Individual Differences in Human Sexuality - Research Paper Example

Human sexuality is a product of a whole range of factors that vary from one individual to another, some of which are changeable e.g. environment, food and nutrition, and physical activity whereas others are not e.g. genes and nature of an individual. Similarly, outlining normal sexual behaviors is complicated because different sexual behaviors have their own cultural, religious, or sociological reinforcers; “Defining normality is extremely difficult (and arbitrary), because the definition involves making a value judgment and therefore labelling how we view other people” (de Silva, 1999).

For example, while homosexuality is considered a positive and normal variation of human sexual orientation in light of social and behavioral sciences (American Psychological Association, 2015), it is condemned by Abrahamic religions that consider it a negative and abnormal variation of human sexual orientation. Sociologists generally emphasize either experiential or physiological determinants in their attempt to explain individual differences in the expression of human sexuality (Hogben and Byrne, 1998).

Although it has been reported that individual differences in sexual behavior can be because of hereditary differences, not much is known about human sexuality’s specific molecular genetic design. Dopamine in general and the DRD4 receptor in particular plays a very important role in determining sexual behavior. One pathway to mediate individual variation in the desirability, function, and arousal for sex in humans is related to allelic variants coding for variation in protein concentrations in key areas of brain and DRD4 receptor gene expression (Zion et al., 2006). Aspects of human sexuality common to a vast majority of people include but are not limited to masturbation, genital development and maturity with the onset of puberty, desirability of sex with members of the opposite gender, emotional connection with the sexual partner, maximum