Sexual desire
Physical manifestations of sexual desire in humans include licking, sucking, tongue protrusion, and puckering and touching the lips.
[3] 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 or a woman to continue with vaginal lubrication, sexual desire can persist nevertheless.
[7] Sexual desire and activity may be produced to help achieve other means or to gain non-sexual rewards, such as increased closeness and attachment between partners.
Sociocultural influences may push males and females into gender-specific roles in which social scripts dictate the appropriate feelings and responses to desire.
[15] According to James Giles, it is an existential need based on the sense of incompleteness that arises from the experience of being gendered.
This change in sexuality due to variations in situational, cultural, and social factors is called erotic plasticity.
[20] On average, male sexual desire is stronger and more frequent than women's, and lasts longer into the life cycle.
[23] Women may be more prone to fluctuations in desire due to the many phases and biological changes the female body experiences, such as menstrual cycles, pregnancy, lactation, and menopause.
[3] 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.
[8] Many attribute this decline to partner familiarity, alienation, or preoccupation with nonsexual matters such as social, relational, and health concerns.
Researchers consider the definition used in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-TR (DSM-IV-TR), as well as what men and women understand their own desire to be.
[3] The experience of desire can ebb and flow with time, increasing familiarity with one's partner, and changes in relationship dynamics and priorities.
[8] Certain medications can cause changes in the level of sexual desire through nonspecific effects on well-being, energy, and mood.
[8] The psychiatric medications that most severely decrease sexual desire are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
[36] In women, anticoagulants, cardiovascular medications, statins, and anti-hypertension drugs contribute to low levels of desire.
Exogenous administration of moderate amounts of oxytocin has been found to stimulate females to desire and seek out sexual activity.
Medical interventions are available for individuals who feel sexually bored, experience performance anxiety, or are unable to orgasm.
For everyday life, a 2013 fact sheet from the Association for Reproductive Health Professionals recommends erotic literature and recalling instances when one felt sexy and sexual.
Laws concerning specific forms of sexual activity, such as homosexual acts and sex outside marriage, vary by geography.
In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,[39] Afghanistan,[40][41] Iran,[41] Kuwait,[42] Maldives,[43] Morocco,[44] Oman,[45] Mauritania,[46] United Arab Emirates,[47][48] Sudan,[49] and Yemen,[50] any form of sexual activity outside marriage is illegal.
[51] Female genital mutilation is practiced in some regions in an attempt to prevent women from acting on their sexual desires.
