Sexuality Across the Life Course

Abstract

Sexuality is a multidimensional aspect of human life that includes sexual behaviors, sexual feelings, and sexual orientation (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology article “Sexualities” by Nancy Fischer). Sexual expression is influenced by psychological factors such as attitudes, emotions, and the learned residues of past experience, as well as social factors such as social norms and laws, and one’s social identities and relationships, including (potential) partners and social networks. Sexuality and sexual expression also have a biological base, as genetic inheritance and the resulting anatomy and physiology of the human body set the parameters of human sexual behavior, both solo and partnered. Thus, we need a biopsychosocial perspective to incorporate the relevant influences on an individual’s sexual expression and lifestyle. Sexuality and its expression play critical roles throughout an individual’s life. Scholars have often focused on sexuality in a single stage of life—childhood, adolescence, adulthood, later life—or within a specific type of relationship—noncommitted (i.e., casual or “hookups”), premarital, marital, divorced, cohabiting. In reality, sexuality undergoes a continuous process of development from birth to death. Thus, in addition to a biopsychosocial perspective, we need a perspective that has the breadth to encompass this lifelong process. The life course perspective (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology article “Life Course” by Deborah Carr) is based upon four key assumptions: 1) lives are embedded in and shaped by historical context; 2) individuals construct their own lives, within the constraints of historical and social context; 3) lives are intertwined through social relationships; and 4) the meaning and impact of a life transition depends on when it occurs. Applied to sexuality, this perspective recognizes the impact of biology via inheritance at birth; biological processes such as puberty, menopause, and aging; and influences related to the body. The historical and social context, particularly extant norms and laws relating to sexual practices, intersecting social identities, and relationships is also important. Sexual expression is further influenced by families, social networks, and intimate relationships. Moreover, within the constraints related to their biological, social, and historical contexts, individuals exercise agency and play an active role in constructing their sexuality. Lastly, life events, and their timing, have a major impact on an individual’s current and later sexuality (e.g., consider the effects of pregnancy at 15 versus 25 versus 45 years of age). Combining an interdisciplinary biopsychosocial perspective on sexuality with a broad life course perspective on the influences on individuals’ lives yields a powerful and nuanced analysis of sexual expression throughout life.