Medicalisation of sexuality

The medicalisation of sexuality is the existence and growth of medical authority over sexual experiences and sensations.^[1] The medicalisation of sexuality is contributed to by the pharmaceutical industry, along with psychiatry, psychology (particularly evolutionary psychology), and biomedical sciences more generally.^[1]^[2]

Medicalisation is defined as a process of conceptualizing, defining, and treating nonmedical issues as medical problems.^[1] Human sexual activity is affected by many factors, including social norms, sexual identity and gender identity, and relationship structures.^[3] Sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually.^[4] Much research in psychology and psychiatry has been devoted to understanding factors contributing to human sexuality, often playing a gatekeeping or legislative role in stigmatising certain behavior or promoting disease mongering. The medicalisation of sexuality has also been used to advance the pharmaceutical industry through treatments for erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction. Another key influence of the medicalisation of sexuality is social control, mass surveillance and regulation related to risk profiling for medicalised sexual disorders.^[2]

While the additional funding from the pharmaceutical industry has been viewed as beneficial to medical research and practice in sexology and human physiology, there exists significant criticism of the medicalisation of sexuality, often on the grounds that it neglects sociocultural factors in favour of a profit motive.^[1] The medicalisation of sexuality has also historically been used to justify medical treatments, stigmatisation and incarceration of gay and lesbian people (generally known at the time as homosexual), intersex people and transgender people.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Štulhofer, Aleksandar (2015-04-20). "Medicalization of sexuality". The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality. pp. 721–817. doi:10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs297. ISBN 9781405190060.
^ ^a ^b Hart, Graham; Wellings, Kaye (2002-04-13). "Sexual behaviour and its medicalisation: in sickness and in health". BMJ. 324 (7342): 896–900. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7342.896. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1122837. PMID 11950742.
^ "Human Sexuality and Sexual Health: A Western Perspective", Public Health, Oxford University Press, 2022-03-23, doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0212, ISBN 978-0-19-975679-7, retrieved 2023-09-18
^ Sex and Society, Volume 2. Marshall Cavendish. 2010. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-7614-7907-9. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2017. The term human sexuality broadly refers to how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings.

[:4-1] Štulhofer, Aleksandar (2015-04-20). "Medicalization of sexuality". The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality. pp. 721–817. doi:10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs297. ISBN 9781405190060.

[:15-2] Hart, Graham; Wellings, Kaye (2002-04-13). "Sexual behaviour and its medicalisation: in sickness and in health". BMJ. 324 (7342): 896–900. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7342.896. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1122837. PMID 11950742.

[:6-3] "Human Sexuality and Sexual Health: A Western Perspective", Public Health, Oxford University Press, 2022-03-23, doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0212, ISBN 978-0-19-975679-7, retrieved 2023-09-18

[Cavendish-4] Sex and Society, Volume 2. Marshall Cavendish. 2010. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-7614-7907-9. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2017. The term human sexuality broadly refers to how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings.

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