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A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding Human sexuality, and define normal sexuality to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific age criteria, consanguinity (vs. incest), race/ethnicity (vs. miscegenation), and/or social role and socioeconomic status.
In most societies, the term normal identifies a range or spectrum of behaviors. Rather than each act being simply classified as "acceptable" or "not acceptable", many acts are viewed as "more or less accepted" by different people, and the opinion on how normal or acceptable they are greatly depends on the individual making the opinion as well as the culture itself. Based on information gained from sexology studies, a great many ordinary people's sex lives are very often quite different from popular beliefs about normal, in private.
If non-restrictive sexual norms are regarded positively, they may be called " sexual freedom", "sexual liberation" or "free love". If they are regarded negatively, they may be called "sexual licence" or "licentiousness". Restrictive social norms, if judged negatively, are called sexual oppression. If the restrictive norms are judged positively, they may be regarded as encouraging chastity, "sexual self-restraint" or "sexual decency", and negative terms are used for the targeted sexuality, e.g. sexual abuse and perversion.
This liberalization of attitudes has resulted in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in many countries, following the ground-breaking Wolfenden report in the United Kingdom.
There is a tendency in Western countries towards serial monogamy as a normal heterosexual lifestyle. There is also a movement towards recognizing long-term homosexual relationships ( see same-sex marriage).
There is also greater acceptance of sexual relationships (partnerships) without requiring the sanction of a form of marriage recognised by the church, state or legal system.
These liberalizing trends can be contrasted with conservatism social trends that seek to reverse these patterns of behaviour, with encouragement for young people to choose traditionally accepted roles, beliefs and behaviors, and to exercise sexual abstinence or non-promiscuity lifestyles before marriage.
There is an opposing trend in reaction, that views such changes as a socially destructive force, and is opposed to them. It is often, though not exclusively, associated with people who have religious beliefs, and is prevalent in much of Christianity in America, as well as Islam in the Middle East and Asia, and other devout religious groups such as Haredi Judaism in Israel. In such countries there is often strong criticism of non-traditional sexualities and sexual liberation.
Some social unrest in both Eastern and Western cultures is due to this conflict between these two trends, and views upon acceptability and control of social and sexual norms.
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