Final answer:
Societies range from sexually restrictive to permissive based on various factors like religion, culture, and media influence. Sweden exemplifies sexual permissiveness with liberal sex education and media policies, while the U.S. maintains a conservative stance with higher disapproval rates for premarital sex.
Step-by-step explanation:
Societies' sexual norms can be either restrictively or permissively oriented based on a plethora of social factors, including religious doctrine, historical precedents, and contemporary cultural attitudes. For example, sexually restrictive societies might place great emphasis on chastity, particularly when considering potential matrimonial partners, as observed in nations like China, Iran, and India. Scandinavia represents the more sexually permissive end of the spectrum, with nations such as Sweden exhibiting liberal attitudes towards sex, including a comprehensive sex education curriculum and fewer restrictions on sexual media content. This openness is associated with lower rates of social issues such as teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
In the United States, sexual attitudes tend to be comparatively conservative, with more Americans reporting premarital sex as 'always wrong' than the international average. Socialization agents such as family, education systems, peers, media, and religion contribute to the shaping of sexual norms, with religion historically being a huge influence, though media and peer influence are now also significantly strong, especially among U.S. teens. All societies have some shared sexual norms, like the incest taboo, although the specifics may differ from one culture to another.