More Than Just Physical—What is Sexual Well-Being?

By: Oscar - stock.adobe.com

Most people, when you ask them about sexual health, assume you’re talking about whether or not you have STIs or if you use condoms. It makes sense; many folks don’t have access to quality sexual health education, and when they do, it can be highly restricted, so folks only know abstinence or condoms as safe sex options.  

However, there’s actually a lot more to sexual health than just the physical stuff. It’s important to take care of the physical parts of your sexual health, of course, no matter what that looks like—whether you’re on PrEP or using condoms or whatever. But, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), sexual health is “a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.” [1] 

What does that even mean? 

Well, it means that sexual health is about more than not having diseases, dysfunctions, or other issues: it’s also about feeling good, safe, and confident in your sexuality in a space that you feel empowered in. And it’s also about having the potential for pleasure.  

Unfortunately, it can be really hard to make sure you have all of these different parts of sexual health up and running, because we live in a world that contains a lot of stigma about sex and sexuality. We’re taught to hide our bodies, keep our sex lives a secret, and focus on using sex to reproduce. Sex for pleasure, fun, and intimacy is discouraged in so many cultures, and talking about sex is often met with pearl-clutching from anyone in the area. 

Some people argue that not talking about sex discourages people from having it, so therefore, you’re “protecting” people from bad sexual health outcomes. That’s absolute nonsense. People who want to have sex are going to have sex regardless of whether they’ve talked with other people about it—and because they don’t feel safe talking about it, they’re not only going to lack techniques to keep themselves safe physically, but they’re also going to struggle with the emotional, mental, and social well-being aspects of sexual health. In the case that something does go wrong, they may internalize the consequences and experience harm in other areas of their life, too.

Focusing on multiple aspects of sexual health is a crucial part of improving life outcomes. People who want to have sex will have sex, regardless of whether they feel they’re allowed to or not. If we take a more open approach to talking about sex, folks will have a stronger sense of emotional, mental, and social well-being in their sex lives, leading to healthier, happier people—and in the long run, there’ll be less pain and plenty more pleasure.   

Like this article? Read more about PrEP, LGBTQ+ Health, community, and other fun stuff on our blog.  

[1] https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research-(srh)/areas-of-work/sexual-health