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Critical Introduction - The Meaning of Sexual Health |
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What is Sexual Health?
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Example: The sexual health of women - The Victorian Ideal
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In the 19th century, the WHO definitions would have been rejected even in our own culture. At that time, the main purpose of sexual activity was still believed to be procreation, a goal now barely mentioned by the WHO. Moreover: At least women would not have been granted a right to sexual pleasure. On the contrary: A healthy woman was believed to have little interest in sex. She tolerated marital intercourse mainly because she wanted children and then fulfill her true calling as a mother. A typical statement of this belief was provided by the eminent Victorian physician
William Acton (1813 -1875) in his book "The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs” (1857): "I should say that the majority of women, happily for them, are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind".
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