Sexuality is inseparable from sexual health and can refer to sex, gender identities, orientation, pleasure, intimacy, expression, and reproduction. While each element of human sexuality is important, all of these components interconnect to make us complete sexual beings. Educators and other human service providers thus require professional preparation to ensure they can meet the needs of their learners, effectively manage programming, and successfully implement strategies that allow individuals to embrace or manage their sexual existence. An inclusive approach to sexual health is best to meet the sexual health needs of all women, while ensuring their agency and control of their own bodies.
Sexuality is a natural occurrence, but one that is sometimes controversial. Female sexuality and the sexual health rights of women are particularly controversial. To understand the evolution of female sexuality, consider the shift in power dynamics between men and women [1]. The status of female sexuality and sexual health can be largely attributed to the change in power relations between men and women over time.Specifically, male dominance in society is connected with the role of men in reproduction. This was discovered through livestock domestication, when men observed the lack of reproduction if female animals were separated from male animals; they also observed that a ram or bull could impregnate several ewes or heifers. Extending from this discovery, women in some societies were viewed as being useful only for procreation and had very little social status; this view may have led to patriarchal standards for controlling female sexuality and female reproduction [1]. Even today, women's sexuality continues to be suppressed in some circles, while male sexuality has been generally dominating and accepted.This view has been both the foundation for and an obstacle to public health services for women. Because female sexuality has traditionally been equated with reproduction, most women's health programs are focused on women of childbearing age in an effort to prevent or support healthy pregnancies and parenting. Also, much of the debate regarding sexual rights and female sexuality is rooted in the legal issues of family planning and policies for reproductive health and contraceptive service provision [2].Title X is the sole federally funded program focused on ensuring family planning and preventive reproductive health services for women [3]. The Title X program services have significant health, social, and economic benefits, as they not only help women and couples avoid unintended pregnancy but also make invaluable contributions related to cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, infertility, and preterm and low birth weight babies [4]. While Title X programs continue to prioritize reproduction as the key issue in women's health, Title X empowers women to make choices about their reproductive health. At the state level, the North Carolina Division of Public Health, Women's and Children's Health Section (WCH) works to promo...
