Human Sexual Behavior

Human Sexual Behavior
Regulatory behaviors are those human behaviors which can be controlled by and individual through voluntary and involuntary processes.  The person who is learning to develop a specific regulatory
behavior would like to develop capability of self-control in order to behave in a specific manner.  The point to be noted is that self-control may refer to controlling impulses in order to abstain from doing something. For example, for a person to stop drinking alcohol or it may refer to doing something that a person does not want to do.  Regulatory behaviors are comprised of various acts like managing energy, emotions and attention towards specific things in order to make them socially admirable or acceptable.  Human sexual behavior is an example of a regulatory behavior. “It can be described as any activity solitary between two persons, or in a group that induce sexual arousal. There are two determinants of human sexual behavior: the inherited sexual response patterns that have evolved as a means of ensuring reproduction and that are a part of each individual’s genetic inheritance, and the degree of restraint or other types of influence exerted on the individual by society in the expression of his sexuality” (Human Sexual Behaviour,” 2015).
Human sexual behavior is an act comprised of various activities displayed by individuals to express their individual sexuality to others.
Human sexual behavior is the behavior depicted by human beings when they indulge themselves in sexual activities during their different phases of life (Gray & Garcia, 2013).  Mostly human sexual behavior is thought limited to the sexual intercourse only, which is comprised of sexual arousal and the physiological changes that happen in the sexually aroused human.  Some of the psychological changes are more prominent than others. Sexual activities include all those gestures and behaviors that are meant to make individuals sexually attracted to another person.   However, in some cases sexual activities are not limited to individuals of the opposite sex only i.e. transgender. Sexual behavior also includes courtships, display and foreplay behavior (Hart, 1977).
The nervous system plays a vital role in regulating human sexual behavior.  The reason for this is because the whole nervous system starts working in sexual activity.  The autonomic system of nervous system manages and regulates the involuntary responses of a sexual activity.  The afferent cerebrospinal nerves play important role in transmitting sensory messages from the body to the brain and from the brain to the body.  The cerebrospinal nerves play dual role in transmitting these messages.  Spinal cord plays the role of transmission cable in the overall sexual activity.  The brain acts as a coordinating center and controls and interprets the sensations that are meant to be sexual in nature and transmit appropriate orders to other parts of the nervous system.  The hypothalamus and limbic system are those parts of brain that are directly linked with the sexual activities.  However, there is no specific part of brain that can be regarded as “sex center” (Griffitt & Hatfield, 1985). Moreover, there are some specific reflexes that are not controlled by the brain itself.  These reflexes occur as a result of sexual stimulus.  The stimulus relating to genital and perianal area causes a genital reflex.  Genital reflex in males resulted in the form of either erection or ejaculation.  In females, the genital reflexes occur in the forms of lubrication of vagina and its structural changes.  Regulatory behavior occurs when a person tries to override or suppress that kind of reflex activities as a response of social and culture stress.
Various emotions like fear, aggression or anxiety play their specific roles in developing human sexual behavior.  Every person possesses different behavior in terms of sex.  This behavior depends upon the lifestyle, history and upbringing circumstances of that person.  If a person has risen in the environment of continuous fear or has undergone from sexual abuse in his or her childhood, it is obvious for him to develop sex fear.  Another point of view that must be kept in mind, in order to have complete look at the situation is the specific impact of certain emotions during the sexual activity.  Another emotion is the anxiety.  If a person undergoes from severe anxiety it is most likely for him to develop hatred from the sex.  Aggressive behavior usually worsens the situation of sexual intercourse.  The person who possesses highly aggressive behavior is most like to hurt his / her partner physically and emotionally during sexual intercourse.
Various hormones play different roles on the sex drive and sexual motivation.  In males, testosterone plays major role in developing sex organs and sex motivation in them.  The elimination of sex hormone or testosterone suppresses the sexual motivation.  In some experiments, GnRH antagonist was given to sample people.  The population shows suppressed testicular function.  The elimination of sex drive or sexual desire eliminates the need of masturbation.   Testosterone in rhesus monkey depicts that the testosterone acts to increase the sexual motivation in them. Other major sex hormones for males are oxytocin and vasopressin.  These hormones regulate the sexual motivation.  Vasopressin regulates the arousal phase of males.  Vasopressin levels in the body increases in the arousal phase as erectile response.  Vasopressin levels decreases to backline in the ejaculation.  
In females, sex hormones include Estrogen and Progesterone.  Estrogen possesses positive relationship with the sexual arousal.  Increase in estrogen level in female body causes increased sexual motivation.  On the other hand, decrease in estrogen level in blood causes decrease in sexual motivation.  Progesterone shows negative correlation with sexual motivation.  Increase in progesterone level causes decrease in sexual motivation while decrease in progesterone level causes increase in sexual motivation.  Females possess pre-ovulatory period and postovulatory period.  In pre-ovulatory period females gets most receptacle to sperm and overall body gets ready to be pregnant at once (Jones, 1984).  In pre-ovulatory period, estrogen level in body reaches to it maximum and progesterone level gets decreased to its backline.  Changing in hormone level maximizes the chances of conceiving.
Human sexual behavior depends upon the regulatory capabilities and performance of these sex hormones.  Absence of any of the sex hormone or even the presence of hormone in irregular ratio, changes the balance of behavior and the person becomes abnormal to his surroundings.  Absence of estrogen and progesterone in female body hinders the breasts development in females.  Moreover, other physiology of females also changes like hips and thighs does not widen to their proper shape, pubic hair does not appear (Masters & Johnson, 1966).  In severe cases the ovaries becomes infertile and does not produce eggs.  On the emotions and feelings of female, estrogen play vital role and in the absence of estrogen, a female cannot achieve sex drive and sexual motivation.  In males, absence of testosterone causes the absence of sex drive and sexual motivation.  In terms of its physiological impact, genitals of males do not develop properly and sperm does not produce at all. The lack the muscular structure in it and body does not grow hair on face like other men.  Emotionally the change in behavior occurs when the testosterone level is decreased and males seem to feel sexually aroused.  Their sex motivation reaches its minimum in the absence of testosterone.
In conclusion, since human sexual behavior is one example of a regulatory behavior we must remember the nervous system reacts as a response of the sex stimulus.  There is no sex center in brain however an integrated system of sex hormones which controls and regulates the emotional aspect, as well as, the behavioral characteristics of that particular person. Therefore, absence of any sex hormone would result in abnormal development of behavior and physiology.


References:
Gray, P., & Garcia, J. (2013).Evolution and human sexual behavior. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674072732&content=reviews
Human Sexual Behaviour. (2015). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/human+sexual+behaviour
Jones, R. (1984). Human reproduction and sexual behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/256387705_Human_reproduction_and_sexual_behavior_By_Richard_E._Jones._Englewood_Cliffs_NJ_Prentice-Hall_1984._545_pages._24395_softcover

Masters, W., & Johnson, V. (1966).Human sexual response. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
http://www.amazon.com/Human-Sexual-Response-William-Masters/dp/0923891218

Persky, H. (1987). Psychoendocrinology of human sexual behavior. New York, NY: Praeger.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/psychoendocrinology-of-human-sexual-behavior/oclc/15367023?page=citation