SexologyChapter 14Variations in sexual behaviour Defining abnormal Sexual behaviour varies greatly from one culture to the next.There is a corresponding variation in what is considered to be abnormal.Statistical definitionAn abnormal sexual behaviour is one that is rare.This definition does not give us insight into the psychological or social functioning of the person.Sociological approachA behaviour that violence the norms of society.Psychological approachThe three criteria of abnormality are discomfort, inefficiency and bizarreness.Medical approachExemplified by the definitions included in the DSM-V.Paraphilia: intense and persistent unconventional sexual interest.The normal-abnormal continuum There is a continuum from normal to abnormal sexual behaviour.This continuum holds for many of the sexual variations. Fetishism: a person’s sexual fixation on some object other than another human being and attachment of great erotic significance to that object.A fetishistic disorder: sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviours involving the use of non-living objects to produce or enhance sexual arousal with or in the absence of a partner, over a period of at least 6 months and causing significant distress.Inanimate-object fetishes can be roughly divided into two categoriesMedia fetishesForm fetishesWhy do people develop...