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“Screw Health”: Representations of Sex as a Health-Promoting Activity in Medical and Popular Literature

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Abstract

Recently, scientific and popular press articles have begun to represent sex as a health-promoting activity. A number of scientific studies have identified possible health benefits of sexual activity, including increased lifespan and decreased risk of certain types of cancers. These scientific findings have been widely reported on in the popular press. This "sex for health" discourse claims that sexual activity leads to quantifiable physical and mental health benefits in areas not directly related to sexuality. Analyzing this discourse provides an opportunity to better understand both broader health promotion discourses and current norms and anxieties about sexuality. In this article, I place this "sex for health" discourse within the context of broader health promotion discourses and within the context of a number of historical and contemporary discourses connecting health and sexuality. I argue that although the "sex for health" discourse may serve to de-stigmatize sexual activity for some, it may also increase pressure on others to be sexually active and may further pathologize sexual "dysfunction." In addition, these representations often serve to further privilege a normative form of sexual behavior - coitus in the context of a monogamous heterosexual partnership - at the expense of non-normative sexual desires, identities, and practices.

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Notes

  1. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health promotion as “the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health” (WHO website).

  2. A. Clarke et al., “Biomedicalization: Technoscientifc Transformations of Health, Illness and U.S. Biomedicine,” American Sociological Review 68, No. 2 (April 2003): 171-172.

  3. R.D. Egan and G. Hawkes, “Childhood Sexuality, Normalization and the Social Hygiene Movement in the Anglophone West, 1900-1935,” Soc Hist Med 23, No. 1 (April 1, 2010): 56-78.

  4. Egan, 56-78.

  5. Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior,” (2001), http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/sexualhealth/. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  6. J.M. Irvine, Talk About Sex (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004).

  7. Irvine, 25. Emphasis added.

  8. World Health Organization, Defining Sexual Health: Report of a Technical Consultation on Sexual Health (2002), http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/gender_rights/defining_sexual_health/en/index.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  9. C.J. Charnetski and F.X. Brennan, “Sexual frequency and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA),” Psychological Reports 94, No. 3 (June 2004): 839-844.

  10. S. Jio, “8 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex,” WomansDay.com, 4 January 2010, http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Health/8-Surprising-Health-Benefits-of-Sex.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  11. Irvine, 25.

  12. Planned Parenthood and Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, “The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression,” Katharine Dexter McCormick Library (April 2003): 1.

  13. S. Ebrahim, et al., “Sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease: the Caerphilly study,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 56, No. 2 (February 2002): 102.

  14. P. Weiss, “An Orgasm a Day Keeps the Doctor Away,” Men's Journal, 3 April 2009, http://www.mensjournal.com/3-orgasms. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  15. A. Farnham, “Is Sex Necessary?” Forbes, 8 October 2003, http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/08/cz_af_1008health.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  16. B. Alexander, “Not just good, but good for you. Mounting evidence suggests sex helps keep us healthy,” msnbc.com, 1 July 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5263250/. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  17. D. Subrahmanyam, “Studies: sex linked to health,” Yale Daily News, 13 February 2008, http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/scitech-news/2008/02/13/studies-sex-linked-to-health/. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  18. S.A. Hall, et al., “Sexual Activity, Erectile Dysfunction, and Incident Cardiovascular Events,” The American Journal of Cardiology 105, No. 2 (15 January 2010). 196.

  19. G.D. Smith, S. Frankel, and J. Yarnell, “Sex and death: are they related? Findings from the Caerphilly cohort study,” BMJ 315, No. 7123 (20 December 1997): 1641-1644.

  20. See Smith.

  21. “Brazilians told to have more sexual intercourse to avoid illness,” The Telegraph (UK, 27 April 2010), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/7637074/Brazilians-told-to-have-more-sexual-intercourse-to-avoid-illness.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  22. C. Haran, “Good Vibrations: Uncovering the Health Benefits of Sex,” 2005, http://nydailynews.healthology.com/sexual-health/sexual-health-information/article1201.htm. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  23. For example, see C. Larmer, “10 surprising reasons sex is good for you,” The Daily Telegraph (Australia, 27 November 2009), http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/body-soul/surprising-reasons-sex-is-good-for-you/story-e6frf01r-1225804635974. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  24. S. Byrne, “For the weekend: How about some sexual healing?,” Consumer Report's Health Blog, 12 February 2010, http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2010/02/valentines-day-health-how-about-some-sexual-healing-sex-is-good-for-your-health-sex-survey.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  25. T. Ehrenfeld, “Six Reasons to Have Sex Every Week: Studies show that regular sex (with all due precautions taken) provides a host of surprising health benefits,” Newsweek Web, 10 December 2007, http://www.newsweek.com/id/74575. Accessed August 4, 2010. Emphasis added.

  26. A. Magee, “Sex is good for you: For fighting cancer to the common cold it's just what the doctor ordered (and men benefit most!),” Daily Mail (London, 11 February 2009), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1140388/Sex-good-For-fighting-cancer-common-cold-just-doctor-ordered-men-benefit-most.html. Accessed August 4, 2010

  27. See Ehrenfeld.

  28. NHS, “How sex and love can benefit health and wellbeing,” NHS choices, 14 February 2010, http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodsex/Pages/ValentinesDay.aspx. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  29. T. Cacchioni. “Heterosexuality and 'the Labour of Love': A Contribution to Recent Debates on Female Sexual Dysfunction.” Sexualities 10, No. 3 (1 July 2007): 306.

  30. Cacchioni, 316.

  31. Brody has authored a number of articles arguing for the superiority of vaginal-penile intercourse; for example, see S. Brody, “Blood pressure reactivity to stress is better for people who recently had penile-vaginal intercourse than for people who had other or no sexual activity,” Biological Psychology, 71, No. 2 (2006): 214-222. Brody also argues that the “ability” of women to experience vaginal orgasm is associated with greater psychosexual maturity; for example, see S. Brody and R.M. Costa, “Vaginal orgasm is associated with less use of immature psychological defense mechanisms,” The Journal of Sexual Medicine 5, No. 5 (May 2008): 1167-1176.

  32. S. Brody, “The Relative Health Benefits of Different Sexual Activities,” Journal of Sexual Medicine 7, No. 4 (2010): 1336.

  33. E. Cohen, “New Year's resolution: Have more sex,” CNN, 7 January 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/07/sex.health.benefits/index.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  34. For example, see C.A. Koelman et al., “Correlation between oral sex and a low incidence of preeclampsia: a role for soluble HLA in seminal fluid?” Journal of Reproductive Immunology 46, No. 2 (March 2000): 155-166.

  35. See Cohen.

  36. See Ehrenfeld.

  37. C.T. Hall, “A genuine feel-good story: Sex may help prevent prostate cancer,” SF Gate, 7 April 2004, http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-04-07/news/17424030_1_prostate-cancer-sexual-activity-cancer-deaths. Accessed August 4, 2010.

  38. See Farnham.

  39. See Alexander.

  40. See Magee.

  41. See Alexander.

  42. See Farnham.

  43. See Farnham.

  44. See Larmer.

  45. See Magee.

  46. D. Martin, “Pupils told they have a 'right' to a good sex life: That's the advice for youngsters from the NHS,” The Daily Mail (London), 12 July 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199132/NHS-recommends-pupils-orgasm-day-reduce-risk-heart-attack-stroke.html. Accessed August 4, 2010.

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  1. Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Kristina Gupta

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  1. Kristina Gupta
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Gupta, K. “Screw Health”: Representations of Sex as a Health-Promoting Activity in Medical and Popular Literature. J Med Humanit 32, 127–140 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-010-9129-x

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