512209-12-1LO AID: 5766 | 6/3/2017
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When a person does not exhibit a deviant or eccentric and unusual behavior it is termed as normality. Normality is also referred to as normalcy. Normality is seen as something good or desirable. And on the contrary, anything bad or undesirable is termed as abnormality.
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Psychopathology pertains to the study of mental disorders. The genetic, biological, social and psychological issues are all studied in psychopathology.
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Any sexual desire or behavior which is a deviation from normal course is a sexual variant. A variant in sex is also known as paraphilia, which indicates a deviant. A person who is a variant in sex gets gratification by unusual sexual experiences. Sexual variants are more in men than in women.
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Having understood the three terms – normality, psychopathology and sexual variant it is evident that defining a boundary between normality and psychopathology in the field of variant sexuality is not an easy task.
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A sexual variant may feel that his/her behavior is perfectly normal and nothing unusual about it. But a psychopathologist may not approve the behavior of a variant as normality.
A variant in sexuality shows intense sexual fantasies or sexual urges. They derive sexual pleasure by making use of inanimate objects. Secondly, they derive pleasure by inducing suffering or humiliation to themselves or their partners. Thirdly, they may derive pleasure by indulging in sex with children or any consenting individual.
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A paraphilic is considered psychopathic even if he does not feel guilty of his acts. A psychopath will take it as an abnormality or a mental disorder. But it is normality for that individual. It is normal method of getting aroused sexually for him/her.
Hence, there is no clear cut boundary that can be defined between normality and psychopathology.