Women’s genital self-esteem affects sex, health
From The Globe and Mail.com
By Zosia Bielski
Study finds shame about their body can hamper orgasm and keep women from going to the doctor.
Women who feel negatively about female genitalia find it harder to have an orgasm and are less likely to get regular gynecological exams, says a new study from Indiana University.
They are also often more critical of their own genitals – and other women’s – than men are, according to the study, published in the current issue of the International Journal of Sexual Health.
The anxiety some women feel about their genitals is rooted in messages gleaned from parents and pop culture, said study author Debby Herbenick, a sexual health educator with The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.
“Individuals may adopt negative attitudes toward women’s genitals as a result of cultural-level scripts that suggest that women’s genitals are unclean or dirty,” writes Dr. Herbenick, who is also associate director of Indiana’s University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
