Sex-Positive and Pleasure-Based Sexual Health

• SRHR Alliance Kenya envisions sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.
• Its mission involves harnessing strategic partnerships to sustainably empower young people, women, and marginalized groups and promote community sustainability.

Sex-Positive and Pleasure-Based Sexual Health

• Sexual health integrates physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being related to sexuality

• It's more than just the absence of disease, dysfunction, or infirmity

• Sexual health requires a respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships

• Sexual health provides the possibility of pleasurable and safe sexual experiences without coercion, discrimination, or violence

• Sexuality includes sex, gender identities, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction

• Sexuality is experienced through thoughts and fantasies

• Sexuality includes beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, and relationships

• Sexuality is influenced by biological, social-economic, political, cultural, legal, historical, religious, and spiritual factors.

• Sexual pleasure involves physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment from erotic experiences, whether solitary or shared, including thoughts, dreams, and autoeroticism.

• Self-determination, consent, safety, privacy, confidence, and communication skills enable pleasure, contributing to sexual health and wellbeing.

• Sexual pleasure should be exercised within the context of sexual rights, especially equality, non-discrimination, autonomy, bodily integrity, and the right to the highest attainable health standard.

• A sex-positive approach involves celebrating sexuality as energy and celebration

• Sex-positive approaches aim to achieve ideal experiences, not just prevent negative ones.

• Sex-positive approaches acknowledge and tackle the risks associated with sexuality without emphasizing fear, shame, or taboo, especially for young people.

• A pleasure-based approach is defined as celebrating sex, sexuality, joy, and wellbeing in a manner that envisions good sex within sexual rights

• The focus is on sensory, mental, physical, and sensual pleasure, enabling individuals to understand, consent, control their bodies, and recognize multifaceted desires.

• Well-being, safety, pleasure, desire, and joy serve as objectives of a program that measures empowerment, agency, and self-efficacy

• Those practicing a pleasure-based approach can know what they want, ask for it, and request this of others, in relation to their sexuality, desires and pleasure

• A positive approach to sexuality and reproduction recognizes the role of pleasurable sexual relationships, trust, and communication

• Pleasure promotes self-esteem and overall wellbeing

• SDG 3 is inclusive of 'well-being'

• SDG3 includes the target of of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services

• CSE is a main framework used globally, with UNESCO as a leading actor

• International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education - An Evidence Informed Approach' publication came out in a revised 2018 edition

• CSE is a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality

• The UNESCO Guidance outlines effective sexuality education programs

• The programs are designed to empower national authorities to create comprehensive curricula

• The goal is positive impact on young people's health and well-being

• CSE curricula equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values

• CSE curricula empowers children to realize their health, well-being, and dignity

• CSE curricula empowers children to develop respectful social and sexual relationships

• CSE curricula empowers children to consider how their choices affect their own and others' well-being

• CSE curricula empowers children to understand and ensure the protection of their rights throughout their lives.

• Key concepts in CSE: Relationship

• Key concepts in CSE: Values, Rights, Culture and Sexuality

• Key concepts in CSE: Understanding Gender

• Topics in CSE relationships include: Families, Friendship, Love and Romantic Relationships, Tolerance, Inclusion and Respect, Long-term Commitments and Parenting

• Topics in CSE values include: Values and Sexuality, Human Rights and Sexuality, Culture, Society and Sexuality

• Topics in CSE Understanding Gender include: The Social Construction of Gender and Gender Norms, Gender Equality, Stereotypes and Bias, Gender-based Violence

• CSE key concepts include violence and staying safe along with skills for health and well-being

• CSE key concepts include the human body and development as well as sexuality and sexual behavior

• CSE key concepts include sexual and reproductive health

• CSE topics for violence and staying safe include violence, consent and privacy along with ways to maintain bodily Integrity and safely use information and communication technologies

• CSE topics for skills for health and well-being include norms and peer influence on sexual behavior, decision-making, communication, refusal skills, media literacy and sexuality and identifying means for support

• CSE topics under the human body and development include sexual and reproductive anatomy and physiology, reproduction, puberty, and body image

• CSE topics for sexuality and sexual behavior include the the sexual life cycle and sexual response

• CSE for sexual and reproductive include pregnancy prevention, care for HIV and AIDS and understanding the risks of sexually transmitted infections

• CSE core values include prioritizing young people's needs as a starting point

• CSE core values include a pleasure-based/sex-positive approach, as well as a preventive approach with skills-training, and norm awareness

• CSE combines rights-based education along with perspectives that are age-appropriate, preventative, competent, and accessible

• CSE aims at a broad view of sexuality.

• It also incorporates topics and content as well as knowledge grounded in evidence

• CSE emphasizes concrete understanding, norm awareness, and language use relevant to its subject matter

• Common narratives of sex education overly focus on risk, disease, death, and fear

• Pleasure is minimally represented in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) discussions

• Research indicates global efforts lack focus on human sexuality

• Global efforts address components of human sexuality separately, neglecting the essence of the whole.

• There is a need to engage with sexuality as an aspect of a whole person

• Sexual pleasure can be an important link between informed decision-making and sexual health

• Research has found pleasure to be a fundamental reason people have sex

• Sex can improve health in addition to stress

• Pleasure can indicate empowerment

• Sex-positive and pleasure-inclusive sexual health interventions can be effective with vulnerable populations who have experienced trauma

• Norms that masculinity is enhanced by pleasure diminish femininity, therefore, pleasure can help challenge these gender based stereotypes

• Pleasure can help protect sexual rights

• Pleasure and sex positivity has been a part of pre-colonial narratives and belief systems

• A negative approach can reduce behavioral effectiveness in sexual situations

• A negative approach can generate silence about diverse desires

• A negative approach can can perpetuate sexism

• Anti-sex rhetoric reinforces damaging sexual narrative

• Pleasure-inclusive sexual health improves SRHR outcomes

• Meta-analysis of erotic safer sex promotion against standard care in 2006 demonstrated a link between pleasure and positive outcomes

• Pleasure creates an increase in condom usage as well as sexual self-efficacy

• Studies in 2020 included The Pleasure Project systematic reviews from Universities of Oxford

• There is promising evidence for 'pleasure-inclusivity' when comparing different SRHR interventions

• The declaration for sexual health affirms that sexual pleasure is the physical and or psychological satisfaction derived from shared or solitary experiences

• This pleasure must be within the context of sexual rights, equality, autonomy, the right to bodily integrity and expression

• There are a series of Pleasure Principles to ensure access to human resources for pleasure

• Experimental studies that robustly measured impact on SRHR outcomes have taken place as recently as 2010

CSE Core Values

• CSE Core Values advocate for pleasure-based approaches and promote preventative measures
• CSE programs ensure skills training and promote recognition of local norms
• CSE programs should be age-appropriate and grounded in current evidence.

Implementing Pleasure in Practice

• Emphasize kindness and empathy in relationships promoting empowerment

• Support freedom of sexual expression and consent so long as it aligns with values of bodily autonomy, integrity and privacy

• Be conscious of language and avoid using biased and vague characterizations

• Recognize that humans are diverse as their needs and sexual desires

• Engage in self reflection to provide guidance that accurately represents the values of a culture or society

• Respect the cultural characteristics of sexuality

• Understand the experiences of clients and audience and address trauma

• Affirm pleasure while acting and promoting

• Affirm sexual pleasure as a human right by promoting sexual rights regardless of ability or identity

• Implement accessible and sex-positive health services that encourage self expression with others

• Build policies that promote the importance of the pleasure that can be derived from sexuality

• Collaborate to promote sex positivity and pleasure-based culture

• When a person is safe and feels good they are free to experience pleasure

• Act positively by expressing empathy, addressing gender inequalities and removing barriers

• Recognize the role of norms and address cases of marginalization

• Consider needs, practices and impacts during any intervention

The Pleasure Principles:

• The core tenet of pleasure based activism is self love and kindness for others

• Gather evidence about new approaches to sexual health for all to ensure sex positivity

• Communicate using pleasure positive, inclusive language.

• Consider the importance of culture in all unique cases

• Recognize the importance of universal pleasure while respecting individual need

• Acknowledge rights and strive for pleasure-based health practices.

• Embrace "sex-positivity”

Pleasure Based Sexual Health

• Pleasure in sexual health can take the form of masturbation
• Pleasure based activities will create safety in bodies and minds
• The best way to discuss sex is by expressing pleasure