The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Sexual pleasure matters (especially for women) - data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD)

Sexual pleasure matters (especially for women) - data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD)
Sexual pleasure matters (especially for women) - data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD)

Introduction: sexual pleasure has been a neglected issue in sexual health policies. Emerging trends in public health, however, emphasize the importance of sexual pleasure in preventing negative sexual health outcomes. 

Methods: using data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD), we tested the assumption that sexual pleasure is associated with sexual health, including a special focus on the role of gender. Participants were interviewed about their sexual experiences and health between October 2018 and September 2019. The analytical sample included 3472 partnered and single women and men who had been sexually active with a partner in the past 12 months. We examined if sexual pleasure was associated with various sexual health indicators (i.e., communication about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), condom use, and absence of sexual problems). 

Results: women reported less sexual pleasure than men. Results further indicate that sexual pleasure was associated with more sexual health indicators in women than in men. 

Conclusions: supporting emerging trends in public health our results emphasize the importance of sexual pleasure in preventing negative sexual health outcomes. Policy Implications. To promote (especially women’s) sexual health, our results call for the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education programs that focus on more positive aspects of sex, such as sexual pleasure and agency.

Gender differences, Representative data, Sexual health, Sexual pleasure, Sexuality
1868-9884
1879-1887
Klein, Verena
ae0b3b07-e55d-4793-bdc0-ceea23f00b9e
Laan, Ellen
db16556e-a6a5-42e3-bb80-8b3e582f9993
Brunner, Franziska
5d2ba8dd-9c22-498b-b604-e2310b7d3c1a
Briken, Peer
ecffa123-808f-4e4d-9f88-79e9de331943
Klein, Verena
ae0b3b07-e55d-4793-bdc0-ceea23f00b9e
Laan, Ellen
db16556e-a6a5-42e3-bb80-8b3e582f9993
Brunner, Franziska
5d2ba8dd-9c22-498b-b604-e2310b7d3c1a
Briken, Peer
ecffa123-808f-4e4d-9f88-79e9de331943

Klein, Verena, Laan, Ellen, Brunner, Franziska and Briken, Peer (2022) Sexual pleasure matters (especially for women) - data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD). Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 19 (4), 1879-1887. (doi:10.1007/s13178-022-00694-y).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Introduction: sexual pleasure has been a neglected issue in sexual health policies. Emerging trends in public health, however, emphasize the importance of sexual pleasure in preventing negative sexual health outcomes. 

Methods: using data from the German Sexuality and Health Survey (GeSiD), we tested the assumption that sexual pleasure is associated with sexual health, including a special focus on the role of gender. Participants were interviewed about their sexual experiences and health between October 2018 and September 2019. The analytical sample included 3472 partnered and single women and men who had been sexually active with a partner in the past 12 months. We examined if sexual pleasure was associated with various sexual health indicators (i.e., communication about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), condom use, and absence of sexual problems). 

Results: women reported less sexual pleasure than men. Results further indicate that sexual pleasure was associated with more sexual health indicators in women than in men. 

Conclusions: supporting emerging trends in public health our results emphasize the importance of sexual pleasure in preventing negative sexual health outcomes. Policy Implications. To promote (especially women’s) sexual health, our results call for the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education programs that focus on more positive aspects of sex, such as sexual pleasure and agency.

Text
s13178-022-00694-y - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (677kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 28 January 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 February 2022
Published date: December 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The study was funded by the German Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) (Grant numbers: Z2/25.5.2.1/18; Z2/25.5.2.1/20). This project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 845508 awarded to Verena Klein.
Keywords: Gender differences, Representative data, Sexual health, Sexual pleasure, Sexuality

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 474039
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474039
ISSN: 1868-9884
PURE UUID: eb8db3fb-3b98-4af9-b7e9-9670772a19ab
ORCID for Verena Klein: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5830-7991

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Feb 2023 17:51
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:16

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Verena Klein ORCID iD
Author: Ellen Laan
Author: Franziska Brunner
Author: Peer Briken

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×