sexual deviance
Aberrant erotic behavior
Sexual deviance refers to sexual interests, behaviors, or practices that fall outside what a given society considers normal or acceptable.
The term is descriptive rather than diagnostic—what counts as deviant varies enormously across cultures and eras.
Homosexuality was classified as sexual deviance until recently in Western medicine; some paraphilias once considered deviant are now mainstream.
The phrase often carries judgment, implying the behavior is harmful or pathological, though it may simply mean statistically uncommon.
- fetishIrrational devotion to something
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- taboo subjectTopic considered inappropriate to discuss
- kinkTight twisted spot
- perversionCorruption or deviant distortion
paraphilia · transgression · forbidden · forbidden fruit · abnormal · obsession · compulsion · secret · shame · guilty pleasure · desire · fantasy · voyeurism · exhibitionism · sadism · masochism · bondage · dominance
- devianceperversion, perversity, aberration, abnormality, transgression
- sexual sinsfornication, adultery, lust, lechery, lewdness
sexual devianceheteronormativity
Assumed universal straightness
monogamy · missionary position · chastity · celibacy · abstinence
sexual, sexes, sexed, sexing, sexuality, sexualize, sexualized, asexual, bisexual