“Your Vagina Is Not Supposed to Be This Scary Monster”: Young Heterosexual Women's Recommendations for Improving Sexual Satisfaction and Implications for Sexuality Education

ABSTRACT

Sexual satisfaction is an important component of sexuality, yet rarely discussed in sexuality education. In an effort to better understand young adult women's experiences and thoughts about sexual pleasure and satisfaction, we conducted interviews with heterosexual young women (N = 30, ages 18–25) attending college, asking their recommendations on how to improve women's sexual satisfaction. Two coders utilized grounded theory-based thematic analysis, which revealed three dominant themes: communication with sexual partners, sexual self-awareness and acceptance, and sources of information and education. All three themes fit broadly under women's sexual agency and societal acceptance of women's sexuality. Themes are discussed in relation to their applicability to sexuality education.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual communication
• sexual pleasure
• women's sexual agency
• sexuality and relationship education
• qualitative interviews