Dimensions of Sexuality: What Are

The dimensions of sexuality they are the factors that affect the sexual orientation of a person, their attraction to one or both genders and the behavior of the person in the society in which they live. In addition, they define their own gender, how they use their reproductive organs and for what purpose.

Human sexuality is defined by the interrelation of these dimensions, and in their complexity they also define the personality of each individual, in addition to dictating how he behaves with people of the same or opposite sex. These dimensions are three: the biological, the psychological and the sociocultural.

Each of these dimensions has specific characteristics. The biological is related to everything related to anatomy, psychological behavior and socio-cultural evaluates how a person's sexuality is defined depending on the environment in which he lives.

What are the dimensions of sexuality?

Sexuality encompasses many more things than are commonly handled. How people feel about themselves, the roles they play within a society and their ability to reproduce are all aspects that are part of a person's sexual identity. Each one is within a particular dimension.

Within the human body occurs a series of biological, psychological and cultural factors that define whether a person will be active or not sexually. The sensation known as excitement is a psychological factor.

In fact, the human body takes into account several factors before deciding whether to get excited or not when seeing a person, such as lack of self-esteem. People with low self-esteem tend to dodge relationships of any kind with the other person.

There may also be external influences, such as people who are admired or even the religiosity of the society in which they live.

The dimensions of sexuality, according to its type, are the following:

Biological dimension

Human genes give the body certain predispositions that define the sexual orientation of each person. The genes that define gender play an important role in this area, and while culture is an influential factor in human sexual activity, the very essence of sexuality is purely biological.

The importance of biology goes beyond genes. The conditions that the human body has can inhibit or even limit the sexual functioning of a person.

Cases such as erectile dysfunction or certain traumas in the spine severely limit a person's sexual condition physiologically, and in turn affect their psychological state.

Age also involves physiological changes that affect the way in which human beings appreciate sexuality. Wounds and physical traumas can also affect the way in which pleasure is appreciated at the time of having sex.

Gender implications

In addition, gender plays a crucial role in the way in which human beings appreciate sexuality. Although these effects are usually psychological, their origin lies in human biology. This has to do with the way in which society perceives the behaviors of each gender.

For example, men who actively develop sexually are praised and viewed positively, while women who behave similarly are judged negatively. This perception linked to biology is common in countries of the American continent.

Psychological dimension

Sexual activity is a purely biological factor, but it is affected by the psychological state of each person. The thoughts that go through the minds of individuals define their way of acting when interacting with other people in a sexual way and, in turn, these are influenced by external factors.

For example, it has been determined that physical training often helps men with an interest in the female gender to relate to women. This occurs because the training positively affects the acceptance they have of their own body.

By improving their image with training, in turn increases the confidence they have and their development when interacting with the people who attract them. The lack of a good appreciation of self-image often leads to strong self-esteem problems, and even abuse of narcotics to deal with depression.

The case of Viagra

One of the most famous cases attributed to the psychological dimension of sexuality is the introduction of Viagra to the North American market.

Men suffering from erectile dysfunction were affected by severe depressions and psychological impairments at the time of having sex, while women thought they were not able to excite their husbands.

This happened because it was originally believed that erectile dysfunction was a phenomenon linked to the psychological dimension, but it was really biological. The effects that caused this problem were solved largely with Viagra.

Sociocultural dimension

Both the biological and the psychological dimension are affected by the sociocultural factors that surround people. In the sexual sphere, any external influence produced by a society modifies the way in which every individual behaves.

There is a theory called social constructionism, which ensures that the beliefs and sexual orientation of people are shaped by the environment in which they live.

From birth, people are bombarded by countless stimuli and signals from the adult members of a society, which indicate to the young person how to act and how to function.

This idea implies that people will hide their feelings if a society sees them as unworthy. They can also hide such feelings if they fear being judged when they express them.

Most influential factors

Among the most influential sociocultural factors in the sexual behavior of people is religion, which implies certain moral standards, affecting the behavior of people.

Likewise, multicultural beliefs also have a lot of influence. This refers to the different beliefs that the ethnicities of each country have; Depending on the group to which a person belongs, a sexual behavior may or may not be judged.

In addition, other factors have to be considered, such as socioeconomic status (commonly, low-income and low-income people tend to have sex at an early age) and ethics, which causes each person to ask themselves what is sexually correct and what is not.

References

1. Introducing the dimensions of human sexuality, Jones and Barnett, (n.d.). Taken from jblearning.com
2. The Dimensions of Sexuality, (n.d.). Taken from weebly.com
3. Human Sexuality, University of San Francisco, (n.d.). Taken from usf.edu
4. Dimensions of Human Sexuality, Curtis O. Byer, Louis W. Shainberg, Grace Galliano, (n.d.). Taken from mheducation.com
5. Journal of Research in Personality Summary, David Schmitt and David Buss, 1999. Taken from sciencedirect.com