It is hard to disagree that a significant number of various factors influence one’s mood, comfort, emotional and psychological state, and overall activity. People around a person affect his or her behavior as well as feelings even if it is not always evident. Among the listed spheres, the quality and saturation of an individual’s sexual life also usually depend on external and internal stimuli. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe how the three dimensions of sexuality (biological, psychological, and sociocultural) influence sexual response and arousal.
To begin with, it is necessary to provide some definitions. Sexual arousal is generally the raising of sexual desire in or during sexual activity anticipation, and sexual response is a physiological and biochemical reaction to sexual stimulation (Bolin & Whelehan, 2009). Both male and female sexual desire may be characterized by an interplay and cooperation of sociocultural, psychological, and biological elements that may make arousal and response stronger or lower.
First, biological factors include general health, age, nutritional state, as well as hormonal and chromosomal status. According to Nimbi et al. (2019), these elements play a severe role in the sexual desire level and intensity but appear to be insufficient to explain the sexual response of men and women. Second, psychological factors, including satisfaction, distress, sexual functioning, communication, conflicts, attraction, emotions, anxiety, and depression, play a crucial role in the maintenance or development of a lack of men’s sexual interest (Nimbi et al., 2019). Third, socio-cultural influences such as heterosexism, sexism, customs, people’s attitudes, traditions and beliefs, and education are extremely relevant (Rosenkrantz & Mark, 2018). Cognitive factors related to sexual scripts of masculinity and gender roles are proved to be essential predictors of low sexual desire. Therefore, lower or higher sexual arousal and response depend on the negativity or positivity of these elements.
References
Bolin, A., & Whelehan, P. (2009). Human sexuality: Biological, psychological, and cultural perspectives. Routledge.
Nimbi, F. M., Tripodi, F., Rossi, R., Navarro-Cremades, F., & Simonelli, C. (2019). Male sexual desire: An overview of biological, psychological, sexual, relational, and cultural Factors influencing desire. Sexual Medicine Reviews, 8(1), 59-91.
Rosenkrantz, D. E., & Mark, K. P. (2018). The sociocultural context of sexually diverse women’s sexual desire. Sexuality & Culture 22, 220–242.