support from law enforcement when they fall victim to violence. In a 2003 survey of street-based sex workers in NYC, 80% said they had been threatened with or experienced violence, and many said the police were no help. 27% said they had experienced violence from police officers themselves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sexworkersproject.org/downloads/RevolvingDoor.pdf|title=Revolving Door|last=Thukral|first=Juhu|date=2003|website=Sex Workers Project|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040103043554/http://sexworkersproject.org/downloads/RevolvingDoor.pdf|archive-date=2004-01-03}}</ref> Different identities such as being black, transgender, or poor can result in a person being more likely to be criminally profiled by the police. For example, in New York, there is a law against "loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution", which has been nicknamed the "walking while trans" law because of how often transgender women are assumed to be sex workers and arrested for simply walking out in public.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2019/8/2/20692327/sex-work-decriminalization-prostitution-new-york-dc|title=Sex workers' fight for decriminalization, explained|last=North|first=Anna|date=2 August 2019|website=Vox|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref>