“Sexual health” refers not only to sex and the desires/behaviors toward sex, but rather covers all health aspects of “sex and life”
For example, the health of the respective sex organs of men and women. There are diseases transmitted through sex like STIs. And there are diseases, for example, cancer, or the fear of acquiring these cannot be called a state of health. This also includes mental and physical health involving child birth such as unwanted pregnancies, infertility, and infertility treatments. Being a victim of sexual violence can greatly diminish one’s sexual health, and the purveyor of the violence cannot be called healthy either. Social circumstances and institutions also have a large impact on the physical and mental health of a person in regards to physical sex, sexual orientation, sexual awareness and sexual expression.
“Sex” is also involved in many scenarios we find ourselves in living in society such as our human relationships with sexual partners, communication skills we use to build those relationships, and our mental health. Improving these factors leads to an improved “life” itself.
For this reason we strive to arm ourselves with sufficient knowledge, select from among multiple sources of information and select medical facilities and social resources in our actions–in order to enable appropriate sexual behavior for both “sex and life”.
