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Sexual Risk Behavior Among Women with Injected Drug Use Histories
Published in Michael W. Ross, HIV/AIDS and Sexuality, 2012
Anke A. Ehrhardt, Christiana Nöstlinger, Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Theresa M. Exner, Rhoda S. Gruen, Sandra L. Yingling, Jack M. Gorman, Wafaa El-Sadr, Stephan J. Sorrell
Among the small number of women who reported sexual behaviors with female sex partners over the last six months, the most common sexual practices were mutual masturbation and cunnilingus, ranging from three to 96 occasions in the six months. One HIV+ woman reported practices such as use of vaginal insertables on her partner, as well as “rimming,” “fisting,” and urination on her partner’s skin. No form of HIV protection was used in any of these situations. Transmission risk through contact with blood was reported by one HIV+ woman and one HIV – woman, and this was related to sexual activity during menstruation. Overall, only one woman, from the HIV+ group, reported safer sex precautions during sexual activity with another woman (using glove or condom when inserting her finger in her partner’s rectum).
The Natural History and Epidemiology of Herpes Simplex Viruses
Published in Marie Studahl, Paola Cinque, Tomas Bergström, Herpes Simplex Viruses, 2017
André J. Nahmias, Francis K. Lee, Susanne Beckman-Nahmias
Neonatal herpes represents the best example of the common failure of attempts at national surveillance, primarily due to difficulties in diagnosis. Australia and several European countries, mostly in the 1980s and early 1990s, have reported rates of 2–8 per 100,000 births (reviewed in Ref. 66). Similar low rates of 4/100,000 were obtained in a U.S. national survey in the 1980s, conducted over an 18-month period in hundreds of hospitals (164). All of the above rates are 5–10-fold lower than those experienced in an Atlanta hospital for low SES pregnant women, in three Seattle hospitals for mostly higher SES women than those in Atlanta, as well as in a children’s hospital in Helsinki (66,97,165). The Seattle experience over a 17-year period represents the most accurate data available, as it combined serological and clinical observations in pregnant women, with identification of the genital virus at delivery. Also evaluated was the transmission rate of the maternal genital virus to the progeny, with or without cesarean section interventions. Major problems in diagnosis in the mother are the commonly asymptomatic nature of her genital infection, mostly of the cervix at delivery. In the baby, lower reported rates can be due to the fact that the more visible signs of the baby’s skin lesions are often absent or actually misdiagnosed. In our recent review (66), we pointed to the need for better training of health professionals in the diagnosis of maternal genital herpes and neonatal herpes with the best tools possible—including paying more attention to infection of the cervix in the mother and of ocular infections in the baby (102). Use of type-antibody serological testing of pregnant women and their male partners is controversial (166), as HSV-1 is becoming more commonly involved in genital infections, and as late primary infections would yield seronegative results (167). It has been suggested that vaginal sex and cunnilingus be avoided in the last 1–2 months of pregnancy to avoid primary or initial first maternal genital infections (168).
Psychosocial and Behavioral Aspects of Women’s Sexual Pleasure: A Scoping Review
Published in International Journal of Sexual Health, 2021
Joana Reis, Leonor de Oliveira, Cátia Oliveira, Pedro Nobre
A qualitative study exploring women’s attitudes and experiences of cunnilingus found that receiving oral sex was viewed as central to sexual pleasure and orgasm by some women, although some viewed it as uncomfortable or less intimate than intercourse (Backstrom et al., 2012). In a quantitative study, 69% of women reported receiving oral sex was very pleasurable, whilst only 28% considered giving oral sex was very pleasurable (Wood et al., 2016). The same study found higher pleasure ratings for giving and receiving oral sex to a committed partner than to a casual partner. Receiving oral sex was rated as one of the highest sexually pleasurable activities for women (Barnett & Melugin, 2016; Pinkerton et al., 2003). In another study, entitlement to pleasure predicted verbal consent to oral sex as a function of self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure (Satinsky & Jozkowski, 2015).
Sleeping With Younger Men: Women’s Accounts of Sexual Interplay in Age-Hypogamous Intimate Relationships
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2020
The participants’ depiction of younger men as particularly generous lovers also merits discussion. This result is particularly intriguing considering that previous studies depicted a rather disappointing portrait of young adults’ ability to reach an egalitarian dynamic with regard to female/male sexual pleasure. Indeed, many studies show that while young women often perform fellatio on men, it is much less common for young men to perform cunnilingus on their female partners (Armstrong et al., 2015; Backstrom et al., 2012; Lewis & Marston, 2016). There is in fact a well-documented gap between young men’s and young women’s frequency of orgasm during heterosexual sex (Armstrong et al., 2015; Richters et al., 2006). Therefore, one cannot conclude that younger men are inherently attentive and generous lovers in every context. Instead, based on women’s discourses, I argue that women’s perceptions of younger men as fantasizing about older women combined with women’s perceptions of young women as passive sex partners contribute to shifting the gender power dynamics at play during sexual interactions, ultimately facilitating women’s ability to renegotiate interpersonal sexual scripts with younger men. Women’s perceptions of younger men as fantasizing about older women provided women with more confidence in themselves, which then facilitated their ability to assert and enjoy themselves sexually.
Consuming Ecstasy: Representations of Male and Female Orgasm in Mainstream Pornography
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2018
Léa J. Séguin, Carl Rodrigue, Julie Lavigne
Finally, one sexual script relative to orgasm was notably absent from the analyzed videos: the discourse of reciprocity (Braun et al., 2003). This discourse posits that “fair” sexual encounters involve orgasms for both partners and that a lack of reciprocity in these matters is problematic or “unfair” (Braun et al., 2003). However, some research suggests the ethics of reciprocity during sexual encounters tends to be present in sexual scripts for sex within committed relationships, as opposed to casual sex contexts with low levels of commitment (e.g., one-night stands) (Salisbury & Fisher, 2014). Indeed, some research suggests that as commitment increases in intimate relationships, concern for female partners’ sexual pleasure and orgasm also rises (Armstrong, England, & Fogarty, 2012). This trend is further illustrated by an increase in the incidence and frequency of cunnilingus (Backstrom, Armstrong, & Puentes, 2012) and reported levels of sexual enjoyment (Galinsky & Sonenstein, 2013) in committed romantic relationships, compared to casual sex scenarios. Thus, in light of the present study’s findings, mainstream pornography is more representative of casual sex scripts than of sex within committed relationships.