Psychology 2075 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Paraphilia, Missionary Position, Pedophilia

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2075
• Professor: Corey Isaacs

Document Summary

Atypical sexual behaviour: professionals used to use terms such as sexual deviations and perversion, these are imprecise, heavily value laden, and are part of our erotophobic western legacy. In north america much of our ethics come from judeo-christian thinking filtered through. Initially, theologians in the christian tradition created and reinforced the archetype that sex - stemming from original sin - is bad. In victorian terms, sex was views as bad, immature, indulgent, and generally just in bad taste. Defining "abnormal: although the term "abnormal" is coming to be replaced by the less pejorative expression, "atypical," it is still worth considering what has been historically meant by this idea. It is important to recognize the issue of victimization here. If we are dealing with children or animals, the object is clearly a victim: however, victimization can also occur when the object of desire is more typical, but the activity could be a typical.