Introduction - What is sexual behavior?

Our Definition 2 - Definition in this Course

In the present course, the term "human sexual behavior" is used both in a wider and a narrower sense. When used in the wider sense, it simply means everything people do as sexual beings. Among other things, this covers the way in which they act as females and males, i.e. how they perform their masculine and feminine gender roles and how they choose and approach their sexual partners. This usage may be vague, but it is widely accepted and generally understood. Therefore it does not present any serious problem.
However, as we have seen, in the narrower sense the term is more difficult to define. Undoubtedly, sexual behavior is somehow related to reproduction, or at least originally it evolved in connection with reproductive behavior. Still, we also know that in the higher animals and especially humans this is not the whole story. Finally, we know that Freud and his followers assume the existence of a powerful basic sexual instinct or drive in every human being.
Fortunately, for our limited purposes it is not necessary to decide whether this assumption is justified or not. Instead, we can restrict ourselves here to a more practical view. In the following sections, the term is used in the narrower sense:

We make no prior judgment as to the causes, motives, or purposes of such behavior.