SUMMARY :
The instinctual nature of sexual behavior is examined from the starting point
of neurobiological data. The study mainly relates, in Man, to the analysis of
the innate and specific neurobiological structures and functions which may control
the behavior of reproduction : receivers of stimuli-signals, hardwired neuronal
networks, reflexes specific reproduction behavior, and neurobiological characteristics
of the instinct. Ethologic and ethnological data supplement the neurobiological
analyses.
In conclusion, one observes that mammals have an innate anatomical and physiological
organization specific to reproduction. But at the behavioral level, in Man,
no currently available data makes it possible to validate the assumption of
the existence of a sexual instinct or an instinct of reproduction. On the other
hand, we can observe that there is an innate network of limbic structures which
could be at the origin of the emotional feelings of intense pleasure caused
by certain body stimulations. It would seem that these intense physical pleasures
may be at the origin of the development and the acquisition of the sexual behavior.
It also seems that the vaginal coitus, necessary to the reproduction and the
survival of mankind, depends on specific learning, generally but not obligatorily
carried out during the learning of the various sexual activities.