Motivations and Sexual Attitudes, Experiences, and Behavior of Sexuality Professionals

Abstract

This study examined the motivations for entering the field and sexual attitudes, experiences, and behavior of an international group of sexuality professionals. Participants were 252 individuals attending the XVII World Congress of Sexology who completed a questionnaire in English, Spanish or French. Most participants’ reported professional rather than personal motivations for entering the field in addition to interest. On average, participants reported little sexual communication with their parents as children. About one-third had experienced unwanted sexual activity as a child. Participants were mostly accepting of a range of sexual activities, although they were less accepting of some behaviors than of others. Twelve of the participants who had engaged in sexual activity with a casual or anonymous partner in the previous 2 years had not used a condom consistently. Participants reported high sexual satisfaction and good sexual communication with their partner. Nevertheless, 45% of the women and 35% of the men reported regularly experiencing one or more sexual problems. Few participants reported that their profession affected their sexual functioning negatively; in contrast most reported that it had positive effects on their sexual functioning. These results suggest that there are few differences between sexuality professionals and the general public.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Pierre Assalian, M.D., President, XVII World Congress of Sexology, Montreal, Canada, 2005, and Eusebio Rubio, M.D., President, International Scientific Committee, XVII World Congress of Sexology, Montreal, Canada, 2005, for their support. They also thank Ruthy Ben-Zion Shechter and Merav Sharon for their help during the conference. The authors also appreciate the input in questionnaire design of the Human Sexuality Research Group at the University of New Brunswick. This research was supported in part by unrestricted grants from Bayer Israel and CTS Israel.