Sexual assault is the act of violation, a process when two people come in contact of a sexual nature, but one of them does not want this contact to happen. This happens when sexual excitement impairs prefrontal cortex of the offender and experience of dissociative-like symptoms that leaves the person to primitive reflexes. Evolutionary biologist Randy Thornhill and evolutionary anthropologist Craig Palmer theorize that the primary motive behind sexual assault is sex and signifies the inability of the perpetrator to deal with their own emotions for adaptive response.
A study states "successful inhibition of sexual expressions (restrain, cancel, suppress) is a natural and adaptive reaction to contextual factors against the excitatory expressions (initiate, execute, promote), and enables the regulation of sexual behavior, thereby preventing undesired consequences for the individual and for society." Another study states that increased sexual excitation and heightened desire are associated with poorly regulated sexuality, and also found that those with decreased response to humorous stimuli had good regulation.
In some cultures being sexually experienced is a required aspect of psychological maturity to achieve balance in desire, and a person lacking it is subjected to stigmatization. Popularity of online dating applications and their role in the hookup culture of certain societies are an example of it. Improper balancing between inhibitory and excitatory sexual mechanisms results in a maladaptive sexual response or deregulated sexuality and that further results into socially undesirable consequences.