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The Importance of Interpersonal Context When Conceptualizing Sexual Pain After Female Genital Cutting

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Notes

  1. To be consistent with Connor et al.’s terminology, I am using the term “sexual pain” to refer to pain during sexual activity experienced by women who have undergone FGC. However, as argued by Binik (2010) and Binik et al. (2002) and reflected in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), the pain is not inherently sexual but rather it is located in the genital and pelvic region and commonly triggered by penetrative sexual activities. The pain can be provoked in both sexual and non-sexual contexts. Thus, the terms genito-pelvic pain and pain during intercourse/sexual activity are typically preferable.

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Acknowledgements

Natalie O. Rosen is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She is grateful to Samantha Dawson and Serena Corsini-Munt for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this commentary.

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  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Natalie O. Rosen

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Natalie O. Rosen

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Correspondence to Natalie O. Rosen.

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Rosen, N.O. The Importance of Interpersonal Context When Conceptualizing Sexual Pain After Female Genital Cutting. Arch Sex Behav 50, 1887–1890 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01523-x

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