Sexual Rights as Human Rights: A Guide for the WAS Declaration of Sexual Rights

Sexual health, sexual rights and sexual pleasure: meaningfully engaging the perfect triangle

“…This growing understanding has been reflected in the work of WHO 10 and other United Nations (UN) agencies, such as the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), including in their inter-agency statements (for example, on forced sterilisation, 11 elimination of discrimination in health care settings 12 and elimination of violence and discrimination against LGBTI people, 13 ) as well as the work of international non-governmental organisations such as IPPF. 14 The World Association for Sexual Health (WAS), whose work has contributed significantly to the understanding and acknowledgement of sexual rights internationally, issued a revised Declaration of Sexual Rights in 2014, 15 and an accompanying Technical Document 16 taking a comprehensive approach to sexual rights as human rights from a multi-disciplinary perspective and, importantly, with great attention to pleasure as an element of sexual health and sexual rights. 17 Civil society organisations internationally, regionally, and locally, such as CREA, 18 the Sexual Rights Initiative, 19 and The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, 20 and scholarly initiatives with a strong focus on advocacy, such as Sexuality Policy Watch, 21 have contributed significantly to the advancement of sexual rights in the international, regional, national and local political spheres.…”

“…For example, rape laws that do not recognise rape in marriage, or consider any sexual act to be rape if it occurs with a person under the age of 18 years old, or recognise only vaginal penetration by a penis as rape, exclude many people from the spectrum of protection. 16 Thus, application of the triangle approach to sexual health, rights and pleasure proposed here would require not only careful analysis but also amendment of laws and policies to ensure they do not inadvertently discriminate, and that they respect the rights-based definitions of sexuality, sexual health, and pleasure presented in Box 1. Some positive developments are occurring in this regard at both the international and national levels.…”

Navigating Tensions About Resident Sexual Expression in Alberta’s Continuing Care Homes: a Qualitative Study of Leaders’ Experiences

“…In recognition of the inter-relationship between sexual expression and well-being, the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) developed an international Declaration of Sexual Rights (Kismödi, Corona, Maticka-Tyndale, Rubio-Aurioles, & Coleman, 2017;. The WAS Declaration built upon prior work done in sexual and reproductive justice, and linked sexual rights with human rights already entrenched in national laws.…”

“…They have also lived through the legalization of same sex marriage and changing public discourse around sexuality and sexual expression. These historic events in North America drew attention to the taboos, stigma, discrimination, and human rights violations related to sexual health, and recognized human rights related to sexuality (Kismödi et al, 2017;. Relative to earlier generations, current and upcoming continuing care populations may have broader views about sexuality and different expectations about sexual rights.…”

A Large-Scale Test of the Replicability and Generalizability of Survey Measures in Close Relationship and Sexuality Science

“…Generalist sexual well-being. Sexual well-being is a biopsychosocial experience that goes beyond the absence of sexual dysfunction and disease (see Kismödi, Corona, Maticka-Tyndale, Rubio-Aurioles, & Coleman, 2017), and is considered to be an important aspect of overall physical and mental health and well-being (see Diamond & Huebner, 2012). A broad suite of attitudes, beliefs, motives, and behaviors fall under this umbrella of "generalist sexualwell-being" (World Health Organization, 2006), indirectly and directly promoting positive experiences that contribute to a sense of sexual wellness (e.g., Laumann, 2006;McCabe et al, 2010), while simultaneously reducing the likelihood of negative experiences (e.g., Auslander et al, 2007;Frederick, Lever, Gillespie, & Garcia, 2017).…”