The first response the majority of people form when hearing of sexual child abuse or incest is denial: “I do not have to be concerned about that in my community.” “That would never happen in my family.”

The unbelievable reality is that a person who sexually abuses children may seem very average and ordinary to the world. He/she may be a leader in the church, in the community or in business, a sports coach, scout leader, or celebrity. Sex offenders do not fit a classic stereotype and are not necessarily uneducated, unemployed, impoverished or an alcoholic.

The majority of people find sexual abuse and incest even more difficult to believe or accept when the sex offender is someone they like, admire, love, and/or marry. Tragically, the unwillingness to accept the facts concerning sex offenders leaves children vulnerable to becoming victims and increases the likelihood they will be abused.

Myth: Rape/incest runs in the family–it is in the genes.

Fact: Rape is not in the genes in the family of someone who rapes. Rape is perpetrated by someone who is acting out rage. Physical and sexual child abuse are the majority factor in creating the level of rage that compels anyone to commit rape, domestic violence or murder. We have known for a long time that the one commonality among rapists is physical and/or sexual child abuse. Serial killer, Ted Bundy is a classic example of this phenomenon. Since 80% of sexual child abuse survivors are sexually abused by family members there are usually several generations within a rapist’s family–sometimes both maternal and paternal. Current statistics reveal 70% of children are physically abused once a week. It is believed the number of children who are physically abused has decreased in the past 15 years. However, the current rapists in society would have grown up in the era when physical abuse was more prominent, therefore, we can assume there is a high percentage of people, who are potential rapists when we consider date rape and rape in domestic violence, which is seldom reported or if it is reported, is seldom prosecuted. Therefore, society has no way to access the number of rapes committed per capita.

Myth: Children lie or fantasize about sexual activities with adults.

Fact: Using developmental terms, young children cannot make up explicit sexual information. They must be exposed to it to speak about it. Sometimes a parent will coach a child to report sexual abuse falsely. The key indicators of the falseness in such a report are the child’s inability to describe explicit details, the inability to illustrate the act, or gross inconsistencies within the account.

Myth: Most victims of sexual abuse are teenaged girls.

Fact: While more girls than boys are sexually abused, many are abused before their first birthday.

Myth: Boys can’t be sexually abused.

Fact: Masculine gender socialization instills in boys the belief they are to be strong; they should learn to protect themselves. In truth, boys are children and are as vulnerable as girls. They cannot really fight back against the sex offender. A sex offender generally has greater size, strength, knowledge, or a position of authority, using such resources as money or other bribes, or outright threats–whatever advantage the sex offender can take to get what they want.

Myth: Sexual abuse of a child is usually an isolated, one-time incident.

Fact: Child sexual abuse and incest occurrences develop gradually, over time; often, repeat occurrences are generally the rule rather than the exception.

Myth: Children will naturally outgrow the effects of sexual abuse or incest.

Fact: Sexual abuse or incest affects every aspect of human development. The damage is profound, extensive and pervasive. It is deeper than the physical and emotional level–it is a soul injury that requires multifaceted, multidimensional, therapeutic processing conducted by a professional who specializes in sexual abuse and incest trauma recovery.

Myth: Non-violent sexual behavior between a child and an adult is not emotionally damaging to the child.

Fact: Although child sexual abuse often involves subtle rather than extreme force, all survivors experience confusion, shame, guilt, anger, as well as a lowered sense of self-esteem; these are classic aftereffects, although they may not initially reveal obvious signs.

Myth: Child molesters are all, ‘Dirty old men.’

Fact: In a recent study of convicted child sex offenders, 80% committed their first offense before age 30.

Myth: Children provoke sexual abuse by their seductive behavior.

Fact: Seductive behavior may be the result, but is never the cause of sexual abuse. Amy Fisher, the Long Island teenager who shot her sex offender’s wife in the face and whom the media dubbed, Lolita having an affair with a married man, is a perfect example of this myth. During her trial for attempting to kill Joey Buttafuoco’s wife, Amy Fisher revealed that she had been sexually abused before her abuse by Buttafuoco. Her behavior that many considered seductive and promiscuous was, in fact, a result of prior abuse. However, regardless of the victim’s behavior or reason for such behavior, the responsibility for appropriate behavior always lays with the adult, not the child. A sixteen-year-old girl is no match for the cunning and streetwise tactics of a man twice her age, therefore, the ability to affect adult consent is unreasonable to expect.

Myth: If children wanted to avoid sexual advances of adults, or persons in positions of greater power, they could say, stop or no.

Fact: Children generally do not question the behavior of adults. In addition, bribes, threats, flattery, trickery and use of authority coerce them into cooperation and compliance.

Myth: When a child is sexually abused, it is immediately apparent.

Fact: In cases of incest against children, as much as the sex offender might be hurting the victim, the child loves him or her and needs her family. Therefore, she convinces herself that she is somehow causing him or her to behave this way, and she remains silent. In her confusion of loyalty to her sex offender, she protects him or her by holding the secret. Thus, she carries the shame and guilt. In cases regarding sexual abuse and incest, the victim often believes that she has cooperated with the sex offender in some way and places inappropriate blame on herself. Therefore, although with tremendous suffering, she hides her pain through denial, dissociation, numbing, zoning out, hyperactivity, as well as other distracting behaviors. However, the aware parent would recognize these behaviors as a sign that something is wrong.

Myth: When the sexual abuse victim is male, male homosexuals are the sex offenders.

Fact: Heterosexual men, who do not find sex with other men satisfactory, perpetrate most child sexual abuse. Many child molesters, even though they are heterosexual, abuse both boys and girls.

Myth: Boys abused by males are or will become homosexual.

Fact: Whether victimized by males or females, boys or girls, premature sexual experiences are damaging in many ways, including confusion about their sexual identity and orientation.

Myth: When a boy and a woman take part in sexual behavior and it is the boy’s idea, he is not being abused.

Fact: Child abuse is an act of power by which an adult uses a child. Abuse is abuse; a woman engaging in sexual behavior with a male child is still sexually abusive, even if she thinks he initiated the contact.

Myth: If the sex offender is female, the boy or adolescent is fortunate to have been initiated into heterosexual activity.

Fact: Premature or coerced sex, whether by a mother, aunt, sister, babysitter or other female causes confusion, at best, and rage, depression or other problems in more negative circumstances. Whether male or female, to be used as a sexual object is always abusive and damaging.

Myth: If the child experiences sexual arousal or orgasm from abuse, he or she has been a willing participant or enjoyed it.

Fact: Children can respond physically to stimulation (get an erection) even in traumatic or painful sexual situations. A sex offender can maintain secrecy by labeling the child’s sexual response as an indication of his or her willingness to participate. You liked it, you wanted it. The survivor is then manipulated with their own guilt and shame because they experienced physical arousal while being abused. Physical, visual or auditory stimulation is likely to occur in a sexual situation. It does not mean the child wanted the experience or understood what it meant.

Myth: Males who were sexually abused as boys all grow up to sexually abuse children.

Fact: Only some sexually abused boys become sex offenders.

Myth: Boys are less traumatized as victims of sexual abuse than girls.

Fact: Studies show that long-term effects are equally damaging for either sex. Ironically, males may be more damaged by society’s refusal or reluctance to accept their victimization, and by their own resultant belief that they must ‘tough it out’ in silence.

Myth: If a child is sexually active with his or her peers, then it is not sexual abuse.

Fact: The act is abusive if the child is induced into sexual activity with anyone who is in a position of greater power, whether that power is derived through the sex offender’s age, size, status, or relationship. A child who cannot refuse, or who believes she or he cannot refuse, is a child who has been violated.

Unless and until, society focuses on sexual child abuse prevention, before the damage is done, sexual abuse of children will continue to proliferate. Child sexual abuse is the greatest hidden epidemic in the world.

Have you ever had a friend describe a really “hot’ blind date for you, and you get all excited and eager to meet this wonder person only to come face to face with the person and zero, nothing, no sparks. The person is all that, but you are just not digging him or her.

Or have you ever found yourself so powerfully attracted to someone with whom you have nothing in common, and physically he or she is not even your “type” but he or she makes your libido sit up and howl?

Or may be you’ve been in a passionless and sexually dead relationship with your partner and suddenly you find yourself so attracted to your partner that you can’t keep your hands off him or her?

Two words – sexual chemistry.

Sometimes you instantly feel strong sexual chemistry with someone when you first see him or her and other times sexual chemistry can sneak up on you very slowly. You may like the person, enjoy their company, and you have a lot in common but that spark is missing – that special feeling isn’t there (he or she is just a friend). Then one day you come to the realization that you are very sexually attracted to him or her.

Other times, you feel the chemistry with someone and then when you get to know the person, the sexual chemistry and attraction goes away.

You can’t fake sexual chemistry…

With the tons of books on reading sexual attraction postures, gestures and facial cues, and even with all that “we know” about men-women dynamics, many men and women still can’t figure out if there is sexual chemistry between two people — or not.

We misread and misinterpret sexual signals because there are other energies emitting on the same frequency that tend to interfere with our ability to correctly read someone else’s sexual attraction body language. It’s like when you are trying to tune your radio to 98.1 FM, but your antenna keeps picking up another channel on a higher frequency range. There are sexual attraction signals that your conscious mind could never tell you, because these signals are operating at a higher frequency range (the sub-conscious range).

So what do you do? The answer: Always follow your sexual instincts…

The ability to utilize your intuition is a crucial factor in sexual attraction, since sexual attraction happens at the sub-conscious level. Because your body senses threat or danger before your mind does, your intuitive mind or gut feeling can pick up those aspects of sexual attraction which vibrate at a higher frequency range — and steer you to the right move at the right time.

Intuition not only helps you steer away from potential danger, it also helps you feel confident and wise, knowing that the tools you need to conquer the unknown and unknowable are always at hand. Discounting your own powerful inner feelings and relying on some “expert’s moves” destroys your own ability to think for yourself, and make correct judgments of people and situations.

You need this vital element if you are to be successful with the opposite sex. So trust your intuition/sexual instincts.

Except that there is an alarming exception. If your sexual antenna is weak or faulty or damaged, you will not be able to pick up these signals operating at a higher frequency range and as a result you will not be able to tune into the other person’s sexual wavelength.

Your sexual antenna is weak — when this is the case, you have a problem tuning into a man or woman’s sexual wavelength because your own sexual signals are not strong enough to set off sexual chemistry.

How can you tell that your sexual signals are not strong enough?

Every time you meet someone new conversation is good, you have much in common, you are so sexually attracted to him or her and things seem to be going generally well but the other person doesn’t find you attractive in a sexual way.

If you can’t connect on a sexual level, then there is no sexual chemistry, no sexual attraction.

Your sexual antenna is faulty — when this is the case, you have a problem tuning into a man or woman’s sexual wavelength because even though you are sending strong sexual signals alright, you are sending the wrong ones at the wrong time.

How can you tell that you’re sending the wrong sexual signals at the wrong time?

Every time you meet someone new conversation is good, you have much in common, but when you start getting all “sexual” the opposite sex look at you like “Ugh! Weirdo” if you are a guy. If you are a woman, guys think you are “easy and cheap” because your sexual energy is like all over the place.

Your sexual antenna is damaged — this just means that you are not tuning into the opposite sex’s sexual wavelength because you are not sending any sexual signals at all.

How can you tell that you’re not sending any sexual signals at all?

You are sexually invisible to the opposite sex.

So to pick up these signals operating at a higher frequency range and get sexual chemistry right, you must first make sure you sexual antenna is finely tuned, is sending out the right vibrations — and IS TURNED ON.

With practice, you’ll naturally be able to tune into someone else’s sexual frequencies and set off powerful sexual chemistry. It just becomes part of you, something you do without even trying.

You might also want to read my article “Why Do We Like Some People and Dislike Others?” for a little more insight into those other energies emitting on the same frequency and tend to interfere sexual attraction.

Christine Akiteng is an internationally renowned Sexual Confidence/Dating Coach and author offering men and women practical tools and advice on how to make themselves attractive by using natural instinct, common sense and self-knowledge!

Sexuality is a topic on which have been already written volumes of books, about which we can discuss through different prisms, so will sexuality in this text processed through some common features.

To even be able to talk about sexuality, it is necessary to define what is sexual intercourse. All we use to mean by sexually is penetration. However, ask yourself what your value system mean by sexual intercourse.

Research shows that 80% of anal sex considered sexual relations, but only 40% of oral sex is placed in a sexual relationship. Given the foregoing, it is clear why many controversies arise when discussing sexuality and it is therefore difficult to provide for unique definition of sexual relations.

Sexuality is made up of all the stimuli, emotions and experiences that leads a person to physical sexual arousal, and thereby contribute to increasing sexual desire and / or behavior. The majority of leading experts from this field agree that it is not only about the instinctive, physiological and physical phenomena.Human sexuality is very complex psychological and sociological phenomenon.

Recently sexuality attracted increasing attention, which are particularly contributed to changes in social norms, the influence of feminism, the rise of sexually transmitted diseases, among which occupied a significant place HIV / AIDS and increase care for reproductive health. Sexual intercourse has long tabooed, is reserved for the intimate area of each individual and we will find it difficult to talk openly about sexual intercourse, and not to mention the specific difficulties that arise during the relationship.Why this is so, we can observe several major influences that we are exposed from the very childhood.

Religion and sexuality

Religion is a big influence on each individual. Religion aims to define the moral rules in a sexual relationship. According to the religious concepts of sexual intercourse is the sole objective of the extension types. Any other form of sexual relationship represents the amoral behavior. So it is understandable why homosexuality, sex during menstruation, contraception and sexual relationships for pleasure as impermissible in the religious sense and in violation of the moral (religious) norms. I personally consider the religious type of lifelong repressed sexuality to be the most destructive kind of self abnegation.

Society and Sexuality

A society in which every individual grows up also determines what is a sexual relationship and what it should be. The Company aims to develop standards, rules and norms. Norms are shared by the people in “normal” and deviant-“abnormal”, depending on whether the norms and standards of society or not. Every company is subject to change throughout its history, including the Victorian era, “immoral” woman was identified as one that experienced an orgasm, and today women seeking help for the inability of reaching orgasm. It should be emphasized that the sexual norms of relative and subject to change and vary from society to society. Violation of these norms can lead to different social reactions. What is sexual conformity in a society, the second may be a sexual deviation, the “violator” of norms may experience different destinies in a way that the behavior may be condemned as immoral, such as crime and disease. Sexual behavior and attitudes related to sexual life were strongly shaped by the culture in which we live, and determined the influence of parental education, the influence of peer groups, schools, books, magazines. Sociological studies show significant cross-cultural differences in gender, sexuality and sexual relationships.

Cross-cultural differences

Polygamy in the Islamic world and in ancient time of India is not prohibited, but only for men (a man can have four wives simultaneously, and in practice to decide only the second marriage to men who are financially afford it). With polygamy, the Qur’an mentions temporary marriage for pleasure. Divorce is accepted in some Islamic countries.

After the arrival of Mao Tse-Tung came to power in China comes to big changes – the repression of sexual conduct with the aim of directing all human forces in the “revolution”. 1980th The manual was published by the government authorized that to 74 by explaining the essential “sexual knowledge” (eg, recommendations for frequency of sexual relations between young couples).

In China, the government’s primary concern is control of population growth, which automatically affects all aspects of relationships and marriages in China.

In ancient Greece the love is seen through the dualistic concept: the spiritual love of agape (the highest form, spiritual, altruistic love), and a natural love of eros (erotic love, the love that comes from physical attraction).

Pre-Christian philosophers and Christian era, taught the values of life are excluded sexuality. With the advent of Christianity, there is the ascetic view of sex and other pleasures.

The Protestant Reformation made the first change in the views, sexual relations not only serve the purpose of reproduction but also for pleasure.

Research shows differences in the frequency of sexual intercourse. Gebhart 1971 states that in Western societies a few times a week (two to five times), while members of the tribe Lapcha five to ten times, but during one night. (sounds good isn’t it):)

Days of the New Guinea have sex once every two years.

Different cultures in different ways to perceive and extramarital sexual relations.

Aboriginal extramarital sexual experience as a welcome experience for the husband and wife, because it kills the boredom and routine, and thus increases the mutual ties.

Tribe Marques from Polynesia, certain Eskimo tribes do not have anything against extramarital sex, believe that offering sexual services to guests-chance part of the behavior of a good host.

For some communities extramarital sexual activity are acceptable for men.

Culture has also impact in terms of sexuality of children and premarital sex.

In some vedic hindu religion and most sub cultures,it is allowed sexual intercourse solely (not other aspects of sex) once a month in a presumed fertile day of a woman between a married couple,and after a sacred ritual. Sex is consider sacred solely if for purpose of begetting a religious children, otherwise considered a sin. Sex for pleasure only in Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition is considered illicit, and thus a sin.

A large number of tribes on the islands of the South Pacific, particularly approves child sexuality (eg, one of the children’s games is a common masturbation).

Chewa Tribe (Africa), early sexual life among young people consider to be essential for future fertility and he also approved. Lepcha tribe (southeastern part of the Himalayas) believe that the girl should be sexually active earlier (most girls at 11 or 12 years sexually active).

However, the tribes Kwon (New Guinea) forbidden for boys to be caught with an erection, so that boys of this tribe go so far as to learn how to pee without having to touch the hands of the penis.

In Middle Eastern cultures (the majority of the Islamic religion), disclosure of any part of the female body is strictly prohibited. In Malaysia, if it is on TV a man and woman (both clothed) show themselves in a room longer than 3 seconds, it implies that they had sexual intercourse. Showing these scenes is prohibited, except in the case of the married couple.

Laws and sexuality

Do not forget the laws that attempt to answer the question what is normal and what is deviant behavior. Of course, the laws vary among cultures. The laws have two objectives, namely the prohibition and protection; goals are linked: the need to ban most “wrong” behavior in order to protect “weaker” members of society.

Finally we can summarize: the area of human sexuality is extremely complex phenomenon which can not be viewed separately from the culture in which we live and which exist certain rules of conduct. The concept of sexuality is subject to change in so far as changing norms, attitudes and behavior of society. Social impacts on human sexual behavior can be approached on several levels:

Macro-level – the impact of society as a whole, powerful social institutions:

Religion – clear shapes and forms of sexual behavior, setting standards, (eg, attitude toward premarital sex and illegitimate, homosexuality,masturbation, sex for pleasure…etc.)

economic conditions – the nature and structure of the economy affects the human sexuality

family – the socialization processes

Medical – doctors determine what is healthy and good for us

legal system – the law determines the standard (what is required by law only correct) mechanisms of social control.

Subcultural level – social background, class or ethnic group, (unwritten, but not negligible, rules and norms that influence behavior)

Interpersonal level – socialization processes, the relationship with your partner.

Individual level – denied by the personal thoughts and desires, sexual orientation and sexual scripts that we learned.

If we are believers in God,or members of some social community group where sex solely for pleasure is prohibited, should we embrace our sex desires and enjoy with our partner anyway knowing that we are not doing any harm to others or ourselves with it? Or should we artificially repress our sexuality due to the given norms?

To bring this to an end: it remains that sexual energy is the strongest energy we posses in this world. I stand that it should be enjoyed, somehow it should be regulated, we should not suppress it, is not sinful because it is part of our body and mind, and as such can be used or abused like everything else in life.

Gender identity disorder is generally called transexuallism. Transvestism refers to the practice of obtaining sexual pleasure by dressing in the clothes of the opposite sex. Today the term cross-dressing is more commonly used because it does not allow for a mistake of transsexualism, which is a complete gender change from the original sex. Transvestism is a paraphilia for which the essential feature is intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving dressing in clothing of those of the opposite sex. It is extremely important to note that just because an individual is classified as a transvestite does not mean that they are necessarily homosexual. Extensive studies have been conducted to show that transvestites are not homosexual in many documented cases. Many psychiatric concepts have been used to try and explain why transvestism is prominent in certain individuals, such as the constitutional predisposition of unknown origin known as degeneration. Degeneration referred to an innate neurologic weakness that is transmitted with increased severity to future generations and produced deviations from the norm. Despite there being many theories on transvestism, there are no commonly accepted ideas because human sexual disorders can be extremely difficult to understand. In some cases, transvestism can become so prominent in an individual that they become transsexual. An individual who is transsexual usually begins with taking hormone injections and undergoes plastic surgeries in order to change their sex organs to the opposite sex. While transvestism is not widely accepted as a norm today, society has generally learned to accept the idea that some individuals are born with this sexual disorder.

Sexual sadism could as well be identified as paraphilia. Someone who delivers sexual sadism is called a sadist. The administered humiliation, pain and suffering could either be psychological or physical. The pain, humiliation and suffering may also cause injuries or death to the person receiving them. During a sadistic behavior, the person who is receiving the pain or humiliation may not be a willing partner. Though, sadists usually live their daily lives in agony and impairment because of the aggressive behaviors or cruel fantasies.

There are many assumptions to the cause of sexual sadism; some are branching from the psychoanalytic group. For example, the psychoanalysis method implied that childhood trauma such as sexual abuse or major childhood incidents can reveal itself in nonsensical behavior. Because of the test results finding by neuropsychological and neurological from sex offenders, some psychologists tend to believe that sexual sadism might be genetic or due to biological factors. Even though the desire for sexual sadism could begin during one’s infancy, the commencement of active sexual sadism normally take place throughout early adulthood. However, the real cause of sexual sadism is still unknown. Also, sadists are not easily diagnosed. Some are forced by family members, friends or court order to seek therapy, which often helps with the treatment of sexual sadism.

In addition, sexual masochism is the opposite of sexual sadism. The masochist feels excited when receiving humiliation, pain and suffering. The physical actions of a masochistic could involve several different activities such as: cutting, piercing, beating, blindfolding, electrical shock, being urinated or defecated on, forced to bark, verbally abused, and forced to cross-dress. One could be identified as a masochist after receiving these symptoms for at least six months; however, it is known that men are found to be more sexual masochists than women. The cause for sexual masochism is also unknown. Based on learning theory, sexual masochists were initiated because of suppression from unsuitable sexual fantasies. In today’s society, most of the sexual fantasies are derived from the conscious and unconscious state of mind. Some psychologists believe that masochists enjoy receiving the pain and humiliation in order to feel empowered.

Very few sadomasochism search for help with a therapist or a social worker. Sadomasochism that tends not to seek help often gets into trouble due to sexual variations. The level of tensions by society increases toward people with bizarre sexual preferences. Although, the cause of sadomasochism is unknown, the disorder can be treated. Similar to other types of paraphilia, treatment is mainly dependent on the person’s desire and willingness to change. Numerous forms of therapy such as: psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, aversion and positive behavioral therapy approaches, reality therapy, medications, hormonal treatment, reconditioning and restructuring techniques have been found effective in treating sadomasochism. An additional method that can be used to treat sadomasochism is social skills training. Social skills training is one of a kind that needs to develop within healthy family relations; however, it could be that some people who developed sadistic and masochistic behavior may perhaps in part, because they do not know how to form healthy relationships, whether sexual or nonsexual, with other people. Even though, social skill training is not a substitute for medications or psychotherapy for sadistic and masochistic, but it sure can be useful as an adjunctive treatment.

In comparison, a sadist is one who enjoys giving pain during sexual intercourse while a masochist enjoys receiving the pain giving by the sadist also known as sadomasochism. According to several psychologists, including Sigmund Freud, most sadomasochism is upper or middle class men and women who are highly educated and hold professional jobs. The necessary element is not the pain or repression itself, instead it is the facts that the sadist most of the time has more power or controlled over the masochist.

Another known sexual disorder is forced sexual behavior, which is generally broken down into three different areas: rape, sexual abuse of children, and sexual harassment. Rape is generally defined as the act of forcing sexual activity on an unwilling person. Over the past few decades rape has become increasingly prominent in the United States, so much so that a reported one in six women have been raped. Rapists generally do not have a distinct profile, but several theories exist as to some of the reasons why men choose to rape women. Others believe in a cycle of abuse in which men that were abused as children are more likely to engage in acts of sexual misconduct such as rape. This theory is especially prevalent when talking about the sexual abuse of children, which includes incest, child molestation, and pedophilia. Incest refers to sexual relations between relatives. Incest is prevalent in many cases where there has been a cycle of abuse and a parent sexually abuses their own child. Child molestation refers to the sexual behavior with a child without force or direct threat of force. This form of forced sexual behavior is still considered forced because a child can’t legally consent to the act. This form of forced sexual behavior can be equally as damaging to a child simply from the mental distress it puts the child through. Pedophilia refers to the persistent sexual interest in children who have not reached puberty. Most pedophiles are men while the victims are young females, but there are still plenty of reported cases where the victim is a male and the pedophile is a female. Many pedophiles also commit the other acts of forced sexual abuse and continue the acts throughout their lifetime. Sexual harassment is the final act of forced sexual behavior that is included in this discussion. Sexual harassment refers to the unwanted sexual advances, comments, or any other form of coercive sexual behavior by others. Sexual harassment is so prevalent in the United States today, especially in the workplace, that most jobs promote sexual harassment awareness within the first week of being hired. Just because an individual has not committed the actual act of touching another person does not mean that it can’t be equally as damaging.

In today’s lifecycle, people have different ways of expressing their desires as a voyeur or exhibitionist. In most cases, they are harmless. Voyeurism and exhibitionism are two sexual activities, but the two are both engaged with different meanings. Both voyeurism and exhibitionism are considered paraphilia. Voyeurism is when one individual watches the other individual undress his or her clothes during a sexual activity, such as taking a shower or getting undressed for bed. The term voyeur comes from the French, and means “one who looks”. Men are the main the suspects to be called a voyeur. A person is considered a voyeur when he or she is caught sneaking to watch a person undress, and he or she gets aroused by watching the person take his or her clothes off. Most victims are complete strangers to the voyeur. When a person is listening to a sexual conversation over the telephone, he or she is performing a type of voyeurism also. A stranger may never know that he or she is being watched by a voyeur. Women can be caught being a voyeur throughout life too. Voyeurs are in the dark people. They rather stay hidden, and never be seen because of the embarrassment, but they love to watch a stranger take off his or her clothes. Most men who struggle to fulfill their own sex life, are the main ones diagnosed as a voyeur. A voyeur must want to better his or her behavior in order to let go of the bad habit.

A person could have multiple types of fetishism going in his or her life. Amputee, breast, sexual, foot, etc. are all different types of fetishism. When a person has a sexual fetishism, this act can be very dangerous and scary to the innocent bystander. Fetishism is a disorder that is characterized when there is a pathological assignment of sexual fixation. Fetishism can be looked at as harassment by many different people. Harassments can happen at any time, place and by any person. Fetishism is found primarily in heterosexual men. The male gender outnumbers the female gender when it comes to voyeurism, exhibitionism, and fetishism. The male gender is always trying to find a quick way to get aroused. Anyone can be a victim when it comes to voyeurism and exhibitionism. People still do not understand the actions of either behavior. Although voyeurs and exhibitionist know that they are risking their life with their actions; however, they still feel like they cannot control their behavior. They rather get in trouble for their actions, rather than seek help.

In almost every sexual and gender identity disorder case, the exact causes of these disorders are not entirely known. Some researchers believe it is biological and genetic causes, while other researchers believe people start developing sexual and gender identity disorders throughout their adulthood. While people would like to believe that these disorders are made up in a person’s unconscious mind, it is truly hard to believe; especially when people go to extremes of having sex changes or setting up dungeon rooms to play out their fantasies. Most societies are not accepting of people who prefer abnormal sexual practices, but hopefully researchers will have a breakthrough to help determine the causes of these disorders and help people better understand the abnormal.