![]() 7%) report sex as painful (Herbenick, Schick, Sanders, Reece, & Fortenberry, Citation2015). Compared to men, fewer women report finding sex arousing or pleasurable (Herbenick et al., Citation2010a, Citation2010b), and far more women than men (about 30% vs. In one study, about 8% of young women indicated that they never felt able to tell a partner when they did not want to have sex, and an additional 30% felt able to do so only some of the time (Rickert, Sanghavi, and Wiemann, Citation2002). Throughout the scientific literature, there are indications that difficult things happen as part of sex, particularly to women. Yet the path to “pleasurable, satisfying, and safe” sex is rarely straightforward and may be less available to those with less social, economic, and/or political power (Breiding et al., Citation2011 Hequembourg, Parks, Collins, & Hughes, Citation2015). The WAS declaration further identifies the right, across the life-span, to “the highest attainable standard of health, including sexual health with the possibility of pleasurable, satisfying, and safe sexual experiences.” The World Association for Sexual Health’s (WAS) Declaration of Sexual Rights asserts that human beings have rights to bodily autonomy and integrity as well as to be “free from sexual violence and coercion” (World Association for Sexual Health, Citation2014). Indeed, sexual assault and rape remain prevalent globally, with women and sexual minorities disproportionately affected (Breiding et al., Citation2011 Ellsberg et al., Citation2015 Rothman, Exner, & Baughman, Citation2011) in spite of greater attention to sexual rights. More challenging issues include STI diagnoses (Foster & Byers, Citation2016), unintentional pregnancy (for some Finer & Zolna, Citation2014), sexual assault, and rape (Breiding et al., Citation2011). Sexual pleasure, satisfaction, orgasm, and intended pregnancy are among the generally positive aspects of sexual activity that research attends to (Ford, Citation2015 Goldey, Posh, Bell, & van Anders, Citation2016 Heiman et al., Citation2011 Herbenick, Fu, Arter, Dodge, & Sanders, Citation2018). Some experiences may feel good and others bad. As individuals explore their sexuality through partnered experiences, they encounter a range of people, feelings, and opportunities to engage in diverse sexual behaviors. ![]() Taken together, this body of work enhances our understanding of sexuality across the life-span.Įven so, much is unknown about how people’s sexual lives take shape. Simultaneously, there has been greater attention to solo and partnered sexual experiences of adults, including in advanced age (e.g., Heiman et al., Citation2011 Herbenick et al, Citation2010a, Citation2010b Lindau et al., Citation2007 Schick et al., Citation2010). While unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection (STI) remain important topics of inquiry (Buhi, Marhefka, & Hoban, Citation2010 Lindberg & Maddow-Zimet, Citation2012), more research has addressed adolescents’ and young adults’ experiences of sexual desire, pleasure (Fine, Citation1988 Hensel, Fortenberry, O’Sullivan, & Orr, Citation2011 Tolman, Citation1994), their sexual repertoire (e.g., Robbins et al., Citation2011), and how social structures and norms shape their sexual trajectories (Bay-Cheng & Eliseo-Arras, Citation2008). ![]() Over the past two decades, there has been substantial growth in the quantity and nuance of research on adolescent and young adult sexual development (e.g., Lefkowitz & Gillen, Citation2006 Tolman & McClelland, Citation2011).
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