Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence , Jenny A. Email: jenny. We obtained our data from the HER Salt Lake Initiative, a large, longitudinal cohort study of family planning clients in the United States who accessed free contraceptive services between March and March Baseline socioeconomic measures included Federal Poverty Level, receipt of public assistance, and difficulty paying for housing, food, and other necessities.
We found strong and consistent relationships between sexual wellbeing and economic resources: those reporting more socioeconomic constraints also reported fewer signs of sexual flourishing. Financial scarcity appears to constrain sexual wellbeing.
To support positive sexual health, the public health field must continue to focus on economic reform, poverty reduction, and dismantling of structural classism as critical aspects of helping people achieve their full health and wellbeing potential. Sexual health is public health. However, sexual wellbeing entails not merely the ability to avoid sexually transmitted infections STIs , unwanted pregnancy, or sexual violence; it also represents the opportunity for sexual flourishing, including a pleasurable, unstigmatized, and satisfying sex life.
The World Health Organization, 1 the American Sexual Health Organization, 2 and major scholarly outlets in public health have all underscored the salience of sexual flourishing and not just prevention of sexual infirmity. Sexual health research still heavily skews toward negative sexual health outcomes.
However, a growing body of empirical literature documents social and structural determinants of sexual wellbeing, 5 including disparities in who is most able to flourish in their sexual bodies.
