Health authorities will soon consider single men and women who want to have their own children but failed to find a partner sexually disabled. The World Health Organization (WHO) now defines infertility aside from a poor sexual health as inability to find a suitable sexual partner.
The WHO now looks at sexual health in a different way. The new definition of infertility simply indicates being single is a disability.
The health authority will classify single men and women without medical issues but with an inactive sex life as “infertile.” It only applies to those who do not have children but “want to become a parent,” the WHO said.
The authors of the new global standards said it will mainly give the individuals “the right to reproduce.” It will allow single men, women and the members of the LGBT community to receive the same treatment given to the couples seeking IVF due to medical fertility problems.
The WHO also said the new standards will put pressure on the NHS to change the policy on who can access the IVF treatment. The health authority plans to send the new definition of infertility to all health ministers in 2017, reportsThe Telegraph.
“It’s a big change,” said Dr. David Adamson, one of the authors of the new standards. “The definition of infertility is now written in such a way that it includes the rights of all individuals to have a family, and that includes single men, single women, gay men, gay women.”
SEXUAL HEALTH & THE NEW STANDARDS
Critics call the decision an “absurd nonsense.” They said the couples with medical infertility would lose the chance for a child. It’s because the new standards will increase the number of those who seek IVF.
The current NHS policies only allow clinics to give the treatment to thoseproven infertile.
“This definition runs the risk of undermining the work Nice and others have done to ensure IVF treatment is made available for infertile couples when you get definitions off the mark like this,” said Gareth Johnson MP, the former chair of the All Parliamentary Group on Infertility. “I think it’s trying to put IVF into a box that it doesn’t fit into frankly.”
Josephine Quintavalle, from the Comment on Reproductive Ethics, added, “This absurd nonsense is not simply re-defining infertility.” She said it’s “completely side-lining the biological process and significance of natural intercourse between a man and a woman.”
How Implicit Bias Affects the Health of Black Gay Men
2016-10-19
It’s time to confront the very real inequities, writes Terrance Moore.
When I was diagnosed with HIV, it took me years to find a good doctor. Every morning was a struggle to maintain some sense of normalcy, since my medications made me sick. Within weeks of starting my new job, I threw up on the floor of my cubicle. When I explained my medication side effects to my doctor, I received an unconcerned brush-off, a reminder that this is what it meant to be living with HIV. It wasn’t until I was working at the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors that I realized having HIV didn’t mean I actually had to be sick — that the virus was controllable and that there is a whole world of better medications and care for me out there.
It’s hard to say what the problem is, and as a gay black man, I realize there are a lot of factors that could have made finding a good doctor so hard. Research shows that doctors and medical providers often treat black patients differently. For instance, the Perception Institute found that doctors don’t treat pain in black patients as aggressively; they allow higher levels of pain before they begin treatment.
I also know many medical professionals aren’t completely comfortable with my sexuality. That discomfort breeds distrust — and many LGBTQ friends of mine now seek out explicitly inclusive care so they can discuss their sexual health needs more frankly and without judgment.
And finally, I know a lot of doctors just don’t know how to prevent or treat HIV. In fact, a recent study shockingly showed that just one in three doctors even know about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, the daily administration of a drug to prevent HIV-negative people from acquiring the virus from their sexual partners. We are talking about a lifesaving measure, and two-thirds of doctors don’t know it exists.
To be clear, the problem here isn’t high-risk behavior. Black gay menaren’t engaging in any riskier behaviorthan our white counterparts. Our rates of drug use and number of sex partners are both on par with those of our peers. But one place where there isa huge disparity is access to quality health care. The fact is that among black gay men with HIV, viral loads are higher because so many people aren’t getting the care they need.
We hear a lot about bias in policing these days, and the truth is implicit bias isn’t specific to the police. It’s something we all have because we all grew up around the similar stereotypes in culture, in movies, and from our communities.
On the whole, medical professionals don’t want to treat patients poorly — but until now, there haven’t been tools to help them be better. That’s where NASTAD and our new project,His Health, come in.
This month, we are rolling out a first-of-its-kind educational platform to help medical professionals unlearn implicit bias and provide better and more culturally competent care to LGBTQ patients — with the goal of elevating the standard of care for black gay men.
We have accredited online courses available in PrEP, trans health care, linking patients to care, and comprehensive health care. All courses include video trainings and walk-through scenarios with real-life black gay men as patients and doctors helping lead the way to better care.
To inspire better care, we also spotlight some of the best programs in the nation atHisHealth.orgwith short video documentaries.
We are in the midst of a crisis in health care right now — but there is a path forward. As we continue our sustained fight against HIV, let’s start to make better access to high-quality, culturally competent health care for black gay men one of our highest priorities.
TERRANCE MOORE is deputy executive director for the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. He manages member technical assistance activities and policy development, and oversees the organization’s domestic programs portfolio, including health care access, HIV prevention, hepatitis. and health equity.
7 Things All Couples Should Know About His And Her Health
2016-10-18
Men and women are different in many ways, (Mars and Venus, anyone?) and there are heaps of scientific evidence to support this idea.
And obviously, each sex faces varying physiological and psychological challenges due to physical, hormonal and behavioral differences. While both sexes face some health problems at equally high rates, there are certain health conditions that affect one sex more than the other.
Men and women’s health-related differences extend to their sexual health as well. To get a better understanding of how men and women differ in their overall and sexual health, here are seven things you should know about each sex:
1. Women have a stronger immune system.
Some animal and human studies suggest that females from many species have a better advantage in the maintenance of health and, as a result, live longer.
For instance, astudy out of the University of Sheffield by Jens Rolff suggests it makes sense that female biology invests in immunity, as women need to be healthy to carry offspring, while male biology is more about investing in mating success.
2. Depression and osteoporosis are not female diseases.
Although more women are diagnosed with both conditions than men, this discrepancy might be the resultof men feeling less inclined to seek treatment for either condition.
This argument is especially true for depression, as women are culturally conditioned to talk about their feelings, while men are often encouraged to avoid such discussions.
3. Both men and women are at risk of heart attacks.
Women typically develop cardiovascular diseaseseven to 10 yearslater than men, mainly because estrogen protects against cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, after menopause, women reach the same risk rates for developing heart disease that men do.
While most research focused on cardiovascular disease being a risk factor for erectile dysfunction, there isgrowing evidencesuggesting the same mechanism might be one of the major causes of female sexual dysfunction as well.
4. Women are more likely to have sexual problems.
According to an articlefrom Current Psychiatry Reports, sexual dysfunction affects approximately 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men. Despite this fact, however, studies and treatments of sexual problems tend to focus more on men than on women.
The sexual problems that affect women are quite different from those affecting men, not only due to anatomical differences between the sexes, but probably due to psychological and cultural factors as well.
5. Men can develop pelvic floor problems as well.
Women of childbearing age are frequently recommended to practice Kegels to keep their pelvic floor muscles strong. This is not only beneficial for female sexual functioning, but for proper bladder control and bowel habits as well.
However, not many are aware of the benefits of Kegel exercises for men.The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggested proper sexual response and arousal, in both men and women, greatly depends on the functioning of this particular group of muscles.
6. Depression causes a decrease in sex drive for both sexes.
Depression is considered an “invisible” disease, with a rising number of people being diagnosed with the disorder. One of the many symptoms of depression is a diminished sex drive, alongside poor sexual functioning.
While women tend to experience symptoms like vaginal dryness, men may developerectile dysfunctionas a result of depression. To make matters even worse, antidepressants don’t help with sexual functioning. Rather, they only seem to contribute to a loss of sex drive in both men and women.
7. Male menopause might be a real thing.
We’re all aware of female menopause. Low serum estrogen levels are easy to test, and the cessation of menstruation is an obvious sign a woman is at the end of her reproductive age.
On the other hand, men can father children well into old age, and there’s no obvious sign a man is going through what is described as “male menopause” or even “andropause.”
Nevertheless, older men tend to experience symptoms similar to menopause and a decline in testosterone levels that researchers believe may be to blame for sexual dysfunction, loss of muscle, increasing fatigue, mental fog and other symptoms some men experience in mid-life.
5 Ways Exercise Can Improve Sexual Health, From Regulating Hormones To Improving Blood Flow
Exercises have many health benefits. There are different types of exercises, each one with its own set of benefits. Studies have shown that those who frequently exercise have better stamina and level of satisfaction, which can lead to a boost in your sexual performance. There are various exercises that can boost your stamina, libido, and satisfaction.
People tend to be more sexually desireable the longer they can last in bed. Moreover, exercise could lead have a better libido, stamina, and better communication. Having a great sex life can improve your overall health, and great sex life can only be achieved when the couple finds each other hot in bed. In this article, you will learn about exercises, and how each one can make you more desireable in bed.
It can be embarrassing if you’re unable to satisfy your partner. One of the major reasons behind men not being able to satisfy their partners is because oferectile dysfunction. The statistics show that around 18 million Americans are suffering from erectile dysfunction. This should not worry you though because there are many solutions for solving your problem, and one of them is regular exercises. How can exercises make you hotter in bed? Let’s see how.
5 WAYS EXERCISE CAN IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE:
1. REGULATESHORMONE LEVELS
Regular exercises can boost your sex life. Both of you will start to release more endorphins, which enhances feelings of happiness . The level of fat carried by our body is directly related to the level of endorphins in the body. The more fat that’s released, the more endorphins and vice verse. The higher level of endorphins will in crease the sexual arousal in both men and women. Exercises will greatly help in maintaining your hormone level. More sexual arousal means being more active in bed.
2. GUARANTEEDORGASM
Sex is a physical activity, and it requires a lot of strength and stamina. Exercises will greatly increase your strength, stamina, and endurance. With more strength and stamina, it will open the possibility of experimenting with various sex positions. When you try various sex positions requiring a great level of physical control, it will lead to a guaranteed orgasm. All the varied sex positions and guaranteed orgasm will make you more desireable in bed.
3. ENHANCESBLOOD FLOW
Exercises will enhance your blood pumping throughout your body. The blood circulation will be enhanced throughout your body, and it also includes in between of your legs. With more blood flow in genitals of women, it will lead to more vasocongestion. It will increase sensitivity, leading to more orgasm. In the case of a male, the increment in blood flow will lead to a stronger erection.
4. TIGHTERMUSCLES
Exercises will tighten your muscles, including pubococcygeus muscles (PC muscles). Your pelvic floor contraction (related with orgasm) will increase with a tighter PC muscle. It is better for you to try some pelvic floor exercises. There are many varieties of pelvic floor exercises to try. You can mix it with other exercises for a better sexual performance.
5. CONFIDENCE BOOST
Regular exercises will enhance your physical and mental health. Many studies have proven the positive impact of exercises on your health. Moreover, people doing regular exercises will have a positive attitude and less stress. When you have a positive attitude and less stress, you will explore more about your body, and you will have good communication with your partner too. It will also lead to increased orgasm, deeper bonding, and increased sex drive. This will make you feel more desireable because of greater sexual capacity.
CONCLUSION
Better sex life will improve your quality of life. After marriage, both partners want to have a great marital life. To have a great marital life, it is critical to have a better sex life. Having a bad sex life means always living in dissatisfaction. It will not only lead to unsatisfied married life, but it will also lead to mental torture. The study shows that better relationship leads to better health as well. For a better relationship, you need to have a good sex life.
Now that you know how exercises can help in making you hotter in bed, you should not waste any time, and you should st art making a plan for a workout. Your partner will obviously find you hotter in bed if you work hard and get involved in regular exercises, and it will eventually lead to a better sex life.
BIO
David Gomes (@davidgomes14), a Health and Wellness expert by profession. He lives in Oakland, CA. He loves to write on a variety of topics such as joint health, weight loss, beauty and skin care for blogs and online publications. He also loves latest technology, gadgets. Connect with him on Linkedin,Google+ andPinterest.
“If you can’t talk about sex, then you shouldn’t be having sex,” stated Markie Twist, program director of the Sex Therapy Certificate graduate program, and coordinator of the Sex Speak Sessions that have been taking place on campus this year.
The Sex Speak Sessions are an attempt to get people talking about sex, relationships, gender and anything that falls under that umbrella. They are held every other Tuesday from 2-7 p.m. and can be found in various places around campus and in the community. They are also planning an event in the Twin Cities, as well as potentially reaching out to the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire campus. These sessions are totally anonymous and are lead by recent graduates of the Sex Therapy certification program, as well as Markie herself.
“It is not therapy, nor is it even sex education; it is simply an anonymous conversation with people that have questions about sex or gender,” Markie said.
These sessions arrived on campus at the beginning of the semester, and so far, Twist said, they have seen only positive results. With conversations lasting anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, they are already confident on the impact these sessions are having. Primarily, these sessions have the ability to guide those with deeper questions to the proper help they may need. Though Twist did not intend this when she began holding these events, she is amazed by the results.
“We’ve had several referrals [to therapy services on campus] already.” Twist said. “It is a pathway to people getting help about their struggles with gender or sexuality questions or their relationships, through a service that they may not have known about otherwise.”
Twist explained that the inspiration to begin these sessions came from Francisco Ramirez, who was named a Rosenfield scholar in sexual and reproductive health by theColumbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. For 20 years, Ramirez has dedicated his career to responding to the sexual health and public health needs of communities worldwide. He’s a public speaker as well, and in 2008 he took to the streets of New York City with a sign that read #FreeSexAdvice, and began offering exactly that.
Twist said that when she attended one of Ramirez’s speaking events at a sexuality conference in Guelf, Ontario, Canada, Ramirez began speaking about how everybody deserves to have access to this type of education. Twist immediately wanted to bring these ideas to our community.
Twist has discovered that many people received a sex education that is fear-based, if they received any at all. She believes these sessions are an important way to start a conversation that can keep people safe.
“It’s a really good foot in the door—the most basic thing is talking to a stranger anonymously. So that opens the door to talking to your friends, family, to other people,” said Sydney Edman, a senior in the Human Development and Sexuality program, as well as a teaching assistant for Markie Twist’s Lifespan Sexuality class.
“It also helps stop the spread of misinformation,” Edman continued, “People come in with questions, and we can direct them to the correct information.”
The Sex Speak Sessions are just the start of becoming a more sexually-healthy society, and Twist says they will likely be around the area for years to come, with the hopes of expanding to communities across the country.
Nepal’s Telephone Counselors Offer Life-Saving Sexual Health Advice
2016-10-10
Nepalese Hindu devotees walk across a temporary bridge over the Shali River on the outskirts of Kathmandu on January 24, 2016. Hundreds of married and unmarried women in the Himalayan nation have started a month-long fast in the hope of a prosperous life and conjugal happiness. AFP PHOTO/Prakash MATHEMA / AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH MATHEMA
As counselors for the Meri Saathi helpline, midwife Hima Mishra and her team field hundreds of calls a day from people with questions about sex, pregnancy and abortion, helping to shed light on reproductive health rights in Nepal.
Hima Mishra’s office in Kathmandu is a tiny room staffed with seven smiling women wearing headphones. It may look like a small operation, but the women receive up to 150 calls a day from men and women across Nepal.
“Morning to night, our voices are the same. We are always happy,” says Mishra, who runs the team. “You would think that we are very stressed and tired, but we’re not.”
In 2011, Marie Stopes International (MSI) launched a free helpline number calledMeri Saathi, which translates to “My Friend,” to provide counseling on a range of issues from safe abortion, contraception, masturbation, penis size, menstruation and safe sex.
In mountainous Nepal, where it can take a woman days to get to the nearest primary healthcare center and where premarital sex is taboo, the call center is a lifeline for thousands of Nepalis who have little or no access to accurate information.
Althoughabortion is legal in Nepalduring the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or up until 18 weeks in cases such as rape and incest, deaths from unsafe abortion still account for more than 5 percent of recorded maternal deaths.
Since abortion was legalized in 2002, more than800,000 womenhave received safe abortion services from over 500 certified clinics, but challenges remain, including a lack of skills among health workers and overcrowding at referral hospitals, according to the latest Department of Health Services annualreport.
Another major barrier to women seeking safe abortion services is that many don’t know it’s legal. Only 38 percent of women in Nepal are aware of the law on abortion, according to the 2011 Nepal Demographic and HealthSurvey, and only one in two know where to access services.
While the government last yearpledgedto make abortion services free across the country, it hasn’t happened yet. Women who don’t go through organizations like MSI have to pay the equivalent of $10, making safe abortion unaffordable for those living in rural areas.
Mishra has been working at the Meri Saathi call center since it launched, and has watched its popularity grow from 150 calls a month to 150 a day. The team is planning to move to a bigger work space, add more staff members and extend the hours the hotline is open to keep up with the number of requests.
“We’re overloaded with calls,” she says. “We don’t want to miss people.”
The main purpose of the hotline is to educate people about their sexual health and reproductive rights. The center also offers counseling via live chat on its website and through Facebook and Twitter, and the Meri Saathi workers follow up on existing clients whenever they can.
At the moment, the team gets more calls from adolescent boys than women or girls, asking questions about safe-sex practices, how to manage their sexual desires and the bodily changes they are experiencing.
“I tell them that masturbation doesn’t harm their body and they should keep busy, study, do sports and be creative. I give them tips for what is best for their future,” Mishra says.
For young women who call, the primary concerns are sexual propositions outside of marriage, contraception, menstruation pain and access to safe abortions. Stories of women inserting iron bars or using other potentially fatal methods to try to give themselves an abortion are all too common.
Determined to stop that happening, the Meri Saathi team callers to an MSI clinic or, if they live too far away from one, to a listed organization, healthcare center or government hospital that provides safe abortions
But women are often either too scared to tell their husbands, or their husbands insist on keeping the baby, particularly if they are hoping for a boy. “Often women don’t want another baby and they beg me not to listen to their husband and ask if they can get an abortion alone,” Mishra says. “Husbands call the center and ask about their wife’s abortion. I tell them [family planning] is also a father’s responsibility.”
Some of the calls haunt the counselors long after they hang up the phone – like the time a 22-year-old man asked for Mishra’s advice because he was having a sexual relationship with his mother. But then there are the times when the counselors see how one phone call can change a life for the better. One of Mishra’s happiest memories is when she was able to prevent a 14-year-old girl from western Nepal from getting married after speaking with her mother.
For Mishra, the biggest reward comes from guiding young women safely through some of the most difficult times in their lives. “I feel so proud that I have saved so many youths from unsafe sex and so many women from unsafe abortions,” she says.
“To fight HIV effectively we must insist upon the removal of anti-LGBT legislation globally”
2016-10-06
Criminalisation, stigma and HIV transmission
Anti-gay legislation, globally, is leading to higher rates of transmission for HIV. The countries with the highest populations of HIV positive people all criminalise gay men, or have a recent history of doing so. 77 countries still criminalise being gay. These countries do not allow LGBT people to openly express their identities, thereby preventing the development of LGBT rights movements and exacerbating HIV transmission rates.
Many LGBT people living with HIV face a dual stigma, that of being LGBT and that of being HIV positive. There is a clear link between criminalisation, stigma and HIV transmission. As we move out of the European Union, we must ensure that global LGBT equality remains a priority for UK legislators.
In Africa being gay remains illegal in 36 out of 54 countries. Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV in the world. Gay men in Africa are twice as likely to be HIV positive as their straight counterparts. Most African countries have European colonial era anti-LGBT legislation. Criminalisation entrenches homophobia. The African LGBT community is largely underground. Underground communities are harder to reach and are less informed about HIV or safe sex. LGBT people are less likely to use HIV testing services and are prohibited from accessing antiviral medication. Health professionals often discriminate against LGBT people and there are few government-led LGBT inclusive HIV initiatives.
Uganda and Senegal are among the worst on anti-LGBT legislation and its implementation. In Uganda the legislative situation is actually getting worse for LGBT people. In 2014, the Ugandan government attempted to bring in the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was only overturned on a technicality. In Uganda, LGBT people are reluctant to discuss their sexual identities with health workers who, technically, are obligated to report them to the authorities for same-sex practices.
Senegal has had a number of arrests and convictions for LGBT activity in recent years. In Senegal homosexuality is punishable by up to five years in prison and it is also one of the few jurisdictions to have criminalised female homosexuality. Last year, in one raid, seven men were arrested and sentenced to six months in prison. Such raids are thankfully uncommon, and their sentencing caused international outrage, but this case is indicative of the hostile atmosphere LGBT people have to deal with in Senegal. Amongst the items found in their possession were condoms. The Senegalese government was effectively punishing these men for practising safe sex, the condoms evidence of their criminality. Ugandan and Senegalese health workers are reluctant to engage with LGBT people, as they may be perceived as encouraging illegal activity.
In Mozambique, unlike in Uganda and Senegal, the existing colonial era anti-LGBT legislation, a legacy of Portuguese colonialism, has been repealed. Although legally there has been an improvement in their status, LGBT people face continued discrimination from government organisations. The government remains reluctant to encourage LGBT inclusive training for sexual health workers, or even register the country’s one LGBT organisation, which is called Lambda. Some LGBT people have been refused treatment for sexually transmitted infections, while trans people have been made to change their clothing before health workers will treat them.
In Caribbean countries where same-sex relationships are criminalised, the rate of incidence for HIV is a one in four, while in Caribbean countries where there is no anti-gay legislation it is one in 15. Approximately thirty per cent of Jamaican men who have sex with men are HIV positive, compared to a rate of 1.6 % in the general population. In Jamaica homophobia is rife. Anti-LGBT legislation creates the perception that violence against LGBT people may be tolerated. LGBT people cannot discuss their sexual identities. Men who are diagnosed as HIV positive are often “accused” of being gay. Here, the dual stigma, of being gay and that of being HIV positive, is at its most apparent. LGBT people who are HIV positive are the most likely to be victimised and face violence.
The LGBT community have been at the forefront of the fight against HIV in the UK. Over the last thirty years, we have pulled together at a time of crisis to save our neighbours, friends and lovers. We ensured our community knew about the HIV virus. We cared for those living with HIV. We confronted the stigma associated with HIV. It was the LGBT rights movement in the UK and the USA which first responded in an empathetic and effective way to the HIV epidemic. Anti-LGBT legislation prevents LGBT people coming together to confront HIV.
To fight HIV effectively we must insist upon the removal of anti-LGBT legislation globally. Where criminalisation exists and homophobia has been institutionalised, access to HIV services is difficult and violence against LGBT people is rife. Moving out of the EU, we must not be shy of using our position as the world’s fifth largest economy to demand concessions for LGBT people. The UK can pride itself on being one of the world’s most tolerant countries on LGBT issues and we should not be afraid of advancing the rights of LGBT people globally. We should not allow our work to promote LGBT rights globally to be diminished by leaving the EU, but instead embrace our freedom to promote LGBT rights more assiduously. Let us embrace this opportunity to increase our global influence on LGBT rights. We are a core part of the global LGBT rights movement.
A case study of three active-duty service members who saw Navy doctors found their heavy use of pornography to be connected to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems within their romantic relationships — a finding the Navy is watching without comment, for now.
The independent study, undertaken by four San Diego-based naval health professionals, seeks to explain “sharp increases” in sexual difficulties among men under 40 in recent years and correlation with the prevalence of internet porn available for streaming, a technology that dates to 2006.
Published in the journal “Behavioral Sciences”in August, the study suggested health care providers need to more thoroughly take internet pornography use into account when diagnosing sexual problems, noting that some problems can be reversed simply by having a patient stop using pornography.
According to the report, diagnoses of erectile dysfunction in active-duty male service members more than doubled between 2004 and 2013.
“Future researchers will need to take into account the unique properties and impact of today’s streaming Internet delivery of pornography,” the study’s authors wrote. “In addition, Internet pornography consumption during early adolescence, or before, may be a key variable.”
One of the study’s authors, Dr. Andrew Doan, head of the Addictions and Resilience Research department at Naval Medical Center San Diego, said in a statement that the study did not reflect the views of the center or of the Navy and declined to discuss the research more in-depth.
“Research on this topic is still underway by the authors,” he said. “Therefore, it is too early to discuss this topic in open forum.”
While multiple studies and reports have described the connection between pornography use and sexual and relationship problems, this may be the first to study active-duty service members on the topic. Doan said the study did not explore the effects of deployments, or other issues specific to the military, on the problem.
But his comments about the study’s most significant finding suggest this is an issue that may be tied to mission readiness.
“Emotional health is linked to sexual health, directly affecting human resilience and service members’ abilities to perform at their best,” Doan said.
The three service members described in the case studies had previously seen doctors, two for problems including erectile dysfunction, low sexual desire and sexual difficulties with their partners, and one for mental health reasons. All three reported a trend of increasing internet pornography use, and two reported escalation to more extreme genres of internet porn.
In the first case, a 20-year-old enlisted service member, whose service branch was not identified, reported erectile dysfunction and inability to climax beginning during a six-month overseas deployment. When he returned, these persistent sexual issues began to cause problems in his relationship with his fiancee. When he cut back significantly on his internet porn use and stopped using a sex toy he had brought during his deployment, relations with his fiancee improved, and so did the relationship.
The second report described a 40-year-old service member with 17 years of service who had increased his use of internet pornography after his youngest child left for college and had begun to find his wife less stimulating than the online images. Care providers recommended he cut back on pornography use, but he found he couldn’t. While he was referred to sex behavioral therapy, he declined to make an appointment, preferring to work the issues out on his own, according to the report.
In the third case, a 24-year-old junior enlisted sailor saw a doctor after attempting suicide by overdose. When his medical history was taken, he revealed he had spent more than five hours a day viewing online pornography over the last six months, and had noticed diminished interest in his wife during this time.
“When he became aware of his excessive use of pornography, he stopped viewing it completely, telling his interviewer he was afraid that if he viewed it to any extent he would find himself overusing it again,” researchers wrote. “He reported that after he ceased using pornography his erectile dysfunction disappeared.”
More study is needed, the authors wrote, to prove causation between internet pornography use and sexual difficulties by removing the variable of pornography and observing how study subjects respond.
Doan declined to comment on plans for future research, citing policy.
Sex after baby: new study offers surprising finding about new fathers
HALIFAX – A new Canadian study that explores the sex lives of first-time parents has produced a surprising finding that could serve as a caution to well-meaning fathers.
The one-time survey of 255 first-time parents with infants, published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, found that new mothers reported lower sexual desire when their partner expressed more empathy — a finding that turns conventional wisdom on its head.
“We had results that are all in line with empathy being good for both people, and then we have this one little finding that wasn’t consistent,” said the study’s lead author, Halifax-based psychologist Natalie Rosen. “I would like to replicate this in other studies before drawing grand conclusions.”
Rosen speculated that some fathers are perhaps so intent on helping their wives deal with the challenges of parenthood that they assume avoiding sex is the best policy.
“They might be saying they’re OK with less sex,” said Rosen, a professor with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.
“They might be saying, ‘I’m just going to kind of back off no matter what sexual needs I might have.’ That might actually lower the desire that the woman has.”
Rosen, who also works as a sex therapist, said she sees this pattern when counselling those coping with sexual dysfunctions.
“Partners think they’re being really understanding and supportive, but they’re actually just reinforcing and encouraging avoidance … It comes across as very supportive and both people think it’s a good thing, but it reinforces … that sex is not that important.”
Rosen stressed that her speculation could be shot down by further research, so she offered another possible explanation.
She said it might be a mistake to assume that the fathers’ increased empathy caused reduced sexual desire in their partners, when the causal link might be the other way around. In other words, the new mothers who reported reduced sexual desire may in fact be causing their partners to express more empathy.
It’s also important to note that the women who said their partners were showing increased empathy did not report lower levels of sexual satisfaction, even though their sexual desire had diminished.
“You can be sexually satisfied and having no sex,” said Rosen.
However, the study mainly found that women and men who expressed more empathy toward their partners showed higher levels of both sexual satisfaction and successful relationship adjustments after a baby arrives, as researchers had predicted.
As well, the researchers looked at something called dyadic empathy, which refers to the subjects’ self-reported feelings of empathy toward their romantic partners. Again, women and men with more empathic partners reported higher sexual satisfaction and relationship adjustment.
“We have a tendency to focus on what goes wrong and what the challenges are, but we don’t give people a lot of information about what they can do to make things better,” Rosen said in an interview.
“We need to have messages out there about things couples can do to promote their well-being during the transition to parenthood … This study tells people a little bit about what they can do. Trying to see things from your partner’s perspective — that’s something that people can hold on to, especially for new fathers.”
Communication is the key, she said. However, conversations about sex are often difficult for couples, as many studies have shown.
New fathers should be understanding of their partner’s changing needs, but that doesn’t mean avoiding talk about sex.
Rosen, who works at the Couples and Sexual Health Research Laboratory, also co-authored a recent study that found the severity of sexual concerns among 239 first-time parents was “highly prevalent and moderately distressing.”
“New parents reported concerns about when to reinstate sexual intercourse after childbirth, pain during intercourse, the impact of body image on sexual activity, and discrepancies in sexual desire between members of the couple,” the study says.
When the parents were presented with a 20-item list of possible sexual concerns, which they ranked on a scale, as many as 89 per cent of new mothers and 82 per cent of new fathers cited at least one concern, and about half of all parents experienced multiple concerns.
UNESCO unveils video on comprehensive sexuality education for young people
2016-09-30
NK World, New York, Sept 27 : The United Nations cultural agency on Monday released a new video that outlines how comprehensive sexuality education helps young people develop the knowledge and skills to make conscious, healthy and responsible choices about relationships and sexuality.
The Being a Young Person video, released by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), outlines the vital role that comprehensive sexuality education plays in ensuring the sexual and reproductive health of all young people. It is recognized as an age-appropriate, culturally relevant approach to teaching about sexuality and relationships by providing scientifically accurate, realistic, non-judgemental information, UNESCO said in a press release.
The videos release comes after a high-level event at the UN General Assembly in New York, on Improving the Sexual and Reproductive Health of the Adolescent Girl: The Role of First Ladies.
The event, which was initiated by the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, brought together heads of State and Government, First Ladies, heads of UN agencies and civil society organizations to increase acceptance and catalyse action on expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents across Africa.
Speaking at the event, which was held on 21 September, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova highlighted that comprehensive sexuality education is a foundation for all HIV prevention, and part of every young persons journey to adulthood.
It reduces sexually transmitted infections, HIV and unintended pregnancy, improves self-esteem, changing attitudes and both gender and social norms, the Director-General said.
An early preview of the video was seen by ministers and representatives from government, development and civil society organizations at a high-level dialogue on the sidelines of the AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, in July. The meeting marked progress since the 2013 Eastern and Southern Africa Ministerial Commitment, in which 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa committed to scaling up comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services for young people.
A Global Review conducted by UNESCO in 2015 revealed that comprehensive sexuality education leads to improved sexual and reproductive health, resulting in the reduction of sexually transmitted infections, HIV and unintended pregnancy. Comprehensive sexuality education not only promotes gender equality and equitable social norms, but has a positive impact on safer sexual behaviours, delaying sexual debut and increasing condom use, UNESCO said.
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