Writing Question

Vanessa

Abstract

This paper will discuss the history of sex and talk about how the standard of sex has changed over the years. The single standard of sexual behavior is determined by the most commonly used in today’s society. The major benefits and/ or liabilities of a single standard of sexual behavior will be discussed. Sexual behavior has come a long ways and not every culture looked at sexual behavior the same way. If you look at today’s society and how they view sexual behavior it is way different then what it was viewed as back in time. Sex was only for procreation and not for pleasure. Men and women also had different rights many years ago as well, with women not having the same rights as men. 

Keywords: Single Standard, Sexual Behavior, benefits 

Sex in History 

If we were to go back into time and look at sexual behavior, it was way different than society’s sexual behavior today. To start off we are going to take a leap into history to see how far sexual behavior has come and also weigh the pros and cons of it. To better understand how sexual behavior has changed we will first discuss sexual behaviors history. Sexual behavior with Jewish, Roman, Greek, and Christian will be discussed. To start off, the way the Hebrew families saw sexual behavior is different than those cultures listed above. The ancient Jewish families had four distinguishing characteristics, patrilineal, polygynous, patriarchal, and patrilocal. In the Hebrew family the patriarchy was the father, his word was law. All of the males and children had a higher status due to their gender. The desired child was a male because they could inherit specific traits. Divorce was never granted to women, only the male was allowed to have a divorce and was allowed to have many wives. “Sex in the Hebrew family was primarily reserved for procreation and for the pleasure of the male. Women were not to enjoy sex; instead it was their “pleasure” to raise the children and take care of the home” (Holmes, 2011, pg 51).

The ancient Greek’s view of sexual behavior is far different than the Hebrews. Their society encouraged homosexuality. In the Greek society the biggest love affair was usually between two males. It was not uncommon for it to be an adult and a young boy that was before puberty. The normal sexual behavior was homosexuality and pedophilia. Women was considered very low in the Greek family and only had two roles which consisted of being a mother and wife. Women’s education were restricted to only learning how to run a household and learning to roles of motherhood. Women were hardly ever seen out in public with their husband. The only educated women were prostitutes “hetaerae”. It was extremely difficult for women to obtain a divorce but for males it was easy to obtain. Sex was not only for procreation but for recreational purposes as well. It was typical for the Greeks to be homosexual, hedonism, lesbianism, and polytheism. 

The Roman family was the first family that allowed equality for the females and males. Because they believed in equality this led to bi-humanity, what was good for the males was equally as good for the females. Neither sex was better than the other. It is true that the male of the house hold was viewed as in control but the female was treated as an equal. The way the Roman’s viewed sex was for procreation and also recreation. They viewed sex as a normal part of one’s personality. Sex was to be enjoyed and neither heterosexual nor homosexual was sinful. For this type of behavior for the Roman’s was normal.

The Christians had a strict moral values about sexuality and sex. Their belief was it was better to remain single then to have a spouse but if you couldn’t be single then it was better to marry. If a person were to marry they were not allowed to get divorced. “Sex was considered utilitarian; it was not to be used for recreation, as was the practice of the Romans” (Holmes, 2011, pg 55). Status of women again plummeted due to being considered evil. Women were thought of as bad blood but they were still needed for procreation. The normal was to remain a virgin and to be single.  

When you view today’s society and how they view sexual behavior, the normal behavior for today’s society is that sex is viewed as procreation and also for pleasure. The problem with this being so accepted is that our youth is starting to have sexual intercourse at very young ages. This leads to young juveniles becoming pregnant at very young ages. This can be a problem, this can lead to more abortions, more adoptions, being raised by their grandparents and/ or more children growing up in broken homes. “There is an increasing opinion that these youths should ignore their sexual responses and should abstain from sexual activities prior to marriage” (Kinsey, 1998, pg 14). Young juveniles at the age of 14 (and younger) are having children due to the recklessness of acting on their desires. They are observing their peers engage in reckless behavior and copying what they have seen. This is a huge con with how society views sexual behavior today.

The benefits of the single standard of sexual behavior is that it is not viewed that only the male can enjoy sex. In today’s society a male and female both are equal into engaging in sexual behavior. With sexual behavior becoming so popular, there have been creations of condoms to help create safe sex. Not only is it to help with safe sex but also to help procreation with those who are only looking to have intercourse. Having sex without procreation is a common practice in today’s society. There are other inventions that also help with procreation (other forms of birth control). Some researchers say that engaging in sexual activities is equivalent to engaging in cardio with is beneficial to your health. 

There is liability when it comes to the single standard of sexual behavior. Because society sees sexual behavior as so common some liabilities about it could be sexual behavior in the workplace. This could lead to a huge liability in the long run. People engaging in sexual harassment and sex at the workplace. This creates room for law suits and liability. 

Conclusion

It is safe to say that there is always going to be pros and cons in every scenario in life. When it comes to sexual behavior in today’s society it is much more normal for men and women to engage in sexual behavior for meanly enjoyment. Sexual behavior and how it is viewed has come a long ways from the history discussed earlier in this paper. Women are treated as equal to men and are able to enjoy sex. Women are able to do everything a man can do and possibly even more with how society has changed. The change is positive but also negative because it has started to affect our youth. There are more blended families than there was back in time due this is the new normal in today’s world. Society has adopted a new way of living and everyday it is changing.

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