Female Sexuality Research Articles

How does surgery influence female sexuality in patients with endometriosis compared to those with other benign gynecological conditions?

BackgroundEndometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent, benign condition, affecting 10–15% of women of reproductive age. It is associated with a prevalence of sexual dysfunction that is nearly twice as high as that seen in women with other benign gynecological conditions. Our study aimed to assess the effect of surgical intervention on sexual function, as measured by the FSFI (Female Sexual Function Index) score, in women with endometriosis compared to those with other benign gynecological conditions, both before and after surgery.MethodsA comparative analysis was conducted at the Medical University of Vienna from 2015 to 2020. The study included patients suspected of having endometriosis, fibroids, adnexal cysts, and/or infertility. Based on findings during surgery, patients were categorized into two groups: those with endometriosis (n = 64) and control patients (n = 38). All participants completed the FSFI questionnaire before surgery and again 8 to 18 weeks after the operation.ResultsNo significant differences were observed in the preoperative FSFI scores between the endometriosis patients and the control group. Similarly, no significant differences were found between the two groups in postoperative scores. However, in women diagnosed with endometriosis, surgical removal of endometriotic lesions significantly increased their full-scale FSFI score, and resulted in a significant improvement in the areas “desire” and “satisfaction”. Improvements were noted in all other areas as well, though they were not statistically significant.ConclusionsOur research indicates that the surgical removal of endometriotic lesions can lead to an improvement in sexual function, as measured by the FSFI, within 8 to 18 weeks post-surgery. This improvement was not observed in the control group, which underwent surgery for other benign gynecological issues.

Kui keha kõneleb. Margit Lõhmuse „Sterne” kui vastuhakk normile

When the body speaks. Margit Lõhmus’ Sterne as a challenge to the norm Keywords: feminism, transgressive literature, women’s writing, prose, queer literature Margit Lõhmus’ book Sterne has received attention for its portrayal of the female body and sexuality, which are presented in a hyperbolic and sometimes caricatured way, departing from conventional norms. This allows the book to be placed within the context of queer literature, understood here as literature that challenges norms. In Sterne, gender identity often does not conform to the expectations of heteronormativity, and gender is not simply divided into male and female. Queerness is also evident in the unexpected sources of pleasure, the characters’ appearances, and the depiction of bodies and relationships. Lõhmus intentionally employs obscene language, focusing on women’s bodily experiences and perspectives on the body and sexuality. Sexual encounters are frequently described as empty or disturbing, while a sense of wholeness is found in solitude. Sex with men is often depicted as alienating. In Sterne, the body is presented outside traditional heteronormative frameworks, with sexual pleasure and arousal occurring in non-sexual situations. Humour plays a significant role, especially through surprising metaphors and self-irony. The book’s transgressive nature is also reflected in its form, as Sterne employs colloquial language to ensure the authenticity of the characters and convey their personal worldview. In some stories, Lõhmus’ style mimics online communication, omitting punctuation and using lowercase letters to emphasize linguistic freedom and the contrast between imagination and reality. The book shifts between seriousness, irony, and grotesque scenes, challenging traditional gender roles and literary conventions. Through this, Lõhmus introduces into Estonian literature a queer work where gender is non-binary, and sexuality is freed from heteronormative constraints.

Pelvic floor-related sexual functioning in the first 24 months postpartum: Findings of a large cross-sectional study.

The pelvic floor is exposed to differing stresses and trauma depending on the mode of birth. At the same time, the pelvic floor plays a crucial role in female sexual functioning (FSF). Whereby FSF encompasses different dimensions, from subjective satisfaction to physiological aspects, such as lack of pain and orgasm ability. The aim of the study presented here is to assess FSF in relationship to postpartum pelvic floor disorder based on the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire, IUGA-Revised (PISQ-IR), in a large convenience sample and to identify whether there is an association between mode of birth as well as perineal injuries and FSF of women up to 24 months postpartum. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey and recruited via social media women up to 24 months after birth of their last child. FSF was surveyed using the PISQ-IR. Details were also collected on all previous births and birth-related perineal trauma, as well as current breastfeeding, obesity, and socio-demographics. Multivariate models were then calculated to determine a possible association between FSF and birth mode. The data basis is the responses of 2106 survey participants within the first 24 months postpartum. Even 12-24 months postpartum, 21% of respondents are not sexually active, which burdens almost 44% of these women. With regard to mode of delivery, differences in FSF are only evident in individual dimensions of the PISQ-IR. The dimensions "Condition Impact" and "Condition Specific" were significantly associated with more impairments in sexually active respondents up to 12 months postpartum whose last mode of delivery was forceps or vacuum extraction. If a perineal tear had occurred during last birth, this was significantly associated with a lower PISQ-IR subscore in the "Condition Impact," "Condition-Specific," "Global Quality," "Partner-Related," and "Arousal" models. The low variance explanation shows that further relevant factors on female sexuality may exist. The issue of impairments in FSF following childbirth, persisting for an extended period of time, is a significant postpartum concern. Due to the very different dimensions of FSF, the influence of the mode of delivery must be considered in a differentiated way.

‘When extramarital sex threatens patriarchy’: the iwushi-miri rite among Mgbowo women of southeastern Nigeria

This study argues that not every instance of extramarital sexual intercourse among the Igbo women of southeastern Nigeria is adulterous. Using the sex-related rite of iwushi-miri (pouring of water) among the Mgbowo women of southeastern Nigeria (Igboland) as an example, the study explores the different means that the women have used in negotiating extramarital relationships, and sexual behaviours in the traditional, colonial and Christian patriarchal environments. The study brings together both ethnographic and feminist cultural resistance research to appraise the distinctions between punishable and culturally permitted extramarital sexual practices, and to highlight the role that extramarital sexual culture played in resisting the patriarchal domination of female sexuality in the age of empire. It also explores the challenges and the responses of Mgbowo women in negotiating extramarital relationships in a modern-day patriarchal setting. It sets out to explore how women’s sex power, agency and influence have been silenced in the colonial archives and mainstream scholarship. Through semi-structured interviews, the analysis of material culture, and participant observation, this study provides insight into traditional sexual culture(s), marital intercourse, and sex-related rituals among Mgbowo women.

Queering Authoritarianism in Uganda: Dissident Sexualities and Tropical African [anti]-Aesthetics in Stella Nyanzi’s No Roses from my Mouth

In this article, I argue that queering female sexualities as ‘dissident sexualities’ Stella Nyanzi in her collection of prison poems, No Roses from My Mouth (2020), harnesses the aesthetics of radical rudeness (insults) through expressions of humor, innuendo, and anecdote grounded in the Baganda cultural repertoire, to critique President Yoweri Museveni’s authoritarian regime in Uganda. Her poetry draws attention to queer sexualities grounded in stylistics of dissent. Humor in the prison poems allows Nyanzi to develop an audacity that alludes to the authenticity of her queer consciousness. To this end, the article teases out how radical rude poetics, a corollary of tropical [anti]-aesthetics, affords Nyanzi a literary platform to manipulate pejorative imagery, libidinous metaphors, subversive phrases, and lewd expressions entrenched in humor as political protest. More evocatively, the article asserts that within the context of tropicality, radical rudeness as pan-Africa’s anti-aesthetic response to the Western (English) culture of politeness is focused upon in No Roses from My Mouth as a literary fuse that expands tropical aesthetic’s critique of colonialism/postcolonialism in Africa to poetically confront authoritarianism in Uganda.

Male and female sexuality between nature and culture

Not available.

Reclaiming Desire and Defying Conventions: An Analysis of Female Sexuality in Mrs Dalloway and the God of Small Things

The paper offers a detailed analysis of the complexities of female sexuality in Mrs Dalloway and The God of Small Things from a feminist perspective. It investigates how female protagonists overcome and defy societal norms and expectations concerning their sexual desires. The obstacles of conventional sexual norms align with the ‘repressive hypothesis’, coined by Michele Foucault in The History of Sexuality which posits that the modern discourse on sexuality is characterized by repression. This theory is used to depict how societal repression shapes and is shaped by the narratives of Clarissa and Ammu. The paper is qualitative and uses close textual analysis as an analytical tool. For the study, primary data were collected from textbooks, and secondary sources including various books, websites, articles, and journals were used to gather secondary data. The clear finding is that Clarissa has a sexual desire for Sally which is not accepted by post world war British society and Ammu, being a divorcee and upper-class woman, reclaims her sexual agency and attempts to fulfill her sexual desire by making a romantic relationship with Velutha which is prohibited in the post-colonial Indian society. Through the blending of sexual desires with more general societal issues like race, class, and cultural identities, both novels deconstructed conventional depictions of female sexuality. Thus, the study contributes to the ongoing conversation on the role of women’s sexual desires and their place in a postmodern world where autonomy, self-expression, and the deconstruction of conventional norms are of paramount importance.

Innervation pattern and fiber counts of the human dorsal nerve of clitoris

Even tough clitoris plays a critical role in female sexuality, we lack a precise understanding of qualitative and quantitative aspects of the innervation of the human clitoris. To address this issue, we dissected human clitorides from body donors and imaged them after staining with iodine with microCT for a macroscopic analysis. To resolve innervation patterns at the microscopic level we prepared thin sections of clitorides and stained them with trichrome azan to reveal the tissue structure combined with immunocytochemistry against Neurofilament H antibodies to reveal all axons and luxol blue labeling to reveal myelinated axons. We find the clitoral branch of pudendal nerve that innervates the clitoris not as single nerve, but as number of loose bundles. In the crus of the clitoris, about 12 such bundles can be recognized while about 32 bundles are present in the clitoral hemi-body. We counted on avarage 2917 axons in the crus of the clitoris (76% of which are myelinated) and 3137 axons in the hemibody of the clitoris (71% of which are myelinated). While the human clitoris receives only one third of the number of axons that innervate the human penis, an estimate of innervation density (per surface area) revealed that clitoris has approximately 6 times denser innervation compared to the penis. Thus, our study combines histology with microCT analysis provides detailed information on the number, myelination and innervation density of dorsal nerve of clitoris.

Hybrid high and low molecular weight chains of hyaluronan for clitoral injection is an effective modality treatment for increasing female sexual satisfaction: an interventional, randomized-controlled parallel study.

Hormonal, behavioral, psychological, surgical, and pharmacopsychological treatment approaches contribute to female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Aim: The study is conducted to assess the effectiveness of hyaluronan high and low molecular weight hybrid cooperative complexes (hybrid H-HA/L-HA) in treating females with SD and to compare the female sexual function index (FSFI), dermatological life quality index (DLQI), and female genital self-image scale (FGSIS) before and after therapy. We divided the 60 female participants into two groups. Hybrid H-HA/L-HA was administered to form pili of 0.25cc around the clitoris in the direction of clock positions of 12, 3, 6, and 9. In Skene's gland; 0.25cc for each and 0.5cc into the corpus/body of the clitoris. Two treatments were held 30days apart.The same procedure was repeated on the control group, but with saline as a placebo. Women completed self-report questionnaires assessing sexual functioning using the FSFI, DLQI, and FGSIS before and after therapy. There was a significant (P= 634.152; P< .05) increase in the study group's weekly sexual interactions compared with the controls. The study group showed statistically significant amelioration in desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction domains, overall score, and a decrease in pain following the first and second injection sessions (P= .014, .031, .003, .001, .011, .004, and .011, respectively). A comparison of the results between the two groups revealed significant improvement were found (P= .025).There were significant improvements in the domains of the FGSIS compared with the controls (P= .026). The study group showed a substantial improvement in satisfaction with the way their genital area looked, comfort level when allowing a sexual partner to view their genital area, belief that their genitals smell perfectly fine without being self-conscious about them, and overall score (P= .022, .031, .003, .001, and .004, respectively) (P< .05).The hybrid H-HA/L-HA sessions resulted in significantly greater positive perceptions and feelings, leisure activities, interpersonal interactions, and general assessments (P= .021, .021, and .020, respectively) (P< .05). Female individuals with SD experience sexual improvements after hybrid H-HA/L-HA injection. This is the first study focusing on female individuals with SD. We recommend conducting the study on a larger population and including their partners. Hybrid H-HA/L-HA injection for rejuvenating the clitoral injection appears to be a reliable and safe method for enhancing female genital self-image, sexuality, and quality of life.

The impact of gynecologic cancer on female sexuality in Europe and MENA (Middle East and North Africa): a literature review.

Gynecologic cancer has a negative impact on the sexuality of women who are or have been affected by this disease. In fact, gynecologic cancers cause negative changes in female sexuality, affecting body image and psychophysical well-being, with serious consequences for women's sex lives. The aim of this study is to analyze the differences in sexuality among women who have or have had gynecologic cancer in Europe and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We also explored possible factors that may influence women's sexuality in the 2 populations compared. The literature search was carried out using PubMed and Google Scholar, considering the 10-year period of 2013 to 2023. Studies were initially selected according to the criterion that the title and abstract were in English. We then reviewed all the articles selected in the first phase and analyzed the following information: author, year of publication, type of gynecologic cancer, country in which the study was conducted, design, and materials used. Finally, we defined the inclusion criteria for the present paper: women 18years of age or older, diagnosed with gynecologic cancer, and who had undergone treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). The studies reviewed were conducted between 2013 and 2023 in Europe and MENA, and all analyzed sexual function after the disease, understood as a general dimension that includes physiological and psychological aspects. The results of this research show that patients in both geographical areas (Europe and MENA) report changes in sexuality as a result of the cancer. Studies show that cancer reduces, interrupts, and impairs women's sexual activity, resulting in experiences of discomfort, anxiety, guilt, inadequacy, pain, and poorer quality of life. The data analyzed in this review show that cancer causes changes and deterioration in sexuality in both populations studied. No cultural or social factors were found to cause differences between the variables studied in the 2 populations. In the future, it may be interesting to carry out further studies to improve the treatment of women with gynecologic cancer, as sexuality is a very important part of a person's life.

The Cultural Paradox of All-Male Performance: (Dis)Figuring the Third Beauty in the Studio Life’s Twelfth Night

The aim of this article is to explore the ambiguous and unstable boundaries of gender images depicted in Studio Life’s Twelfth Night (2011) where male actors perform female characters similar to the practice on the Shakespearean stage. As Akira Uno, one of the influential illustrators of Japanese shōjo manga, participated in designing the stage set, costumes, and make-up of the characters, the production presents the effect of “the third beauty.” This is characterised by both masculine and feminine attributes while simultaneously being neither masculine nor feminine. This unique feature reflects the position of women in modern Japanese society, where representations of female gender and sexuality are often marginalised and oppressed under the male-dominated social atmosphere. Consequently, the image of female gender has been rigidly fixed and stereotyped according to traditional norms. In this setting, the effeminate and beautiful boys in an exotic place become surrogates for females, who can freely explore their gender and sexual identity within the illusory world, where both homoerotic and heterosexual relationships are explored. Studio Life’s Twelfth Night reflects this illusion by adapting the styles of shōjo manga, but the production seldom offers critical insights or questions on gender issues, especially in the context of the realities faced by Japanese women in daily life. This article examines descriptions of female characters performed by male actors and interviews with the director, Kurata Jun. The main focus is on how the artists perceive and express the concept of gender in relation to Japanese social conditions, demonstrated through their physical portrayals and gestures in all-male casting.

FIGIJ and NASPAG Advocacy Statement-Eliminating the Persistent Misconception of the “Virgin Hymen”

This advocacy statement endeavors to clarify the concept of the hymen as a symbol of “virginity”. The anatomic variants of this structure precludes any correlation to prior sexual activity and the value of physical assessment of this structure is thus questioned. Moreover, physical examination of the hymen is painful, traumatic and humiliating and is a form of gender-based violence. This statement exhorts various sectors–governments, educators, the medical community and the general public—to discard the concept of the “virgin hymen”, avoid its use when documenting sexual abuse, and provide progressive education to affirm female sexuality.

Female sexual Objectification Among Gay Men: Neural and Cultural Insights

Research on sexual objectification has mostly taken a heterosexual perspective and has studied gay men to understand when they become victims rather than agents of this phenomenon. In three studies we investigated gay men as agents of sexual objectification and the underlying motives that guide their biased perceptions. In Study 1, using electroencephalography, gay men showed to objectify women more than men. In Study 2a and Study 2b, results confirmed this tendency and demonstrated that exposure to sexually objectified depictions of women on content-rather than relational-based (social) media was positively related to the sexual objectification of women. Media exposure to female sexualization can increase and explain why women remain the target of sexual objectification regardless of one’s sexual orientation.

Pubic hair removal methods and associated factors on female sexuality in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

Background Pubic hair removal (PHR) is a popular practice among women. They remove pubic hair by different methods, usually for visual, esthetic, or psycho-sexual aspects, as being more attractive and feminine to affect their sexual life. Objectives To assess the impact of different methods of PHR on sexual function among sexually active females in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt. And to understand factors affecting the choice of methods used in this grooming practice. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study included 500 sexually active women who completed the study structured questionnaire, which included demographics, reproductive and medical history data, assessment of sexual function in the past 4 weeks using Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), PHR items, and the Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale-9 in the last 2 weeks. Results Almost all the participants (99.2%) preferred to remove pubic hair, and the most frequently mentioned method is shaving and creams (43.8%). The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction was 50.5% of our participants. There was a significant difference in the mean FSFI scores between different methods of PHR; with laser, users, had higher FSFI scores of arousal, lubrication, and satisfaction domains (P&lt;0.05). Wax or sweet users and laser users were more satisfied with their body image than shaving users. Conclusions Female sexual dysfunction is a widespread problem; it may result in depression and may be affected by the type of method used for PHR. Laser users had better sexual functions than users of other methods.

Is It Lonely (T)here? Intramurals, Black (W)holes, and Black Feminism

This essay employs the autotheoretical critique of the university and celestial cartography pioneered in Evelynn Hammonds’s “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality” to understand the dynamic relationship between the silencing of black academics and black women/feminists in various sites of the neoliberal university. Narrating two experiences at Ivy League institutions, this essay meditates on the voids created and inhabited when the gravity of black study’s insistence on blackness as essential to the construction of modernity collapsed into and under the name of Afropessimism. The essay interrogates how looking for the distortion of the academic spaces that surround and engage black thought—namely, American studies, ethnic studies, and women and gender studies—renders visible (presuming we have the right instruments) the production of black (w)holes. Finally, it is interested in how the black intramural’s gender dynamics and the heteropatriarchy of its surrounds continue to silence black feminists.

Black (W)holes: A Problem for Feminist Thought

Ever since the publication of Evelynn Hammonds’s rejoinder to the evolving discussion of (white) queer studies (differences 1994), we have struggled to think about black female sexuality and how it matters to our understandings of prevailing tropes of feminism. The author of this essay writes across three registers: the first addresses what contemporary discoveries about black holes attempt to tell us about “matter,” or what matters; the second is what Hammonds sought to disrupt or prove impossible in her essay; and the third is a meditation on the place of “elementary particles” in the physics—the possible rupture of time and space—of Hammonds’s work and the work of the late Randall Kenan in his short experimental piece “Chinquapin: Elementary Particles.”

Suturing the (W)holes: Erotic Freedom and Reflections on Black Female Sexuality

This article reflects on the impact of Evelynn Hammonds’s seminal essay “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality” to theorize how suturing might present an apt method for considering the complexities and contradictions of Black female sexuality. This essay takes up Hammonds’s charge to develop a “politics of articulation” to reveal how Black and Latinx transwomen in the Emmy-award-winning series Pose (as represented by Angel Evangelista, Elektra Abundance, and Blanca Evangelista) and Black motherhood in P-Valley (as represented by the relationship between Mercedes and her daughter Terricka) expose the embodied complexities and contradictions of Black female sexuality. The author aims to demonstrate how suturing these two seemingly antagonistic ways of understanding Black female sexuality remains key to a politics of articulation because they conjure idiosyncratic visions of erotic freedom not reliant on negation.

Black Gravity, or a Hidden History of Empire

This essay takes this occasion—the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Evelynn Hammonds’s germinal essay “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality”—as an opportunity to explore the turn to spacetime and astrophysics in Black feminist writing and scholarship. This understudied tradition has unfolded concurrently alongside the rise of maritime and aquatic metaphors in Black studies. Focusing on the image of the black hole, the essay argues that this metaphor operates as a stimulus for confronting disciplinary objects of anxiety in Black studies, Caribbean studies, physics, and Black feminist studies. By analyzing origin stories that surround the moniker black hole in physics, the essay shows how imperial violence and notions of Black gender and sexual alterity suffused the term from its inception in the world of physics—a history that Black feminist theorists call to memory and challenge in their redeployment of the image.

“Black (W)holes” and the Propagation of New Possibilities

The starting point of this essay is the author’s acknowledgment that Evelynn Hammonds’s “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality” has been a throughline for her scholarly and personal development. That relationship to Hammonds’s text and its author shifts, and the changing nature of these connections marks important milestones in Bailey’s academic and adult life. The essay waxes poetic about the substance of Hammonds’s “Black (W)holes” as its meanings exceed its arguments: its very writing serves as a possibility model both in terms of the kind of scholarship Bailey imagined she could write and the kind of life she could live as one keen to bridge Black feminism and medicine. “Black (W)holes” is one of the first academic writings where Bailey saw herself reflected, both in the content presented and in the identities held by Hammonds. Black alphabet children of Spelman College, straddling the line between medical science and feminism, Hammonds and Bailey have much in common. Hammonds’s essay inspired Bailey to want to get to know the now legendary alumna, and this essay recounts how she embarked on a campaign to do so.

The Black (W)hole of Dysphoria

This essay returns to Evelynn Hammonds’s field-changing essay “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality,” with a focus on the labor of knowledge production under fraught institutional conditions, characterized in this essay as languaging. The simultaneous desire for and impossibility of accurate language to describe racialized, gendered, and sexual subjectivity drive Hammonds’s essay as well as a number of other key texts in Black feminist sexuality studies. This essay (re)introduces the diagnostic category of dysphoria to speak to this paradox: here, dysphoria describes the affective and psychic condition of institutional illegibility and fungibility for racialized and gendered people. Using the analytic of dysphoria to characterize and connect the political economy of Black feminist knowledge production and the life narrative of A. Dionne Stallworth, a Black trans woman activist, this essay directs urgent attention to the simultaneously material, spiritual, psychic, and affective dimensions of self-, knowledge-, and world-making.