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Appendix H-4 Introduction To Sexual Deviance - CoSA

This document provides an overview of conceptualizing sexual deviance and problematic sexual conduct. It discusses the lack of consistency in defining such behaviors and the debate around what constitutes offensive versus unlawful versus hypersexual behavior. The document also examines theories of sexually deviant behaviors like social learning theory. It discusses paraphilias and issues with defining and diagnosing them. Assessment methods for measuring sexual interests and arousal like penile plethysmography are also reviewed along with debates around their use and limitations.

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Liway Czarina S Ruizo
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84 views12 pages

Appendix H-4 Introduction To Sexual Deviance - CoSA

This document provides an overview of conceptualizing sexual deviance and problematic sexual conduct. It discusses the lack of consistency in defining such behaviors and the debate around what constitutes offensive versus unlawful versus hypersexual behavior. The document also examines theories of sexually deviant behaviors like social learning theory. It discusses paraphilias and issues with defining and diagnosing them. Assessment methods for measuring sexual interests and arousal like penile plethysmography are also reviewed along with debates around their use and limitations.

Uploaded by

Liway Czarina S Ruizo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Appendix H-4

Introduction to
Sexual Deviance
The video associated with this presentation can be found at:
https://youtu.be/mtVKfMhdW5I
Some slides in this PPT were adapted from materials
created with Dr. Jill Levenson.

Inconsistency
One of the greatest hurdles to defining sexual
deviance is a lack of clarity as to what actually
constitutes offensive sexual behavior.
What do you consider to be sexually offensive?
How well might your “morality” match that of
others or your community?
Conceptualizations of
Problematic Sexual Conduct
 Deviant
 Unusual or very atypical sexual interests and preferences
 Not necessarily unlawful (e.g., fetishism, consenting
BDSM)
 Unlawful
 May be deviant, but does not have to be (e.g., rape, child
molestation)
 Hypersexual
 Very high frequency of engagement in behavior
 May or may not be either deviant or unlawful

Sexually Deviant
 Behaviors that are quite atypical, unusual, or
abnormal, to the extent that most “normal”
individuals would consider the behaviors strange,
odd, or concerning
 Not all sexually deviant behaviors are necessarily
illegal (e.g., fetishes, consensual BDSM sex play),
but some sexually deviant conduct is illegal in most
or all circumstances (e.g., sexual molestation of
prepubescent children, exhibitionism)
Sexually Inappropriate
 Is there something about the circumstances or context
in which the behaviors occurred that would suggest
some degree of sexual impropriety?
 For instance, were both parties consenting to the
sexual behaviors (i.e., was there some element of
sexual coercion?), or was there something about the
relationship between the two parties that would make
the conduct sexually inappropriate (e.g., sex between
blood relatives)?
 In most circumstances, sexually inappropriate
conduct is also unlawful.

Socially Inappropriate
 Is there something about the circumstances of the
behaviors that gives cause for concern, but the
conduct itself might not be necessarily deviant or
inappropriate
 e.g., consenting sex in a public place, sex between
parties where a power differential might be implied,
influence of alcohol or drugs
 Depending on the circumstances, socially
inappropriate sexual behaviors might be illegal, but
this is not absolute
 e.g., streaking, (which is more often intended to be a
joke than sexually alarming).
An important distinction?
 Is it important to distinguish between our sexual
preferences and our sexual appetites?
 While everyone likely has a “perfect partner” or
“scenario,” how often do we actually get that?
 Are we open to consideration of sexual partners or
behaviors that are outside of our preferences (e.g.,
bi-curious, multiple partners)
 Does this happen in the offense histories of some
of our clients?

Sexual Offender …
 …is a legal term and not a clinical term
 “Sexual Offender” encompasses a wide range of
unlawful sexual behaviors, not all of which are
diagnosable as “paraphilic” (APA, 2013)
 Indeed, it is likely that a minority of people labeled
as sexual offenders are actually paraphilic or have a
“sexual condition” that causes them to offend
 Those that do, however, are likely to be at higher risk to
reoffend (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005)
Consent
A particularly important concept to consider
when looking at sexual offending is that of
consent; especially age of consent.
 What constitutes consent?
 Who can give it?
 Under what circumstances?
 Are there personal or situational variables that
would also impinge on consent?

Age of Consent

Laws vary from country to country and


state to state regarding consent to sexual
activity.
Most common AOC in USA is 16 (range = 16-18)
AOC in Canada is 16
AOC in most European countries is 14
Some countries have no AOC, or consent can only
be given between couples who are married
More Inconsistency
Not only has inconsistency affected our ability to
clearly define what constitutes an offense, it has also
clouded our perceptions of cause and effect in sexual
offending.
 Various theories of sexual deviance are often
simultaneously complementary and contradictory
Is there a single unifying theory of sexual deviance
that will ever be satisfactory to the field?

Social Learning Theory


 Modelling, observation, repeated exposure
to a stimulus object, and intermittent
reinforcement
 Is pornography pertinent?
 The research literature has failed to show a connection
between pornography and sexual offending, but the
results are a bit complicated (Diamond, 2009; Kingston
et al., 2008)
Medical Model
 Deviant sexual behavior is the result of a
clinically-diagnosable syndrome
 Paraphilia – DSM-5 (APA, 2013)
 Treatable by medical/psychiatric means
 Therapeutic sex drive reduction (chemical castration)
 However, the problem is that there is no general
psychiatric profile of a “sexual offender”
 That is, few are “mentally ill” in the traditional sense

DSM-5 Definition of Paraphilias


“..any intense and persistent sexual interest other than
sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling
with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting
human partners”… or alternatively “sexual interests greater
than or equal to normophilic sexual interests”.

“A paraphilic disorder is a paraphilia that is currently


causing distress or impairment to the individual or a
paraphilia whose satisfaction has entailed personal harm, or
risk of harm, to others”
Paraphilic Preferences
Activity Target
Voyeurism Pedophilia
Exhibitionism Courtship Dx Fetishism
Frotteurism Transvestism
Sexual Masochism Algolagnic Dx
Sexual Sadism Urophilia
Coprophilia
Telephone Scatalogia Necrophilia
Biastophilia Gerontophilia

Dimensionality
 Most sexual (and paraphilic) interests are not taxonic
(either yes, they are or no, they are not)
 They’re more likely to be dimensional – on a
continuum
 This appears to be true of both chronophilic interests
(children through elderly adults) as well as sexual
dangerousness (coercion through sexual sadism)
 We can look at this two ways:
 Strength – primary or exclusive
 Relativity – greater than or equal to “normophilic” interests
Male sexual arousal
Masters & Johnson (1966) demonstrated that
the best place to measure male sexual arousal
is in the penis, which experiences changes in
volume and circumference in response to both
internal and external stimuli
 A description of methods to measure male sexual
arousal and interest is found in Wilson & Miner
(2016)

Penile Plethysmograph (PPG)


 Bayliss (1908) is believed to be the first to attempt to
measure sexual arousal, in dogs
 Hynie (1934) was the first to use penile changes in
study of human sexuality
 Ohlmeyer et al. (1944) constructed a crude on/off
circumferential device to study nocturnal erections
 Freund (1957) is acknowledged to be the pioneer of
the modern phallometric method for use in forensic
and sexological research and practice
PPG Chair

Circumferential PPG
Alternative Methods
Controversies exist regarding stimuli used in PPG
evaluations
Visual Reaction Time methods have emerged
 Abel Screen (Abel et al., 1998), Affinity (Glasgow et
al., 2003), etc.
 Sexual arousal vs. sexual interest?
 Extent and quality of research may be an issue

Jill Levenson’s attempt


at conceptualizing sexual deviance
Paraphilias;
Hypersexuality; Virtuous pedophiles;
Paraphilic Disorders “substitute” sexual
behavior
Deviance

Self Regulation
Sexual

Healthy Sexual and


Criminality personal
Hypersexuality Boundaries
References
Abel, G.G., Huffman, J., Warberg, B., & Holland, C.L. (1998). Visual reaction time and
plethysmography as measures of sexual interest in child molesters. Sexual Abuse: A
Journal of Research & Treatment, 10, 81-96.
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders, 5th Ed.. Washington, DC: Author.
Diamond, M. (2009). Pornography, public acceptance and sex related crime: A review.
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 32, 304–314.
Hanson, R.K. & Morton-Bourgon, K.E. (2005). The characteristics of persistent sexual
offenders: A meta-analysis of recidivism studies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 73, 1154-1163.
Kingston, D. A., Federoff, P., Firestone, P., Curry, S., & Bradford, J. M. (2008).
Pornography use and sexual aggression: The impact of frequency and type of
pornography use on recidivism among sexual offenders. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 341–
351.
Masters, W. & Johnson, V. (1966). Human sexual response. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Wilson, R.J. & Miner, M.H. (2016). Measurement of male sexual arousal and interest using
penile plethysmography and viewing time. In D.R. Laws & W.T. O’Donohue (Eds.),
Treatment of sex offenders: Strengths and weaknesses in assessment and intervention.
New York: Springer.

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