Sexual script theory

Sexual script theory is a sociological theory that states that sexual behavior is socially scripted, meaning that individuals follow social norms that inform their actions and perceptions. Under sexual script theory, different individuals—such as men and women—are assumed to have different expected roles in sexual situations, and to act in alignment with their expected roles.

The term sexual script refers to the social guidelines that dictate, similar to how the script of a play dictates to an actor, how individuals should understand sexual situations, and how they should act in those situations. Individuals may agree or disagree with sexual scripts. Among other influences, these guidelines are shaped by the law, stereotypes (especially gender stereotypes), and media including pornography.

Based in social constructionism, sexual script theory was first developed by American sociologists John H. Gagnon and William Simon in their 1973 book Sexual Conduct. Research on sexual script theory has found that major sexual scripts are gendered, and often especially pertain to adolescents and young adults. Research has also found that sexual scripts can be used to understand issues related to sexual health and consent.

Scripts are social functions that guide individuals' actions and perceptions regarding appropriate behavior. The script is a cognitive schema that instructs people how to understand and act in sexual situations. There may be several people in the same situation, but they may differ in the roles that they have been given or have chosen to enact. Sexual scripts 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. Sexual script theory is founded on the idea that the subjective understandings of each person about their own sexuality substantively determine that person's choice of sexual actions and their subsequent qualitative experience of those sexual acts.

Sexual script theory is based in social constructionism, which posits that "the interpretation of reality, including human behavior, is derived from shared beliefs within a particular social group". In turn, sexual script theory posits that "sexuality is learned from culturally available messages that set guidelines regarding sexual behavior and activities", and that "people learn scripts as a function of being raised in a particular culture". Human sexual behavior and 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.

Gagnon and Simon, who originated sexual script theory, state that "for behavior to occur, something resembling scripting must occur on three distinct levels: cultural scenarios, interpersonal scripts, and intrapsychic scripts." Cultural scenarios, shaped by cultural institutions, provide context for roles. Interpersonal scripts "rest on the roles and general circumstances provided by cultural scenarios"; individuals' interpersonal scripts are created by adapting general cultural guidelines. Intrapsychic scripts "may entail specific plans or strategies for carrying out interpersonal scripts", including "fantasies, memories, and mental rehearsals".

Sexual scripts are shaped by the structure and rules of a society, including marriage laws, vows, and laws against certain sexual behaviors or relationships. In most Western cultures, sexual scripts are "markedly different" for male and female individuals.

Sexual script theory was introduced by American sociologists John H. Gagnon and William Simon in their 1973 book Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality. The theory emerged as a "logical extension" of symbolic interactionism, which "focuses on how meaning is created, modified, and put into action by individuals in the process of social interaction." Gagnon and Simon's work was also preceded by that of sociologist Erving Goffman, who had used dramaturgy to liken human social interaction to the performance of assumed roles in a theatrical production. Simon and Gagnon were also preceded by sex researchers Alfred Kinsey, and Willam Masters and Virginia Johnson.