COVID-19: impact on sexuality.
How can we imagine that the current pandemic and the associated health measures have no impact on the sexuality of populations?
Physical proximity, contact and the exchange of certain fluids are an integral part of sexuality. Apart from members of the same family, a distance of one meter or even two and every other empty seat has become an elementary rule in the few meeting places that are not yet closed ... has no effect on the social, love and sexual life of young and old.
A new paradigm?
An article published in the journal Sexologies takes stock of research in the field of sexuality linked to the COVID-19 epidemic.
He positions what we experience as "the construction and foreshadowing of a new paradigm of sexualities" where, for certain virtual sexual relations, alongside, maintain or presuppose real sexual relations ...
How can we imagine that the current pandemic and the associated health measures have no impact on the sexuality of populations?
Physical proximity, contact and the exchange of certain fluids are an integral part of sexuality. Apart from members of the same family, a distance of one meter or even two and every other empty seat has become an elementary rule in the few meeting places that are not yet closed ... has no effect on the social, love and sexual life of young and old.
A new paradigm?
An article published in the journal Sexologies takes stock of research in the field of sexuality linked to the COVID-19 epidemic.
He positions what we experience as "the construction and foreshadowing of a new paradigm of sexualities" where, for certain virtual sexual relations, alongside, maintain or presuppose real sexual relations ...
An abundant research
In the abundance of medical publications that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have looked at the deleterious consequences of the situation on lifestyles, physical, mental and sexual health. As of December 8, 2020, a Medline search based on the keywords "COVID & Sexual" revealed 381 publications; As of January 4, 2021, the same search indicated 86,170 publications ...
The health and political measures linked to the pandemic impact the entire relationship and sexual life much more than the virus.
A call for publications from the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior offers a look at some of the questions of interest to researchers.
They concern in particular: the impact of the pandemic on sexual and reproductive rights; the consequences on various populations (groups at risk (HIV, STI), young people, women and girls, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, refugees and migrants, the poor, etc.).
They also focus on the impact of social mitigation measures on relationships, including sexual and relationship quality, on mate choice and preferences, on strategies for having sex, on infidelity and relationship. mental health in relation to sexual health.
A discipline still young
Several surveys show that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency and sexual satisfaction decrease significantly, but in a variable way depending on the situation.
Admittedly, the conclusions of these surveys must be considered with caution, because the representativeness of the samples and the choice of criteria (eg frequency of declarations) are sometimes questionable. These surveys are not easy to set up.
The questions asked still often come up against taboos or raise concerns that can bias the results.
Over the past decades, numerous sexual health surveys have been carried out in connection with the AIDS epidemic.
They more often question abuses, early sexual intercourse and deviations, while in the current context the questions focus more on the consequences of the overall decline in sexual relations. The methodologies and skills are therefore not directly transferable.