Am I Normal?

Most of the young people (older people, friends , aquaintances) that know I am a sexologist often ask me THIS question..... " Do you think what I am doing is normal. I just love this question. It opens up such a rich lanscape of possible sexuality dialogue. Sometimes when asked this question I return to my disability days and use the stultifiing language of disability professionals such as ..... " Well... do you mean profoundly normal, moderately normal, or mildly normal"? Of course this allows us to find out what exactly do people mean when they ask this question? Do they really want to be normal or do they want to know that others wont ridicule them or laugh at them or heap shame on them if these others found out about their sexual preferences? Leonore Tiefer wrote a book 'Sex is Not a Natural Act - and Other Essays' in 1995. In this book she talks about normal, and gives 5 types of normal that many people are after. They are:

1. subjectivelly normal


2. statistically normal


3. culturally normal


4. clinically normal


5. idealistically normal

As you can see " Am I normal isnt a clear cut question" HOWEVER workers giving permission for clients to be who they are IS clear cut and may be the best sexual health counselling a person ever receives.