Sexual desire is an
emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
and
motivational state characterized by an interest in sexual objects or activities, or by a drive to seek out sexual objects or to engage in
sexual activities
Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...
.
It is an aspect of
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, which varies significantly from one person to another and also fluctuates depending on circumstances.
It may be the single most common sexual event in human life.
However, not every person experiences sexual desire; those who do not may be labelled
asexual.
Sexual desire is a
subjective feeling state that can be triggered by both internal and external cues, and that may or may not result in overt sexual behaviour.
Desire can be aroused through imagination and
sexual fantasies
A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's Human sexuality, sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual Fantasy (psychology), fantasy can be created by the person's imaginati ...
, or by perceiving an individual whom one finds attractive.
It is also created and amplified through
sexual tension
Sexual tension is a social phenomenon that occurs when two individuals interact and one or both feel sexual desire, but the consummation is postponed or never happens. A common scenario is where the two individuals function in proximity, such as c ...
, which is caused by sexual desire that has yet to be acted on. Physical manifestations of sexual desire in humans include licking, sucking, tongue protrusion, and puckering and touching the lips.
Desire can be spontaneous or responsive,
positive or negative, and can vary in intensity along a spectrum.
Theoretical perspectives
Theorists and researchers employ two frameworks in their understanding of human sexual desire. The first is a biological framework, also known as ''
sex drive
Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act upo ...
'' (or ''libido''), in which sexual desire comes from an innate motivational force like an
instinct
Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...
,
drive
Drive or The Drive may refer to:
Motoring
* Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle
* Road trip, a journey on roads
Roadways
Roadways called "drives" may include:
* Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive"
...
,
need
A need is dissatisfaction at a point of time and in a given context. Needs are distinguished from wants. In the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a ...
, urge, wish, or
want
The idea of want can be examined from many perspectives. In secular societies want might be considered similar to the emotion desire, which can be studied scientifically through the disciplines of psychology or sociology. Want might also be exami ...
.
The second is a
sociocultural
Sociocultural evolution, sociocultural evolutionism or social evolution are theories of sociobiology and cultural evolution that describe how societies and culture change over time. Whereas sociocultural development traces processes that tend t ...
theory in which desire is conceptualized as one factor in a much larger context (e.g., relationships nested within societies, nested within cultures).
Biological framework
The biological approach views sexual drives as similar to other physical drives, such as
hunger
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the ...
. An individual will seek out food—or, in the case of desire, pleasure—in order to reduce or avoid
pain
Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...
.
Sex drive can be thought of as a
biological need or craving that inspires individuals to seek out and become receptive to sexual experiences and sexual pleasure.
Incentive motivation theory exists under this framework and states that the strength of motivation toward sexual activity depends on the strength or immediacy of the
stimuli
A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to:
* Stimulation
** Stimulus (physiology), something external that influences an activity
** Stimulus (psychology), a concept in behaviorism and perception
* Stimulus (eco ...
. If satiety is achieved, the strength of the incentive will increase in the future.
Sex drive is strongly tied to biological factors such as "chromosomal and hormonal status, nutritional status, age, and general health".
Sexual desire is the first of four phases of the
human sexual response cycle
The human sexual response cycle is a four-stage model of physiological responses to sexual stimulation, which, in order of their occurrence, are the excitement, plateau, orgasmic, and resolution phases. This physiological response model was first ...
, followed by
arousal
Arousal is the physiological and psychological state of being awoken or of sense organs stimulated to a point of perception. It involves activation of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) in the brain, which mediates wakefulness, th ...
,
orgasm
Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling") or sexual climax is the sudden discharge of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic, involuntary muscular contractions in the pelvic region charac ...
, and resolution.
However, while it is part of the response cycle, desire is believed to be distinct from genital sexual arousal.
It has also been argued that desire is not a distinct phase in sexual response, but rather something that persists through arousal and orgasm or even longer. Although orgasm might make it difficult for a man to maintain his
erection
An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, ...
or a woman to continue with
vaginal lubrication
Vaginal lubrication is a naturally produced fluid that lubricates a
vagina. Vaginal lubrication is always present, but production increases significantly near ovulation and during sexual arousal in anticipation of sexual intercourse. Vaginal dr ...
, sexual desire can persist nevertheless.
[Giles, James (2008). ''The Nature of Sexual Desire''. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America ]
Sociocultural framework
In the sociocultural framework, desire indicates a longing for sexual activity for its own sake and not for any other purpose other than enjoyment, satisfaction, or the release of sexual tension.
Sexual desire and activity may be produced to help achieve other means or to gain non-sexual
rewards
Reward may refer to:
Places
* Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland
* Reward, California (disambiguation)
* Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Reward" ...
, such as increased closeness and
attachment between partners. Under this framework, sexual desire is not an urge, implying that individuals have more conscious control over their desire.
Sociocultural influences may push males and females into
gender-specific roles in which social scripts dictate the appropriate feelings and responses to desire. This may lead to frustration if an individual's wants remain unfulfilled due to anticipated social consequences.
Some theorists suggest that the experience of sexual desire may be socially constructed. Others argue that, although sociocultural factors greatly influence desire, they do not play a large role until after biological factors initiate it.
Another view is that sexual desire is neither a social construction
nor a biological drive.
According to
James Giles, it is an existential need based on the sense of incompleteness that arises from the experience of being gendered.
Many researchers believe that relying on a single approach to the study of human sexuality is counterproductive,
and that the integrations of and interactions among multiple approaches allow for the most comprehensive understanding. Sexual desire can manifest itself in more than one way; it is a "variety of different
behaviour
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
s,
cognition
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
s, and
emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
s, taken together".
Levine suggests that sexual desire has three components that link several theoretical perspectives together:
*Drive: The biological component. This includes
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
and
neuroendocrinology
Neuroendocrinology is the branch of biology (specifically of physiology) which studies the interaction between the nervous system and the endocrine system; i.e. how the brain regulates the hormonal activity in the body. The nervous and endocrine ...
.
*Motivation: The psychological component. This includes personal mental states (mood), interpersonal states (e.g., mutual affection or disagreement), and social context (e.g., relationship status).
*Wish: The cultural component. This includes cultural ideals, values, and rules about sexual expression that are external to the individual.
Sex differences
In early life, usually before
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
, males are quite
flexible
Flexible may refer to:
Science and technology
* Power cord, a flexible electrical cable.
** Flexible cable, an Electrical cable as used on electrical appliances
* Flexible electronics
* Flexible response
* Flexible-fuel vehicle
* Flexible rake rec ...
regarding their preferred sexual incentive,
but they later become inflexible. Females, on the other hand, remain flexible throughout their life cycle. This change in sexuality due to variations in situational, cultural, and social factors is called
erotic plasticity
Erotic plasticity is the degree to which one's sex drive can be changed by cultural or social factors. Someone has "high erotic plasticity" when their sex drives can be affected by situational, social and cultural influences, whereas someone with ...
. Beyond this, very little is known about sexual desire and sexual arousal in
prepubescent
Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is c ...
children, or whether any feelings they may have are comparable to what they will experience as an adult.
Boys typically experience and commence sexual interest and activity before girls do.
Men, on average, also have slightly higher sex drives and desire for sexual activity than women do; this is correlated with the finding that men report more lifetime sexual partners,
although mathematicians say it is logically impossible for heterosexual men to have more partners on average than heterosexual women. Sex drive is also related to
sociosexuality
Sociosexuality, sometimes called sociosexual orientation, is the individual difference in the willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of a committed relationship. Individuals who are more ''restricted'' sociosexually are less willing to e ...
scores: The higher the sex drive, the less restricted the sociosexual orientation (i.e., the willingness to have sex outside of a committed relationship).
This is especially the case for women.
Lippa used data from a
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...
internet survey to examine cross-cultural patterns in sex differences for three traits: sex drive, sociosexuality, and height. These traits all showed consistent sex differences across nations, although women were found to be more variable than men in their sex drive.
On average, male sexual desire is stronger and more frequent than women's, and lasts longer into the life cycle.
Though women do not experience sexual desire as often as men, when they do, the intensity of the experience is equal to that of men.
Societal perceptions of men and women—in addition to perceptions about acceptable sexual behaviour (e.g., men are expected to be more sexual and sometimes insatiable, while women are expected to be more reserved)—may contribute to expressed levels of sexual desire and satisfaction.
DeLamater and Sill found that affect and feelings concerning the importance of sexual activity can affect levels of desire. In their study, women who said that sexual activity was important to the quality of their lives and relationships demonstrated low desire, while women who placed less emphasis on sexual activity in their lives demonstrated high desire. Men presented similar results.
These findings were corroborated by Conaglen and Evans, who assessed whether levels of sexual desire influenced emotional responses and cognitive processing of sexual pictorial stimuli. They found that women with lower sexual desire responded to sexual stimuli more quickly in the picture recognition task, but rated the sexual images as less arousing and less pleasant than women with higher sexual desire.
When presented with explicit sexual imagery and stimuli, women can become physically aroused without experiencing psychological desire or arousal.
without experiencing sexual desire, while only 60% of men reported the same thing.
Also, women may form a more significant association between sexual desire and attachment than men.
Women may be more prone to fluctuations in desire due to the many phases and biological changes the female body experiences, such as
.
Though these changes are usually very small, women seem to have increased levels of sexual desire during
and decreased levels during menstruation.
production can cause cessation of sexual thoughts and failure to respond to sexual cues and triggers that would previously have elicited desire.
. Doses of testosterone administered
ly have been found to improve sexual desire and sexual functioning.
Older individuals are less likely to describe themselves as being at the extremes of the sexual desire spectrum. By the time individuals reach
, there is a natural decline in sexual desire, sexual capacity, and the frequency of sexual behaviour.
DeLamater and Sill found that the majority of men and women do not officially report themselves as having low levels of sexual desire until they are 76 years old.
Many attribute this decline to partner familiarity, alienation, or preoccupation with nonsexual matters such as social, relational, and health concerns.
Defining sexual desire is a challenge because it can be conceptualized in many ways. Researchers consider the definition used in the
(DSM-IV-TR), as well as what men and women understand their own desire to be.