Portal:Human sexuality
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Welcome to the human sexuality portal
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle.
Someone's sexual orientation is their pattern of sexual interest in the opposite and/or same sex. Physical and emotional aspects of sexuality include bonds between individuals that are expressed through profound feelings or physical manifestations of love, trust, and care. Social aspects deal with the effects of human society on one's sexuality, while spirituality concerns an individual's spiritual connection with others. Sexuality also affects and is affected by cultural, political, legal, philosophical, moral, ethical, and religious aspects of life.
Interest in sexual activity normally increases when an individual reaches puberty. Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, there is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males. Hypothesized social causes are supported by only weak evidence, distorted by numerous confounding factors. This is further supported by cross-cultural evidence, because cultures that are tolerant of homosexuality do not have significantly higher rates of it.
Evolutionary perspectives on human coupling, reproduction and reproduction strategies, and social learning theory provide further views of sexuality. Sociocultural aspects of sexuality include historical developments and religious beliefs. Some cultures have been described as sexually repressive. The study of sexuality also includes human identity within social groups, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and birth control methods. (Full article...)
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Monogamy (/məˈnɒɡəmi/ mə-NOG-ə-mee) is a form of relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime or at any one time (serial monogamy), as compared to polygamy or polyamory. The term is also applied to the social behavior of some animals, referring to the state of having only one mate at any one time.
It is important to have a clear understanding of the nomenclature of monogamy because scientists use the term monogamy for different relationships. Biologists, biological anthropologists, and behavioral ecologists often use the term monogamy in the sense of sexual, if not genetic, monogamy. Modern biological researchers using the theory of evolution approach human monogamy as the same in human and non-human animal species. They postulate the following four aspects of monogamy:
- Marital monogamy refers to marriages of only two people.
- Social monogamy refers to two partners living together, having sex with each other, and cooperating in acquiring basic resources such as shelter, food, and money.
- Sexual monogamy refers to two partners remaining sexually exclusive with each other and having no outside sex partners.
- Genetic monogamy refers to sexually monogamous relationships with genetic evidence of paternity.
When cultural or social anthropologists and other social scientists use the term monogamy, the meaning is social or marital monogamy. Marital monogamy may be further distinguished between:
- marriage once in a lifetime;
- marriage with only one person at a time, in contrast to bigamy or polygamy;
- and serial monogamy, remarriage after death or divorce.
Human monogamy's legal aspects are taught at faculties of law. There are also philosophical aspects in the field of interest of e.g. philosophical anthropology and philosophy of religion, as well as theological ones. (Full article...)
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Did you know
- ...that 18th century prostitute Sally Salisbury (pictured) was sent to prison after a riot but was released by a judge who was infatuated with her?
- ...that Marthe Richard was a former prostitute and spy who worked to make brothels illegal in France?
- ...that Amsterdam's Prostitution Information Center provides the city's visitors with information and advice about prostitution?
- ...that 18th century brothel-keeper Jane Douglas (pictured, bottom window, praying) sold condoms in silken bags to her customers?
- ...that madame Anna Wilson, the "Queen of the Underworld" in early Omaha, Nebraska, bequeathed her 25-room brothel mansion to the city to use as an emergency hospital upon her death?
- ...that sexual relations between a man and his daughter-in-law were fairly common in pre-revolutionary rural Russia?
April - July 2007
Human sexuality in the news
- 3 October 2024 – LGBT rights in Georgia
- Georgian LGBT propaganda law
- The Georgian Parliament Speaker signs into law a wide-ranging bill that bans gender transitioning and gender-affirming care, same-sex marriage and adoption, and depictions of LGBTQ people in media after the President refused to sign it, which chief European Union diplomat Josep Borrell states could prevent the nation's accession to the EU. (Politico)
- 3 October 2024 –
- Fawzia Amin Sido, Yazidi woman, who had been kidnapped at age 11 by the Islamic State in 2014 in Iraq and sold and trafficked to Gaza, is freed from captivity in Gaza following a secret operation involving the United States and Israel. The woman's captor is believed to have previously been killed in an Israeli airstrike. (Reuters)
- 24 September 2024 – Recognition of same-sex unions in Thailand
- Thailand passes the marriage equality law allowing same-sex couples to be legally wed starting in January 2025. (AP)
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For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Human sexuality-related articles, see WikiProject Sexology and sexuality.
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- Cleanup listing for WikiProject Sexology and sexuality — bot-generated list of articles within the scope of this WikiProject tagged as needing attention
- Cleanup listing for WikiProject LGBT studies — bot-generated list of articles within the scope of this WikiProject tagged as needing attention
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