Sex at every size: A content analysis of weight inclusivity in sexual functioning research

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Subject Area

Humans; Body Image (psychology); Orgasm

Abstract

Sexual functioning research has been slow to address sizeism within its volumes. Much of the sexual health science has adopted a weight normative model rather than a weight inclusive model. The purpose of this study was to, through systematic literature review, describe the sexual functioning research landscape with respect to weight inclusivity. The review included three databases (Google Scholar, Medline and Ebsco) between 2010 and 2020. Each article was double coded for weight inclusivity and sexual functioning. Sixty-seven articles met the criteria and were included in analysis. The articles, overall, only endorsed weight inclusive tenets 16 % of the time. Articles were most weight inclusive when discussing sexual satisfaction (22.5 %). Meanwhile, when discussing sexual arousal, the articles were the least weight inclusive (16.7 %). These findings suggest there is needs to be greater education and intention for sex educators, therapists, and clinicians, to explore and enhance body positivity and sexual health.

Publication Title

Body image

Volume

43

First Page

420

Last Page

428

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.10.010

PubMed ID

36345080

E-ISSN

1873-6807

Language

eng

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