Sexual Ritual
Sexual rituals fall into two categories: culture-created, and natural behaviour, the human animal having developed sex rituals from evolutionary instincts for reproduction, which are then integrated into society, and elaborated to include aspects such as marriage rites, dances, etc. Arguably indeed, 'sex in its more ritualized and symbolic varieties...has moulded the shape of civilization'.
Sometimes sexual rituals are highly formalized and/or part of religious activity, as in the cases of Hieros gamos, the hierodule and the OTO. Contemporary sacred sexual rituals have been tagged as 'structured, symbolic, manifestation, ceremonies, tradition, everyday, habit, grounding, magic, solemn'.
Read more about Sexual Ritual: Rites of Passage, Interaction Ritual, Compulsions, Tibetan Art, Private Worship, Literature
Famous quotes containing the word ritual:
“Promiscuity in men may cheapen love but sharpen thought. Promiscuity in women is illness, a leakage of identity. The promiscuous woman is self-contaminated and incapable of clear ideas. She has ruptured the ritual integrity of her body.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)