Sexual Deviation

Sexual Deviation Physicians do not include among deviations or perversions all forms of sexual activity that vary from the usual. Broadly speaking, physicians consider a man or woman normal if he or she derives the highest sexual pleasure and satisfaction from the insertion of the male genital organ into the organ of the female. Deviations are emotional illnesses, maladjustments, or immaturities which reveal themselves in the individual's sexual behavior. It was once felt that such behavior indicated that the individual was too weak to use willpower.

Today, it is generally believed by psychiatrists that such behavior results from emotional difficulties which must, if possible, be corrected, while at the same time the actions of deviates must be con- trolled in order to prevent them from harming themselves or others. It may be important here to note that mature people often carry with them certain holdovers from childhood. If you find in yourself traces of some of the sexual deviations described, don't decide, for that reason, that you are perverted. Today, many normal persons engage in oral and other forms of sexual stimulation, perfectly acceptable so long as they increase love and trust between the sexual partners.

There are true perversions of sexuality. For example, a Peeping Tom derives his greatest sexual gratification from watching a woman undressed or undressing, or watching a couple engage in sexual activity. He is undoubtedly maladjusted, perhaps because in his childhood he had a shocking experience connected with his parents' sexual relations or perhaps because he had been so strongly convinced of the wickedness of intercourse that he cannot permit himself to be involved actively but has to get his pleasure. as an "innocent bystander." This does not mean, how- ever, that anyone is perverted if he has not entirely outgrown a childish fascination with the forbidden. Most men, no matter how mature, find the glimpse of an accidentally revealed bosom exciting-more so, in fact, than complete nudity. Deriving the highest, or only, satisfaction from watching or peeping is one form of sexual deviation.