Historical Context Of The Social Perception Of Sexual Behavior

603 Words3 Pages

Sexual behavior has been evolving ever since it was first introduced to the society. Decades ago, sexual behavior was not seen and/or taken as serious as it is now. In addition, several acts that are now seen as grotesque, were once seen as something normal before. It is very significant to understand the historical context of the social perception of sexual behavior because of the way it is perceived now. The past “normal” acts depended on the acceptance of the society and the political ideologies. Social norms have not been static, they are actually variant across time, age, gender, and ethnicity. Not only it is variant across time, age, gender, and ethnicity, but there has also been a limit of how much sexual acts have been tolerated throughout time, which have …show more content…

There has been an evaluation of sexual behavior over the past centuries, and it has demonstrated that there were acts that were considered taboo, homosexuality, bestiality and so on. Due to the emergence of most of the cultures, the history of sexual behavior shows an increase in the collective supervision of sexual abuse, moral codes were developed in the process. The sexual activity of some cultures have been “detailed in art, literature, poetry, mythology, and theater”(pg. 24). Even same-sex behavior was actually displayed in visual arts. One of the most well known figures, was the Plato’s Symposium. Plato was a philosopher in Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, whose symposium contemplated the relationship between Socrates and a young boy. At some point, this represented a model of simplicity and normality for the society. Furthermore, it became a sensational to the point that it made these “unacceptable” relationships, beautiful. However, those men who were involved in such type of relationships, were not considered