Advanced Research in Sexual Pleasure

A special issue of Sexes (ISSN 2411-5118). This special issue belongs to the section "Sexual Behavior and Attitudes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2023) | Viewed by 4250

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 Groningen, The Netherlands
Interests: sexual arousal; unlearning negative emotions; psychophysiology; sexual pain; sexual cohesion in long term couples; sexual creativity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last five years, the concept of sexual pleasure has had a prominent platform in sexual health. In 2019, the World Association of Sexual Health (WAS) defined sexual pleasure as “the physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment derived from shared or solitary erotic experiences, including thoughts, fantasies, dreams, emotions, and feelings” (World Association of Sexual Health, 2019). In The Pursuit of Pleasure, Professor Ellen Laan and colleagues elaborate on this concept and discuss gender differences in experiencing sexual pleasure. For instance, they posit that while women have the same capacity and ability to experience sexual pleasure as men, their opportunities to reach these experiences are often more restricted. Thus, this Special Issue is dedicated to women's sexual pleasure, with an emphasis on owning and enjoying their erotic experiences. Special attention is placed on areas such as pleasure in long-term relationships, the up-regulation of sexual pleasure and excitement, the down-regulation of negative experiences such as shame or perception of pain, and general (sexual) health in individuals as well as couples.

The ultimate goal of this Issue is to utilize the scientific evidence to better understand how relationship dynamics and social norms have contributed to how we experience sexual pleasure.

Dr. Charmaine Borg
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • sexual arousal overriding negative emotions
  • sexual creativity
  • orgasm and sleep
  • relationship cohesion and sexual arousal
  • sexual pleasure in long-term couples

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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22 pages, 1377 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of an Unguided Online Intervention for Sexual Pleasure in Women: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study
by Michèle Borgmann, Lucca Michelle Brandner, Linda Affolter, Julia Vonesch and Stefanie Gonin-Spahni
Sexes 2023, 4(1), 133-154; https://doi.org/10.3390/sexes4010012 - 20 Feb 2023
Viewed by 3480
Abstract
The importance of sexual pleasure as a factor promoting sexual and public health is increasingly recognized. Nevertheless, hardly any theory-based and empirically tested interventions exist for fostering sexual pleasure. Consequently, we developed an unguided online intervention called PleaSure to promote sexual pleasure in [...] Read more.
The importance of sexual pleasure as a factor promoting sexual and public health is increasingly recognized. Nevertheless, hardly any theory-based and empirically tested interventions exist for fostering sexual pleasure. Consequently, we developed an unguided online intervention called PleaSure to promote sexual pleasure in women. In a randomized controlled pilot trial with a mixed-method design, we evaluated the effectiveness of PleaSure by comparing the intervention group to a waitlist control group in pre–post measurements over 4 weeks. With 657 participants (Mage = 31.46, SDage = 8.78), we evaluated an index of sexual pleasure and five facets: sensual pleasure, pleasure-related mastery, pleasure-related validation, interaction pleasure, and bonding pleasure. The results show that the online intervention primarily strengthened the intrapersonal domain of sexual pleasure by increasing pleasure-related mastery. Neither the other facets nor the index was significantly influenced by the intervention. Although the effects of the quantitative data are small, the qualitative data support overall positive effects on participants’ sexual experience. We discuss the content of the intervention and the methods used. Our pilot study suggests that sexual pleasure can be promoted but that major improvements are needed to the intervention’s content and design to do so effectively. Therefore, future studies are encouraged to further develop and implement such resource-efficient interventions in clinical and non-clinical samples to better understand the importance of sexual pleasure to sexual health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Sexual Pleasure)
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