Introduction - What is sexual behavior?

History of the Term 4

The controversy surrounding Linné's "sexual method" indicates that the formerly narrow concept of sex had begun to expand. It now embraced not only femaleness and maleness, but also the process of generation and the various physical and psychological responses connected with it. Thus, within the next 150 years a number of new and evermore specific expressions were coined which quickly entered most European languages. The English language reflects the general trend as well as any of these. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary lists the following terms together with the dates of their first use in print: "sexual intercourse" (1799), "sexual function" (1803), "sexual organs" (1828), "sexual desire" (1836), "sexual instinct" (1861), "sexual impulse" (1863), "sexual act" (1888), and "sexual immorality" (1911).
It is also interesting to note that, in turn, many of these new expressions themselves began to expand their meaning soon after they had been introduced. For example, the term "sexual organs" at first merely meant male and female organs (i.e., organs that have to do with sex as an anatomical distinction). Then, after some time, it was also understood to mean organs of erotic gratification (i.e., organs that have to do with sex as a pleasurable activity). As a result, very soon any behavior involving the stimulation of these organs could be described as "sexual". Therefore it even became possible to speak of "sexual" behavior between members of the same sex who shared the same basic anatomy.
 

The multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists and defines all words in the English language. Where indicated, it also illustrates shifts in their meaning by providing the original quotes of their first use.