Sexual Behaviors

In the 21st century we find that sexual motives—beyond procreation, power, love, and pleasure—have multiplied exponentially. Couples (and others) are having sex for revenge, for exercise, to decrease the chance of or to resolve fights, for practice, for stress reduction, for hurt and for hate, as a rite of passage, to get a job, for status, for that part in the movie, to counter boredom, for money, for duty, for erotic discovery, for research, for couples therapy, and for so many more reasons. What this may add up to as we look into the future is that sexual activity will continue to be demystified. As the motives multiply, as the platforms on which sex can be activated and grow larger, for example, on the Web or on pornographic websites or with sex dolls, robots, avatars, and operating systems, both guilt and magic may find their force withering. This chapter discusses various types of contemporary sexual activity and motives and the research on both.