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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, HIV Center, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 15, New York, NY 10032, 212.543.5406, jh2527@columbia.edu and Jennifer S. Hirsch, PhD, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032.

Family planning, HIV, and sexuality researchers have long recognized that condoms' detraction from men's sexual pleasure will influence how consistently they are used, if at all. Comparatively unexplored are the ways that sexual pleasure influences contraceptive method choice, continuation, or consistency of use, especially for women. The presenters share data from in-depth sexual history interviews with 24 women and 12 men in the U.S. to describe a "sexual aesthetics of contraception": how women and men described what they seek from sex, and how this influences their contraceptive use. The study explored people's attitudes about what ideal sex should be like, and how contraceptive outcomes (including method choice/preference, continuation, and consistency of use) were shaped as a result. Most centrally, people preferred, and thus used more often and/or more continuously, contraceptives that enhanced their sexual pleasure and enjoyment. In turn, they disliked, and thus used less frequently, methods that hindered their sexual experience. The most commonly idealized sexual themes were 1) spontaneity; 2) closeness; 3) concerns for his pleasure; 4) lack of discomfort; and 5) safety and talking care of oneself as a prerequisite for "letting go."

After reviewing some of the ways in which sexuality has featured historically in the family planning field, this paper describes the main themes of the pleasure-contraceptive connection and outlines some of the ways in which family planning and HIV practitioners can use this information to better help their clients avoid unwanted pregnancy and disease.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will

• Understand some of the limitations in previous family planning research on the role of sexual pleasure in women’s contraceptive use patterns;
• Identify the main sexual themes (e.g., spontaneity, closeness, etc.) that shaped contraceptive use patterns in a U.S. population;
• Understand some of the ways in which social inequality along the lines of gender and social class affect the relationship between contraception and pleasure; and
• Indentify ways of better integrating sexual pleasure into existing contraceptive and condom promotion programs.

Keywords: Reproductive Health, Contraception

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation