Sexual Pleasure Matters - and How to Define and Assess It Too. A Conceptual Framework of Sexual Pleasure and the Sexual Response.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Sexual pleasure is central to current understandings of sexual function, health, and wellbeing. In this article, we suggest that we lack a sufficiently specific, yet encompassing, definition of sexual pleasure and that we therefore lack comprehensive assessments of sexual pleasure. We introduce a definition of sexual pleasure and position it centrally in an adapted framework of the sexual response. In the framework, we include a taxonomy of rewards which can be retrieved from sex and thereby aim to capture the multifaceted nature of sexual pleasure.

Methods/results

Through narrative review, we arrive at the definition, framework, and taxonomy by integrating theories of sexual motivation and response with the literature on sexual pleasure and basic rewards. We posit

SUBMITTER: Werner M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10903685 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature