性行為的發展

性行為的發展概述: 性腳本之說

就像我們大家從個人的體驗中知道的那樣，甚至在孩童的晚期，尤其在青春期晚期，我們並不是面對單一的性腳本，而是面多許多不同的、通常是相互競爭的、有時甚至相互排斥的性腳本。前工業化社會嚴謹、個性鮮明、性社會規範一成不變，性腳本就可能已經有一定的差異；而到了工業化社會，面對我們的是多元分化的價值準則。例如，不同的成年人也許給我們提出很不相同的什麼東西對女人合適、什麼東西對男人合適的觀念。我們的父母可能不想讓我們發生性行為，而我們的朋友則建議我們應該發生。我們的老師可能警告我們不要從事一些性活動，而大眾傳媒卻把它作為極度引起欲望的面目呈現在我們面前。我們的宗教領袖也許譴責使用避孕套，而衛生保健當局卻推薦使用避孕套，……等等。

面對社會如此的矛盾局面，我們最終必須做出選擇和發展一個適合我們自己特點的性腳本。通過從不同的腳本選擇性地整合各種要素，我們能夠以一種嶄新的個人行動守則來演繹自己的性腳本。但是，這總是不容易做得到。畢竟，我們個人的性腳本很可能要考慮我們與他人一起得到性滿足，而他們也許遵循自己不同的性腳本，並且我們也必須遵守由我們的社會環境所規定的各種約束。有時，我們可能感到，要在我們文化裏這些充滿競爭的性腳本之間找到行得通的權衡方案，也是相當困難的。對我們大多數人來說，這就是為什麼青春期是一個麻煩與疑惑時期的原因之一。

一些性腳本的來源 

在我們的文化環境裏，提供給一些年輕人的性腳本相互處於競爭狀態甚或相互排斥。此處顯示的只是少許的例子（從上至下順時針方向）：1.家庭；2.學校；3.書籍；4.朋友；5.劇院；6.宗教領袖；7.電影；8.電視；9.互聯網；10.無線電廣播；11.流行音樂。

Some sources of sexual scripts
Some of the sexual scripts being offered to young people in our culture are competing with each other or are even mutually exclusive. Shown here are only a few examples. (Clockwise from top left): 1. Family2. School  3. Books   4. Friends  5. Theater   6. Religious leaders   7. Movies   8. Television   9. Internet   10. Radio  11. Popular music

Introduction: A Script?

Competing Scripts

As we all know from personal experience, even in late childhood, but especially after puberty, we are confronted not with a single sexual script, but with a number of different, often competing, and sometimes even mutually exclusive scripts. This may have been different in static, pre-industrial societies with clear-cut, unchanging sexual standards, but our modern world confronts us with a variety of disparate values. For example, different adults may suggest to us very different concepts of what is appropriate for females and males. Our parents may not want us to have sexual intercourse, while our friends suggest that we should. Our teachers may warn us against certain sexual activities, while the mass media present them as highly desirable. Our religious leaders may condemn the use of condoms, while the health authorities recommend it etc.
Faced with such contradictions, we eventually have to make choices and develop a script that suits our own character. We can do this by combining selected elements from different scripts in a new, personal code of conduct. However, this is not always easy: After all, our personal script must allow us to find sexual fulfillment with others who may follow different scripts of their own, and we must also observe the limits set by our social environment. At times, we may find it very difficult to find a workable balance between the competing sexual scripts in our culture. This is one of the reasons why, for most of us, adolescence is a period of trial and confusion.