God created Earth and rested;
Then God created Man and rested;
God then created Woman,
Since then no Man has rested."

The Greek philosopher Plato once described the "elemental sex instinct" of the male sexuality as the ever raging animal which unsurprisingly "has not altered in the slightest degree by all the centuries of culture and education."

Since the dawn of human civilisation, sexual attraction has had a close relationship with religious impulses and upon this basis, sprang up a free sexual life along with the social life which is continuing today.

The present day human sexuality that we are witnessing in fact has undergone so much change in its evolutionary process from early civilisation.

It has been constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed along the way by past and present generations.

Along with it, the human sexual evolution or revolution also gave birth to raging ethical and theological debates with significant turning points in human sexual behaviour.

And the gender sexual revolution throughout the century has been a painful process.

Recreation and procreation

Today the number of issues relating to human sexuality and human sexual behaviour, desires and fantasies is voluminous.

And having sex before marriage is no longer considered a taboo or a social stigma.

Indeed, the domain of human sexuality is so varied and vast that it goes beyond the fundamental notion that sex is purely for procreation purposes.

Educators and exponents on sex education no longer regard masturbation as a grave sin and certainly many would scoff at the idea that having sex should be mainly confined to the purpose of procreation.

In many socially developed countries with advanced economies, homosexual behaviour within its society is accepted and no longer considered as wicked.

And the topics range from an inexhaustible menu items which include reproduction, contraception, celibacy, marriage, adultery, casual sex, flirting, prostitution, homosexuality, masturbation, seduction, rape, sexual harassment, sadomasochism, pornography, bestiality, paedophilia and many others.

Over the decades, both the pessimistic and optimistic metaphysicians of sexuality have battled their arguments and differences on what is considered "right or wrong" on the perennial questions of sexual morality and those constituting a branch of applied ethics.

The pessimistic metaphysicians maintained that acting on sexual impulse is always wrong unless it is permissible and prudentially wise only within marriage (of the lifelong, monogamous heterosexual sort) or for the purpose of procreation.

On the other hand, the optimistic metaphysicians argued that sexuality is a natural bonding mechanism that happily joins, both sexually and non-sexually.

Technological changes

They maintain that sexuality itself does not lead to or become vulgar.

But there are clear signs that the battle between the pessimistic moral guardians and the optimists may be over even before either side can claim victory.

Over taken by sweeping changes as described by Futurist Alvin Toffler in his publication, "The Third Wave," the behaviour of human sexuality has changed and is still undergoing further changes caused by hidden forces in today's business, family life, technological, markets, politics and personal spheres.

The expectations and the behaviour of both sexes have shifted with respect to jobs, legal and financial rights, household responsibilities, and even gender rights down to sexual performance.

Inevitably, the roles of women and men were re-defined, with the breaking down of moral codes and restrictions.

And with it, the vast issues surrounding human sexuality from the past to the present is being challenged by new technological changes today.

Ironically, despite all these forces of changes in human sexuality, something else inside the human brain has hardly changed since time immemorial.

A market research company showed the average male thinks about sex 13 times a day.

"That would be a total of 4,745 times a year for the men compared to women, with an average 5 times a day or 1,825 times a year," the report says.

Satisfaction not guaranteed?

But when it comes to the real thing, men will have to make do with it an average of twice a week or 104 times a year.

The findings also showed that three-quarters of the 3,000 respondents expressed satisfaction with the sexual act but only 58 per cent of women felt the same.

The staggering results proved that men are consciously thinking about sex a lot.

Is it a paradox that sex only exists in the mind?

It takes little imagination in wondering why no man has rested since the creation of woman.

Do not blame the "homo sapiens" for being a sex addict because in truth, sex and survival are perhaps the two most fundamental forces ensuring the survival of the species.

From womb to tomb, the human brain is the master-organ and plays a central role in sexual function.

In men, the responses of the physical body and mind (his brain) are more in tune with each other during sexual arousal unlike in a woman's mind as her body responds differently.

Active areas

The composite of Man comprises the physical body, the emotional and spiritual faculties.

Mapping the brain's active areas activated during sexual arousal in men was a step in the right direction and was successfully researched by Dr Serge Stoleru in 1999 in Paris.

The research unveiled one of the biological aspects of this supposedly abstract phenomenon we call, "desire" and successfully identified precise active areas in the human brain..

Author Philip Roth in his publication, "The Dying Animal" best summed up the power of the sexual generative energy when he wrote: "Only when you (have sex)......are you most cleanly alive and most cleanly yourself......sex isn't just fiction and shallow fun.

"Sex is also the revenge on death. Don't forget death. Don't ever forget it. Yes, sex too is limited in its power.....but tell me, which power is greater (then sexual power)?"

Yes, sex is all in the mind.

Head of the National Addiction Centre, Dr John Marsden, compared love and sex as physically similar to the buzz of taking drugs when Dopamine is released from the aroused brain, resulting in the person wanting more.

"The brain which processes emotions becomes 'fired up' when talking to someone the person finds attractive.

"The heart pounds three times faster than normal and causes blood to be diverted to the cheeks and sexual organs which causes the feelings of butterflies in the stomach," the psychologist said.

What will be the future direction of human sexuality?

Well, you will have to read my next article on technological revolutionary changes that will impact the future of human sexuality as virtual and visual sexual stimulation attacks the human brain: for more pleasure that is.