sexual behavior
most narrowly, all reproductive activities between nonhuman animals, beginning with courtship, leading to mate selection, and culminating in copulation. In some species, sexual behavior may occur only during certain seasons or at specific stages of the estrous cycle. When applied to humans, however, the term has a much broader meaning that encompasses not only physical practices but also attitudes, experiences, desires, preferences, and a variety of related psychological and social phenomena, including any actions related not only to reproduction but also to pleasurable satisfaction without conception (i.e., sexual arousal). Such actions are shaped by culture and to a further extent by individual experience and observation, and they may be performed with a partner (as in foreplay and role play) or alone (as in fantasizing and masturbating). Additionally, some nonconceptive sexual behavior, such as phone sex or viewing an erotic
movie, does not necessarily involve direct stimulation of the body at all. Certain avian and nonhuman mammalian species, particularly primates, also display nonconceptive sexual behavior, which may serve to maintain social relationships or pair bonds or to confuse mates about certainty of paternity.