Category: Sexuality

Being sexually healthy begins before sexual activity takes place and may include learning about your sexual and reproductive organs, going through the changes of puberty, learning to deal with the menstrual cycle, and so on. Young children learn about their sexual organs through exploration and may begin stimulating them because it brings them pleasure. This type of exploration is quite normal.

After puberty and sexual maturation begins, there may be some changes like ejaculation for people with penises and testes. People will need to learn how to start taking good care of their sexual and reproductive organs (see the Female and Male reproductive system posts). And people will want to develop a healthy sex life . This can include a variety of sexual activity, with other people or not.

Scientists started to study sexual response in the 1950s and 1960s and developed several ways to understand how human bodies react during desire, arousal and orgasm. Read more here – https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/9119-sexual-response-cycle. Often, sexual response starts with desire, which is something that happens in our brains when we think about something arousing, or we feel close to our partner, or we experience sensations (which includes images or sounds) that we find exciting. Other models of sexual response have been proposed since this early research – ones that consider non-linear sexual response and how desire is linked with sexual response.

When we decide to have sex with other people, it is important to communicate about sex and set expectations with each other. People may want to discuss what they like and don’t like, consent, and safer sex. Read more here – https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sex-and-relationships/sex/how-do-i-talk-my-partner-about-sex.

Content warning: abuse and violence

On one side of the relationship spectrum are healthy relationships and on the other are abusive relationships or intimate partner violence (IPV). This type of violence happens in various relationships – family, friend or romantic and is quite common – https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/about/index.html.

IPV can take many forms like physical, verbal or emotional, and sexual violence, and stalking. Other recognized forms include financial control, isolation from family and friends, and monitoring people’s movements and activities. Read about signs of IPV here – https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/domestic-violence/signs-domestic-violence. It is possible to experience IPV in same-sex relationships. Mainly people experience similar signs of IPV, with a few other possibilities like threats to “out you” to your family or telling you that police won’t help people who are LGBTQIA+.

Another common form of interpersonal violence is sexual assault and rape. People of all sexes can experience sexual assault and help is available to all. People often experience feelings of guilt and shame and thus don’t seek help. There are also common myths that people believe about sexual violence – see a list of myths and facts here: https://www.ourresilience.org/what-you-need-to-know/myths-and-facts/.

Both of these types of violence can have a profound effect on people’s health and it is important to prevent them whenever possible through laws, policies, and cultural norms. Teaching kids about consent and bodily autonomy can be a first step in creating healthier relationships in the future.

There are many aspects of sexual identity that are complicated and interrelated, including our biological sex, our gender identity and expression, our attractions and our behaviors.

The gender unicorn shows the complexity of gender, sex, and sexual orientation. Note that sex (what some call biological sex) is not the same as gender and that these are also separate from one’s attraction to others.

Here is a current (though not complete) list of terms that people use in relation to sex, gender, and sexual orientation – https://transstudent.org/about/definitions/

Even something as “simple” as biological sex, or the formation of one’s genitals and gonads, is not as simple as first thought. Scientists have identified many different possibilities that don’t exist on a simple binary of male and female – https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/.

Sex is different from gender and gender identity. People may express their genders in different ways and gender can be outside of the binary of masculine and feminine. However, society endorses certain gender roles and stereotypes that people may adhere to or reject. Sometimes people may feel that their gender identity does not match the biological sex they were assigned at birth – these people often identify as transgender.

Sexual orientation is how we think about our sexual and romantic attractions. Common terms include lesbian, gay, bisexual, straight and others. Orientation may be complicated by attraction versus behavior – some people may act on their attractions, while others may only think about them. Some people may not experience any sexual or romantic attractions and thus may identify as asexual or aromantic.

People who are sexual minorities may face stigma, social isolation, and lack of acceptance by family and friends. This may make them prone to more depression and anxiety, sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and suicide. There may also be legal issues of discrimination or unequal protection under the law.

When people try to prevent or space out pregnancy, they are practicing contraception or birth control. There are several broad categories of birth control. Failure of birth control is measured by what number of people who use this method nevertheless become pregnant. The more a person uses a method of birth control, the more likely failure becomes (since there are several ways to fail to use contraceptive methods correctly). See graphs in this New York Times article showing typical and perfect-use effectiveness for several methods.

Barrier methods of contraception include the condom, the internal condom, the diaphragm, the cervical cap, and the contraceptive sponge. Many of these methods may be used together with spermicide.

Hormonal methods of contraception include the birth control pills, the vaginal ring, the patch, the shot, and the implant. Some intrauterine devices also contain hormones, while one IUD has no hormones and is copper-based.

Behavioral methods include abstinence, withdrawal, and fertility awareness methods.

Surgical methods of contraception are tubal ligation and vasectomy and are usually permanent.

If a person fails to use a contraceptive method or their chosen method fails (e.g. a condom tears), there is emergency contraception, which can be used up to 5 days after. The “morning-after” pill is most effective within 24 hours of unprotected sex.

However, pregnancy can still occur even when using these contraception methods. In that case, people should consider whether they want to continue being pregnant and giving birth. They may also consider abortion. There are two main methods of getting an abortion – the abortion pill, and the in-clinic abortion. There are many limits placed on both of these medical interventions by law, including the length of the pregnancy and the reasons for abortion. This year, the Supreme Court case that kept abortion legal in all states called Roe v. Wade was overturned, and many states have already placed severe limits on this medical procedure, in some cases making it impossible for people to obtain it. This will likely lead to many unwanted pregnancies and births and may result in more difficulties for the pregnant person, including traveling out of state to obtain abortion or trying methods to perform an abortion that may not be medically safe. However, there is wide access to abortion pills and many providers can prescribe these medications early in the pregnancy using telehealth. To read more about ways to access abortion, go here https://www.wired.com/story/guide-abortion-resources-post-roe-america/.