Sexual deviants refer to people who exhibit sexual deviation such that they do not conform to the sexual norms stipulated by the society. In the past a number of sexual behaviors were considered as sexual deviance while currently this may not be so.
A case in point is homosexuality which was regarded as a form of sexual deviant however it is not since a number of states in the world accept homosexuals and they even legalize same sex marriages.
The presence of sexual deviants in the society could be as a result of the environment they have grown in which they are socialized to become sexual deviants.
There are various types of sexual deviants who range from rapists, pedophiles, prostitutes and exhibitionists. Different explanations have come up on the causes of sexual deviants and they range from psychological explanations and social explanations.
Several theories have been advanced to explain the presence of sexual deviants. The aim of this study is to establish the reason as to why there are sexual deviants in the society with an aim of treating the sexual deviants.
There are various types of sexual deviants namely: pedophiles, prostitutes, exhibitionists, masochists, rapists and fetishists. Pedophiles refer to people who engage in sex with a child. In most cases the pedophiles victims are either relatives or friends.
If the perpetrator is an extreme pedophile he or she may resort to killing the victim to avoid exposure. Prostitutes refer to men or women who have sex for financial gains.
Exhibitionists on the other hand refer to people, who expose their genitals in public in order to obtain sexual gratification. Masochists refer to people who engage in sexual activity with objects. Fetishisms use items like bra’s and women’s underwear and shoes for sexual gratification.
The type of sexual deviance in frotteurism includes touching and applying friction against people who have not given any consent. Sexual deviants like voyeurs observe unsuspecting individuals as they undress or as they engage in sexual activity.
Rapists refer to people who utilize force to sexually assault their victim. In this case they obtain pleasure by forcefully assaulting their victims sexually. The perpetrators seem to hate women or suffer from certain sexual problems.
Edwin Sutherland was credited for coming up with this theory in order to tackle the issue of how people learn deviance. This theory stipulates that one’s surrounding has a great impact on the way people behave in reference to the laid down norms such that people may decide to violate certain norms according to the laid down norms.
According to this theory individuals learn about the existing norms in society from the various socializing agent who include; family, peers, co- workers, leader as well as the media.
In reality this is to say people acquire behaviors from the people they interact with because they are their intimate groups.
This theory can be used to explain some forms of sexual deviance like prostitution. A case in point is a group of prostitutes who provide an environment for other people to learn how to become prostitutes. The prostitutes define themselves as a subculture and praise prostitution as a way of achieving their goal, namely material wealth.
A group of people who are not deviants could become deviant through association of sexual deviants like exhibitionists. A group of prostitutes learn to be deviant as they accept and practice the prostitutes’ norms. On the other hand exhibitionists learn to be deviant through acceptance and practice of the exhibitionist norms.
From the above study one learns that sexual deviance refers to forms of sexual behaviors that are not accepted by the society.
It is noteworthy that while some forms of sexual behaviors like homosexuality was regarded as deviant traditionally, it is presently not referred to as a form of sexual deviance as it is acceptable in several areas of the world.
This is whereby homosexuals are accepted as normal people in the society who do not from the social norm and as a result same sex marriages are legalized in a number of countries like America.
The various existing forms of sexual deviants originate from the environment where one becomes a social deviant due to the socialization one gets from the environment.
Prior experience in sex is also known to be a cause of sexual deviation. In other instance sexual deviance can be explained by the body make up whereby the varying levels of certain hormones like testosterone is believed to be a cause of sexual deviation.
There are several methods that are proposed to treat sexual deviants hence it is up to the psychologists to know the best method to treat a sexual deviant.
