Knowra Sexual scripts Sexual scripts Sexual scripts are shared cultural expectations that shape how people interpret sexual situations and organize sexual behavior. They provide familiar roles, sequences, and meanings without determining what individuals do.
Sexual script theory : A sociological framework explaining how cultural expectations shape sexual meanings and conduct. This framework distinguishes broad cultural scripts from expectations between partners and personal interpretations.
John H. Gagnon : An American sociologist whose research helped establish the social study of sexuality. Gagnon developed the framework that made sexual scripts a central sociological concept.
Sexual socialization : The process through which people learn social expectations, meanings, and norms concerning sexuality. Families, peers, media, and institutions can teach the scripts people later draw upon.
Sexual instinct : An innate biological tendency that motivates sexual behavior. Script theory emphasizes learned social patterns rather than explaining conduct through instinct alone.
Cultural scripts : Shared conventions that guide how people interpret situations and coordinate social behavior. Sexual scripts are a domain-specific form of these wider social conventions.
William Simon : An American sociologist known for research on sexuality and social life. Simon co-developed sexual script theory with Gagnon.
Sexual double standard : A norm that judges similar sexual behavior differently according to a person's gender. It shows how gendered scripts can prescribe different meanings for comparable conduct.
Sexual orientation : A person's enduring pattern of romantic, emotional, or sexual attraction. Orientation concerns patterns of attraction, whereas scripts concern expectations for interpreting and enacting situations.
Gender roles : Social expectations about behavior associated with perceived or assigned gender. Gender roles often assign different sexual initiative, restraint, and responsibility to people.
Sexual Conduct : A 1973 book by John H. Gagnon and William Simon analyzing sexuality through social scripts. This work introduced the theory's account of cultural, interpersonal, and intrapsychic scripts.
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