Early Images of Sexuality: The Shaping of Desire

Cave paintings clued archeologists and anthropologists in about the nature of early human communication, artistic inclinations, self-expression and proclivity toward storytelling and legacy.

Without them, our understanding of our cave-dwelling past would be fraught with guesswork, unsubstantiated conjecture and vague thoughts about tribal life stemming from modern day observations of forest cultures.

Cave paintings exist today, everywhere, in the unconscious minds of all people. The earliest images and stories we tell ourselves as we're developing, not our race per se, but ourselves, inform all that we do and say for the span of our lifetime.

Therapists mine the cave paintings of our internal landscapes to figure out what our internal stories and images are, how they may or may not misrepresent our true nature, how they help, harm or hinder our sense of value and peace.

Sexuality is part of this inner cave world, and the paintings of sexuality are as potent, vibrant and informative as every other; maybe more so.

For an engaging read about sexual imagery and its effects, follow this link:http://www.cybercollege.com/sexrsh.htm

It is well understood that both boys and girls shape their desire for a perfect body on images they view on television, in movies and in magazines. What is less clear is how sexual images shape our feelings, our internal landscape, our desire. What, for example, causes one woman to love to be courted and chased, and another to be ignored?

What causes one teenage girl to surround herself with boys and another to date one boy for four years and still another to drop out of the game altogether and watch from the sidelines?

Ambivalence in women is intense, profound. The combination of cultural stereotyping, early images which may not yet sit well, and negative experiences from the past can haunt a woman to the point where she prefers not to engage at all.

The following images may have a profound impact on a woman's sexual development and the development of her desire:
1 - parents sexuality or lack of expression of sexuality or overt expression of it
2 - Level of healthy, platonic, warm, loving affection received from caregivers
3 - Relationship with siblings and birth order
4 - Early experiences with masturbation and sexual experimentation
5 - photographs, movies, television and advertisements
6 - same sex role models.

This list could be extended by fifty, but suffice it to say, these six are potent, weighty and significant when it comes to shaping our desire, our sexuality, our sense of ourselves as sexual entities.

One of my favorite movies that sums this up so beautifully is "Meet the Fockers" with Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro. The parents of Ben Stiller, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand are so wantonly expressive in their sexuality, so carefree, uninhibited and loose, that they raise a son who is the very different. He has swung to the opposite branch of the family tree, shaping his sexuality in direct reaction to theirs, growing conservative, playing it safe, embarrassed by their openness, shy, awkward.

In thinking about our own desire, it's important to touch on some of the earliest thoughts, feelings and images we encountered with regard to it. Our cave paintings are our earliest clues about our development.

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• Sexual Health