The hidden meanings of sex: what therapists think sex is for?

The presented results are a part of a broader study on the mainstream and marginalized approaches in Polish sexology. 48 in-depth interviews with sex therapists representing various therapeutic approaches were carried out to elucidate diverse concepts of healthy sexuality and their impact on treatment goals in sex therapy. Although sex therapists unanimously indicate the well-being of the client as the crucial criterion of good sexual functioning, this study shows that the client’s well-being may be interpreted in various ways, translating into radically distinct objectives in therapy. One of the topics that differentiate sexologists the most involves the attitudes toward various roles that sex can play in human life. Although a few functions of sex are widely perceived as desired (e.g. its bond-building role), numerous others (e.g. sex for money, casual sex for pleasure) may be seen as an indicator of a psychopathology. The range of possible functions of sex that are recognized as proper, good or healthy depends strictly on the preferred psychotherapeutic approach and moral worldview of the therapists. Therefore, depending on the therapeutic school, the same sexual phenomena that are perceived by some sexologists as pathological and requiring treatment, are accepted or even affirmed by others. The presentation sheds light on the theoretical and normative assumptions that accompany the most frequently recalled roles that sex can play, and reveals that there is no common set of sexual norms on which all sex therapists would agree.

The work is a part of the project “The concept of norm in sexology - analysis of origins of diagnostic criteria and their social and ethical consequences”, financially supported by National Science Centre, Poland 2016/21/D/HS1/03401