‘PETTING’
Petting is an American word which is accepted in most English-speaking countries. It implies that the couple extend their sexual arousal to an increased excitement through extensive touching, particularly of the perceived erotic areas of the body. Depending on the degree of sexual inhibitions of each partner, the areas touched may be limited, but in ‘heavy’ petting all parts of the body are touched, and one or both partners is helped to orgasm by the other, but sexual intercourse does not take place. In recent years, the extent of petting has been reduced, as more young people accept sexual intercourse as a normal expression of enjoyment between two aroused people.
In spite of this change, petting continues to have a useful place in the sexual development of young people. It gives them the opportunity to explore each other’s bodies, including the genitals, and it helps them to interact emotionally with each other. It teaches them to learn more about their own and their partner’s erotic body areas; and if they are able to talk to each other, to learn about each other’s response to touch. It helps them to communicate with each other sexually. It makes each more sensuous, sensitive, and receptive to the other’s sexual needs.
As sexual intercourse is prohibited in petting, petting helps men, particularly, to learn the enjoyment of ‘mutual’ pleasuring of body and mind, and to avoid the conventional male myth that the objective of sex is to ‘get it in, get it off, and get it out’.
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