Efforts to make sex safer almost always focus on the bad stuff: what to do to avoid a terrible infection or potentially deadly virus. They rarely acknowledge the good things: usually the reason people have sex in the first place.
And that is why safe sex campaigns worldwide are not as effective as they could be.
Research shows that when safe-sex campaigns acknowledge pleasure—by talking about sex as something that makes life good, or by showing how condoms can be erotic—more people use a condom the next time they have sex.
That’s what the World Health Organization and a non-governmental organization called the Pleasure Project found when they reviewed the results of safer sex trials and experiments conducted over the past 15 years. They evaluated more than 7,000 interventions in terms of their treatment of pleasure (and the lack thereof).
“Sexual health education and services have traditionally promoted safer sex practices by focusing on risk reduction and disease prevention, without recognizing how safer sex can also promote intimacy, pleasure, consent and well-being” said Lianne Gonsalves, a co-author of the study and an epidemiologist. “Shows that better reflect the reasons people have sex, including for pleasure, see better health outcomes.”
The stakes are high. Sexually transmitted infections are increasing around the world. Globally, 1.5 million people were diagnosed with HIV in 2021, a rate of new infections that has remained almost unchanged for the past four years. Taking a daily pill known as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, offers promise to prevent some infections, but condoms remain a simple and safe way to do it — when used.
There are some advances. In September, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world’s largest sexual and reproductive health organization, endorsed the so-called Pleasure Principles, guidelines for centering enjoyment in healthy sex. It was the first time that a world sexual health organization explicitly adopted the word “pleasure”.
Why, given the millions of dollars spent globally each year on safer sex, is the goal of sex left off the agenda?
“The big elephant in the room that no one wants to make eye contact with is the reason people have sex in the first place. We’re all just going to act like it’s just for breeding purposes. As long as people have been alive, they have had sex for pleasure, but the international development world is not having that conversation,” said Sonali Silva, who did advocacy work for the Pleasure Project in Sri Lanka.
Mahmoud Garga of the International Planned Parenthood Federation recently launched a social media campaign called “Treasure Your Pleasure”. It was designed for East Africa, but he and his colleagues were asked to expand it to Southeast Asia.
“We want to disprove the myth that sexual pleasure is a Western issue that tries to be imposed on other cultures,” Garga said. “It’s just not true. I’m Egyptian, so I’m familiar with Arabic literature, and there was just this erotic poetry story.”
He added: “Using a condom frees up your mind to feel pleasure.”
By: STEPHANIE NOLEN
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6493101, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-12-14 00:00:07
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