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Human Copulation

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Copulate; Mate; Sex; Sexual intercourse

Definition

Both copulation and sexual intercourse have been used to refer to penetrative, heterosexual sexual activity, that is: penile-vaginal sex. Here, however, the term “copulation” will refer to both penetrative (i.e., vaginal or anal sex) as well as nonpenetrative (e.g., oral sex) forms of intercourse that occur between same-sex and opposite-sex partners.

Introduction

Defining sex is – perhaps surprisingly – the subject of significant debate and disagreement in lay as well as scientific circles. Several works have investigated the ways in which individuals define “sex” or “having had sex” and have arrived at disparate findings, depending on when these attitudes are assessed (Rosenthal 2013), the age of the respondent (Sanders et al. 2010), and even how the question is asked (Peterson and Muehlenhard 2007). This ambiguity is mirrored in the scientific community, where “copulation” and “sex” have been used to refer to exclusively...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lyon College, Batesville, AR, USA

    Lora E Adair

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  1. Lora E Adair
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Correspondence to Lora E Adair .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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Adair, L.E. (2016). Human Copulation. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1890-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1890-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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