Sexual script theory

Sexual script theory states that all social behavior, including sexual behavior, is socially scripted. The theory was introduced by sociologists John H. Gagnon and William Simon in their 1973 book Sexual Conduct. Its basic principle states that all social behavior, including sexual behavior, is socially scripted. Furthermore, it is the approved norms about how individuals in a relationship may embrace one another, embody, and react to each other via the process of socialization. The idea is that sexual scripts are guidelines for appropriate sexual behavior and sexual encounters. Sexual behavior and encounters become behavior that is learned as well as instinctive. Each partner in consensual encounters acts as if they are an actor in a play or film following a script, rather than acting on impulse alone. Therefore people in a relationship may draw upon this idea when thinking about their own sexual experiences or when participating in sexual acts themselves.

This image depicts some particular issues that can arise within a romantic relationship. It also portrays how certain tones of a relationship can change. Sometimes this is the unspoken language between a man and a woman. This photo relates to the common stereotypes that can be seen in relationships.

Research on sexual scripts and sexual script theory has concluded that sexual scripts are gendered. In most Western cultures, the way a society is set up and its rules help shape how people act. For example, marriage laws and vows, as well as laws against certain sexual behaviors or relationships, all play a part in guiding people's behavior. It's customary for the male to indicate, or at least present, a greater initial enthusiasm in sexual relations in a typical male-female romantic relationship. It may raise doubts about his masculinity, sexual prowess, and fertility if he doesn't show off a great deal of passion early in the relationship. On the other hand, the woman can start to question her own sexual appeal. This is due to the misconception that males are usually eager to get sexually excited, thus it could be detrimental to her self-esteem if he shows no sign of interest. She should be cautious not to come across as overly eager to engage in sexual activity, even if it is believed that she will be open to a sexual connection.

Thus, sexual scripts have been described by researchers as a form of social construction. Sexual Script Theory (SST) and its application in clinical practice are founded on the idea that the subjective understandings of each person about their sexuality (and called a sexual script) substantively determine that person's choice of sexual actions and the subsequent qualitative experience of those sexual acts. Scripts refer to social functions. They dictate what one should be doing at a particular time and in a particular place if one is to play the role characteristically associated with that script. There may be several people involved in the same situation, but they may differ in the roles that they have been given or have chosen to enact. It is a cognitive schema that instructs people how to understand and act in sexual situations.

A key learning factor in understanding sexual script theory is social constructionism, which is, "the interpretation of reality, including human behavior, is derived from shared beliefs within a particular social group." Regarding sexual human behavior, the meanings attached to those behaviors, including what makes them “sexual” behaviors, derives from metaphorical scripts individuals have learned and incorporated as a function of their involvement in the social group. According to Gagnon and Simon, “Scripts are involved in learning the meaning of internal states, organizing the sequencing of specifically sexual acts, decoding novel situations, setting the limits on sexual responses and linking meanings from nonsexual aspects of life to specifically sexual experience.” Gagnon and Simon layer sexual script theory in three levels, they state, "Scripts are a metaphor for conceptualizing behavior within social life. Most of social life most of the time must operate under the guidance of an operating syntax, much as language is a precondition for speech. For behavior to occur, something resembling scripting must occur on three distinct levels: cultural scenarios, interpersonal scripts, and intrapsychic scripts."

• Cultural scenarios - provide the context for roles, and contain institutional arrangements and symbols that comprise collective life. Cultural institutions such as government, law, education, and religion can influence as they are experienced daily.
• Interpersonal scripts- rest on the roles and general circumstances provided by cultural scenarios, yet they entail adaptation to the particulars of each situation. Accordingly, each social actor helps create interpersonal scripts by adapting the general guidelines they learned from their experiences in the culture to the specifics presented in each social encounter.
• Intrapsychic scripts- creates fantasy in the rich sense of that word: the symbolic reorganization of reality in ways to more fully realize the actor's many-layered and sometimes multivoiced wishes.

Gagnon and Simon also note that the most prominent and affected have "age requirements" such as “You cannot engage in X until you are Y years of age,” or “By age Y you must have done X.” Gagnon and Simon further elaborate by stating,

"Common scripts themselves may have variants based on the relative ages of the actors, or at least the actors within a particular script are evaluated differently based on their respective ages. Adolescence and early adulthood are the most troubling stages for individuals and for the culture to which such individuals belong; it is during these stages that individuals develop and refine their interpersonal and intrapsychic sexual scripts. “The major cultural scenarios that shape the most common interpersonal scripts tend to be almost exclusively drawn from the requirements of adolescence and early adulthood. There are virtually none tied to the issues of subsequent segments of life.”

Simon and Gagnon also note the extreme ends of the lifecycle might be that of the presexual (childhood) and the postsexual (old age), at least in terms of predominant, shared scripts. They go on to explain, “Not that sexually significant events do not occur during these periods, but they are not or only rarely anticipated in prevailing cultural scenarios dealing with the very young and the very old."

History

While Simon's and Gagnon's sexual script theory is novel and has been withstood since its release, they were not the first to suggest society influences human behavior and human sexual behavior. According to author Micheal Wiederman, "sexual script theory is a logical extension of symbolic interactionism, a term coined by sociologist Herbert Blumer in the 1930s based on the work of his mentor, sociologist George Herbert Mead who stated, “Symbolic interactionism focuses on how meaning is created, modified, and put into action by individuals in the process of social interaction." At the time of its creation Simon and Gagnon noted that, "their perspective was a reaction to the dominant theoretical views of human sexuality at the time: psychoanalytic and biological." In addition, Simon and Gagnon were not the first to employ the script metaphor to social interactions, sociologist Erving Goffman presented dramaturgy as a sociological perspective, likening human social interaction to the performance of assumed roles in a theatrical production.

Before Simon and Gagon's theory, the dominant perspectives of sexual behavior had already been determined, by instincts or drives, inherently tied to human biology. Sigmund Freud had established his psychoanalytic theory towards life and procreation called Libido, which may find natural and healthy expression or may be distorted into psychopathology. Freudian psychoanalytic perspectives on sexuality continued to hold sway even as biological perspectives rose to attention. Other prominent researchers such as Alfred Kinsey, and Willam Masters and Virginia Johnson, had published articles on human behavior and sexual behavior long before Simon and Gagnon. Alfred Kinsey cataloged the sexual behaviors of respondents and plotted them against such variables as age, sex, and social class. While Willam Masters and Virginia Johnson focused their research and therapy on bodily response to sexual stimuli; work is based on the assumption that there is universal, and therefore natural, sexual functioning. Simon and Gagnon's sexual script theory seemed to have come at a time when several researchers in the 1960s and 1970s were appealed by the social constructionism approach because many cultural events during that time, called into question essentialist perspectives that had been taken for granted previously. In addition, Simon and Gagnon considered sexual scripts as explicitly interwoven with gender scripts, and feminist movements at the time were calling into question assumptions about male and female, and the extent to which these assumptions were inevitable versus products of culture and socialization. Their theory came at a significant time in history with vast cultural changes in the United States.

Paul Wright's 3AM model

Paul Wright's 3AM theoretical framework is another method that has been used in research pertaining to sexual scripts and pornography.

Wright has developed a "sexual script acquisition, activation, application model (3AM) of sexual socialization that explains how consumption of sexual media can impact attitudes and behaviors." Through the socially constructed scripts that guide what is behaviorally acceptable or unacceptable in human behavior, sexual media influence occurs through the provision of scripts. According to the 3AM, "sexual media can provide consumers with scripts they were unaware of (acquisition), prime scripts they were already aware of (activation), and encourage the utilization of scripts by portraying particular sexual behaviors or general patterns of sexual behavior as normative, appropriate, and rewarding (application)."

Developments

Drawing upon conversational analysis, sexual encounters are considered to be scripted if the parties involved use any of these five linguistic devices:

• References to predictable stages
• References to common knowledge
• The production of consensus through seamless turn-taking and collaborative talk
• The use of hypothetical and general instances
• Active voicing

Research on sexual scripts and sexual script theory has concluded that sexual scripts are organized through gender, class, ethnicity, and other social vectors.

Sexual script theory and its application in clinical practice are founded on the undeniable reality that the subjective understandings of each person about his or her sexuality (and called a sexual script) substantively determine that person's choice of sexual actions and the subsequent qualitative experience of those sexual acts. Scripts refer to social functions. They dictate what one should be doing at a particular time and in a particular place if one is to play the role characteristically associated with that script. There may be several people involved in the same situation, but they may differ in the roles that they have been given or have chosen to enact. Script theory is a form of social scripting theory that has been defined clearly by Michael W. Wiederman: "Social scripting theory points to the fact that much of sexual behavior seems to follow a script. Similar to scripts that stage actors use to guide their behavior, social scripts instruct members of a society as to appropriate behavior and the meanings to attach to certain behaviors."

Social scripting theory directly relates to sexual scripts, as it is just a specified example regarding sexual encounters and sexual behavior in a social context. Social theory is also a useful resource in determining the construction of social scripts.

Social constructionism

The theory is linked to the wider development of social constructionism Social construction determines what acts are deemed appropriate. For example, sexual acts should happen in private. This is an important term for sexual scripts because these scripts can be exposed to children at a young age due to exposure to media and social norms. In other words, women are to be subjected to male gaze to be a part of the social construction system and maintain the social norms of a long-living society. This term not only determines how women view men, but also how they view themselves. When a man looks at a woman, the woman focuses on herself being looked at. She starts to view herself from another person's point of view, and makes perspective her focal point whenever she sees herself in a mirror.

The social construction of sexuality can be traced back to the medieval times through art. The presentation of the female body in art changes over time based on the time and the cultural changes. The opinion of society changes what the idea of women should look like. Currently, in society we see art and the media portray females as slim with exaggerated features. Women construct their physical features to attract to the male gaze. This has remained prevalent in our media throughout history.

Sexual norms

A sexual norm can be an individual or a social norm, which is a rule that is socially enforced. Sexual norm relationships are shaped by the traditional stereotypes surrounding sex and gender when it comes to males and masculinity and females and femininity. For example, many associate male social norms with assertiveness, aggressiveness, sexual adventurism, and emotional restraint. For females the social norms of femininity is delicate, passive, sexually modest, and emotionally sensitive. Sex and gender stereotypical norms can have negative impacts on a couples, sexual, emotional, psychological aspects of a relationship. Norms affect a wide variety of human behavior as Social norms regarding sexuality are present in most cultures. For example, the norm in most cultures consists of heterosexual acts between married individuals. Sexual norms are constantly changing and normal sexual behavior is a spectrum and cannot be rigidly defined.

Deviance from normal sexual behavior is common and can be classified in several ways. If non-restrictive sexual norms are regarded positively they may be called "sexual freedom", "sexual liberation", or "free love". If regarded negatively they may be called "sexual license" or "licentiousness". Restrictive behavior when judged negatively is called "sexual oppression"; if judged positively they are called "chastity", "sexual restraint", or "sexual decency" is considered to be used for targeted sexuality. In the west, sexual normality can be defined as any sexual practice which does not involve sexual perversions. There has been a liberalization in attitudes which has resulted in the legalization of homosexuality in many countries. There is a tendency in Western countries toward serial monogamy as a normal heterosexual lifestyle.

Gender

Main article: Gender script

Gender schema theory also plays a part in the sexual script because studies show that males and females interact in different ways, even from a young age. In 1991, Martha Boston and Gary Levy found that through their research observations, children, primarily boys, were better with being able to sequence own-sex rather than other-sex scripts. "As well as acquiring knowledge about the sex-role stereotypes of their culture, young children also develop sex-typed attitudes, preferences, and behaviors that pervade many aspects of their lives."

From an early age, men are often raised to embrace their sexuality, but women are usually brought up to suppress it. Anatomically, boys have the benefit (or curse) of genitals that are more easily viewed and handled by their owners. The young boy is taught to hold onto his penis to urinate and to handle it for purposes of washing. Conversely, the young girl is not taught to touch her clitoris. She is taught to wipe carefully after urination to avoid contracting an infection by transferring bacteria from her rectum to her vagina. The result is that boys and girls are given two subtly different sets of messages regarding their genitals. Boys readily discover that their genitals feel good when handled and are not necessarily any "dirtier" than other parts of their body that they can see. Girls readily learn that their genitals are difficult, if not impossible, for them to see and that there are "dirty" aspects, which require appropriate precautionary measures. Similarly, gender roles may encourage sexual exploration more for boys than for girls.

A double standard exists in the traditional heterosexual sexual script. It endorses different sexual behavior for women and men in which women are expected to confine sexual behavior to the context of a committed relationship, and men are expected to engage in sexual behavior in all kinds of relationships. Young adult men who have not realized that their female peers hold a different set of sexual scripts are often perplexed. When young adults have finally gained a marked increase in privacy from family (such as going away to college or getting married), it often seems obvious to young men that sexual activity should "naturally" occur since a major barrier has been overcome. Females who take such a view run the risk of being labeled deviant. To be too sexually interested or aggressive, especially outside the context of an intimate relationship, implies masculinity, desperation, or some other flaw.

Kennair et al. (2023) found no signs of a sexual double standard in short-term or long-term mating contexts, nor in choosing a friend, except that women's self-stimulation was more acceptable than men's.

Ellen van Oost uses the concept of gender script "to illustrate the ways that the design of technological artifacts are affected by the gender assumptions held about their 'envisioned users'. " Drawing from Akrich's argument that "like a film script, technical objects define a framework of action together with the actors and the space in which they are supposed to act," van Oost extends the script approach to include the gender aspects of technological innovation. van Oost looks at the ways electric shavers are gendered for men and women starting in the late 1920s, including the "cigar" model for men and the "lipstick model for women." Van Oost also argues that the development of the electric razor systematically constructs a gender script of technological incompetence as feminine, and "inhibits the ability of women to see themselves as interested in technology and as technologically competent, whereas the gender script of [electric razors "for men"] invites men to see themselves that way. In other words: [electric razors] not only [produce] razors but also gender."

Sexual health

Sexual scripts influence sexual health decisions for all sexually active people. As previously mentioned, sexual scripts are the socially constructed guidelines for human sexual behavior. According to psychology scholar Lindsey L. Ross-Bailey, "Women may abide by the sexual script that, “Women must maintain a feminine role by being submissive to male partners.” Women who endorse this sexual script may lack the assertiveness skills needed to initiate purchasing condoms, providing condoms, and enforcing condom use." The sexual script of "Men should be responsible for providing the condoms during sex", reigns prominent in heterosexual sexual encounters. Women who believe this sexual script are unlikely to carry condoms ever and, if sexually active, are at a greater risk of contracting STIs. Women who carry condoms carry the sexual script of being "promiscuous."

In the LGBTQIA community, the "bottom" and "top" terms are socially constructed sexual scripts. These terms indicate whether a person in a homosexual sexual encounter or relationship is the more "masculine" or "man" or the more "feminine" or "woman". Because of this distinction, the condom usage responsibility and all preconceived "male" sexual scripts are assumed under the "top" responsibilities.

Media

Sexual scripts in media have a great influence on young people and adolescents. According to researcher Rebecca Ortiz, "Greater exposure to sexual media content has been associated with stronger endorsement of recreational attitudes toward sex, increased intentions to have sex, earlier sexual initiation, and even increased likelihood of adolescent pregnancy." Because a majority of young and adolescent people lack sexual experiences, they seek out media outlets to form their expectations and ideas about sexuality and sexual behavior.

However, according to Ortiz, "less is known about how, why, and which sexual portrayals affect young viewers. The proliferation of stereotypically-gendered sexual messages in the media is of particular concern because constant exposure may lead to reinforcement of such stereotypes by viewers and could negatively affect their sexual well-being." These stereotypes typically aim to push further the narrative and traditional sexual scripts of "Women being submissive to men" and "men as dominating". According to Ortiz, this is called the Heterosexual Script, "The heterosexual script includes depictions of gender inequality between heterosexual partners, where male characters are often portrayed as sexual initiators and aggressors, while female characters are passive recipients and sexual gatekeepers who prefer love and affection over sex."

Sexual scripts have distinct gender role differences and play a huge role in how people view and express themselves sexually. The female script looking typically for love and affection and waits for the man to make the first move. While the male script is looking for multiple sexual partners and praise for their sexual endeavors. According to Ortiz, this leads to the sexual double standard, "Such gender differences have been called the sexual double standard, such that men and women are subject to different “rules” of sexual behavior." Agreeing with this double standard can negatively impact both men and women. Women may learn to suppress their sexual desires and begin viewing themselves as sexual objects. Men who agree with this double standard are more likely to agree with rape myths and find them justifiable as well in the objectification of women. They are also more likely to believe in "token resistance", which states that women who say "no", really mean "yes".

These gendered sexual scripts are exhibited heavily in mainstream media. There is a clear indication that people with excessive use of mainstream media who support these gendered sexual scripts are more linked to "greater psychological distress, diminished sexual agency, and more dysfunctional beliefs about relationships", this is especially true in young adults and adolescents, who have been linked to struggle individually and within their relationships.

Rape script is also very prevalent in the media. It is defined as the stereotypes or false beliefs about rape, its victims, and rapists. These stereotypes are heavily influenced by religion, law, and the media. Rape scripts are the beliefs of the nature of rape, the roles of genders as well as domination and vulnerability are a large part of these beliefs. Many victims of rape look to the real rape script to determine whether they experienced rape. The real rape script describes the stereotypical story of the woman walking alone late at night when a man comes up behind her and proceeds to act violently and rape her. Many women do not believe they've been raped when comparing their experience to the real rape script due to the lack of violence as well as many other factors. The rape script is used in many ways, in movies, on the news, and on social media. Due to this, many victims end up getting blamed for their actions. As a result of victim blaming, many victims are afraid to come forward because they are afraid no one will believe them.

Men and pornography

Men's sexual scripts and pornography often correlate because they tend to legitimize gendered script stereotypes. Studies have found that pornography consumptions lead to a more sexual open-mindedness and non-judgmental outlook on sexual behavior, such as premarital sex, one-night stands, having multiple sex partners, and casual sex. This is especially true in male pornographic consumers, according to scholar Paul J. Wright.

"...two recent national longitudinal studies of adults aged 45 years on average found that present pornography consumption predicted subsequent permissive sexual attitudes and casual sex behavior. Even more relevant is an experimental study that found that showing males pornography led to more support for “the view that parties should be free to form and discontinue intimate relationships without regulations by any government”. Second, there is evidence that pornography activates sexual scripts supportive of traditional masculinity. Interrogations of pornography carried out by humanistic scholars find that pornography portrays men as sexually powerful, controlling, aggressive, and dominant."

The sexual scripts created and enforced in pornographic content create sexually expressive and open-minded views on sexual behavior, but they reinforce potentially harmful male sexual scripts. Research also suggests that sexual behavior found in pornographic content forms "how people are expected to perform and react when engaging in sex."

According to scholar Farnosh Mazandarani, on-screen interactions in pornographic content are often studied and examined by scholars. Still, she argues that physical representations in pornographic content are vastly overlooked and a major factor in establishing sexual scripts. Mazandarani found that women in pornography are "four times more likely to be physically represented within a scene than men. When on-screen, male performers are more likely to have cameras actively move to cut them out of the shot (29% of the time) than females (4% of the time)." In fact, the framing of men's faces is sometimes entirely cut out of scenes or made silent.

These differences in physical representations can majorly impact sexual scripts and sexual expectations. According to Mazandarani, "pornography is thought to provide a common script, or formula, for (1) what constitutes a sexual encounter, (2) what types of people should participate in a sexual encounter, (3) what events should or should not occur during a sexual encounter, (4) what verbal and nonverbal responses may be expected during an encounter, and (5) what possible consequences may occur when engaging in particular sexual scenarios." For many, pornography is viewed as a driving force to creating male and female sexual scripts.

Applications

The theory has now been applied to a wide range of areas such as the following:

• Young gay men (Matt G Mutchler)
• Rape (Stevi Jackson)
• Pornography (Gail Dines)
• 'My types' (David Whittier)
• Men's scripts (Ana Bridges, Farnosh Norooz Mazandarani)
• Women's scripts (Judith Long Laws & Pepper Schwarz; Breanne Fahs & Rebecca F. Plante)
• HIV and AIDS (Lauman, Seidman)
• Sexual pharmacology (Leonore Tiefer)
• Love (Lyndsey Moon)
• Bodies (Stevi Jackson and Sue Scott)
• Technologies and their design (Ellen van Oost)

Criticism

Writer Rictor Norton's critique of sexual scripts strongly suggests that Simon and Gagnon's sexual script theory is too restrictive. He states "that the theory of “sexual scripts” is an inadequate tool for understanding sexuality." Norton claims that society is not the driving the force in understanding sexuality, he claims that sexuality comes from the individuals own desires and morals. According to Norton, "it seems to me that this behaviourist model is even more determinist than the biological model, which suggests that erotic desire is a powerful motive force arising from within, which has the capacity of resisting the social forces that would attempt to restrain or redirect it."

To add to this, researcher David Gurnham's critique of sexual scripts argues that the traditional sexual script between heterosexual men and women limits a woman's agency. He argues, "consent-giving according to the traditional script presupposes a more passive role for women, with the consequent implication that males may feel that their scripted role entitles them to use deceptive or coercive means [...] render consent invalid or at the very least severely compromised." Gurnham argues that this has the potential to lead to sexual acts made to "keep the peace" in potentially abusive relationships or dangerous situations. Gurnham further elaborates by stating this acceptance of traditional sexual scripts could lead to non-consensual sexual activity, "where a woman consents to sexual activity X (say, vaginal sex), which the male partner assumes to constitute tacit consent to sexual activity Y (say, anal sex), sexual attitudes research suggests that some people who affirm the traditional sexual script may not recognize any wrongdoing." He argues that traditional sexual scripts have the potential to do more harm, than good.

Further reading

• Gagnon JH, Simon W (1973). Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality. Chicago, IL: Aldine Pub. Co. ISBN 978-1-315-12924-2.
• Kimmel MS, ed. (2007). The sexual self: The construction of sexual scripts. Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 978-0-8265-1559-9.
• Plummer K (January 2010). "The social reality of sexual rights.". In Aggleton P, Parker R (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 45–55. ISBN 978-0-203-86022-9.
• Izienicki H (January 2022). "Netflix and chill: teaching sexual scripts in a sociology classroom". Teaching Sociology. 50 (1): 39–48. doi:10.1177/0092055X211033633.