Does COVID ‐19 influence sexual behaviors?

Abstract

The Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) outbreaks affected Italy since the last days of February 2020. Increasing pressure on hospital facilities forced the Italian Government to establish a lockdown on the entire country, in order to flatten the transmission curve through severe social distancing measures. These interventions drastically changed many social behaviors, including sexual habits. The

Chitin‐lipid interactions and the potential relationship between Demodex and SARS‐CoV ‐2

“…Surveyed females queried on recent sexual behavioral changes in relation to the COVID‐19 pandemic have reported feelings of anxiety, fear, frustration, lack of sexual interest, and decreased desire to become pregnant. This is also in line with reports of lowered demands for sexually transmitted disease outpatient services 8,10,11 . However, it is possible that close skin‐to‐skin contact especially in seborrheic areas, either within families or via sexual contact, may be another route through which SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission may occur, and that such transmission may be enhanced by the presence of D .…”

Comments on “Does COVID ‐19 influence sexual behaviours?”

“…We read with great interest the article of Gaspari, Orioni, Viviani et al speculating on the potential sexual route of transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) virus 1 . Our team recently published our conclusions on the potential for sexual contact to act as vector through which infection is possible in which we underline the importance of several other possible mechanisms of viral transmission 2 .…”

“Sex as a way to gain some control”: Sexual subjectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Extant literature has established a relationship between psychological stress and risky sexual behaviors, such as lack of condom use, multiple sexual partners, as well as several STIs ( Dimou et al, 2014 ). Researchers theorize that the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic will decrease sexual activity rates ( Gaspari et al, 2020 ), and indeed, burgeoning empirical work finds decreases in partnered sexual activity ( Coombe et al, 2021 ; Hensel et al, 2020 ; Lehmiller et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2020 ). Additionally, prior work on health crises such as cancer suggests that the impact of those crises can have lasting implications for sexuality and intimacy, such as decreased sexual desire and emotional well-being ( Hawkins et al, 2009 ; Sears et al, 2018 ).…”