Sexual Pleasure Matters – and How to Define and Assess It Too. A Conceptual Framework of Sexual Pleasure and the Sexual Response

Figures & data

Table 1. Definitions of Sexual Pleasure.

Source	Definition
Guggino and Ponzetti (1997) cited and adapted in Katz and Schneider (2015, p. 453)	“[Sexual] Pleasure includes positive feelings of satisfaction, [excitement,] love, and romance.” [information in brackets added to this sentence from other parts of the same article]
Abramson and Pinkerton (2002, p. 8)	“Sexual pleasure consists of those positively valued feelings induced by sexual stimuli. Notice that this conceptualization encompasses a broad range of sexual pleasures, from the soothing sensations of sensual massage, to the explosion of feeling that accompanies orgasm.”
Horne and Zimmer-Gembeck (2006, p. 126)	“Sexual pleasure is defined as a sense of well-being derived from the experience of being sexual and, as such, is an essential component of sexual subjectivity.”
De la Garza-Mercer (2007, p. 108)	“[…] for the purpose of our discussion and for the sake of simplicity, sexual pleasure primarily refers to the positive physical and subjective sensation and emotional experience resulting from stimulation of the genitals, breasts, and other erogenous zones. In this way, “sexual pleasure” encompasses a narrow range of direct behaviors that set in motion the aforementioned thoughts and behaviors that are more distally related to the fundamental factor of genital stimulation.”
Philpott et al. (2006, p. 23)	“Sexual pleasure is the physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment one derives from any erotic interaction.”
Higgins and Hirsch (2008) cited in Anderson (2013, p. 209)	No definition established. However, they propose five components of sexual pleasure: “[…] something that feels good, spontaneity and flow, closeness, partner’s pleasure, and eroticization of safety. The diversity of these components highlight the range of physical, emotional, and social factors that are at play in the experience of sexual pleasure; since sexual pleasure is often (although certainly not always) experienced with another person, interpersonal experiences are often involved in pleasure.”
Züricher Institut für klinische Sexologie und Sexualtherapie (ZISS, 2013, p. 9)	“Sexual pleasure is the ability to enjoy sexual arousal. […] since the brain and body form a functional unity, an improvement of the arousal function will directly affect sexual pleasure and, consequently, the ability to orgasm.”
Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing (GAB, 2016)	“Sexual pleasure is the physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment derived from solitary or shared erotic experiences, including thoughts, dreams and autoeroticism.”
Goldey et al. (2016, p. 2148)	“[…] sexual pleasure is highly multifaceted, encompassing physical experiences (e.g., sensory stimulation), cognitive experiences (e.g., getting outside the self), and emotional experiences (e.g., trust), as well as experiences that challenge mind-body dualisms (e.g., autonomy, which could facilitate intense genital pleasure and unique emotional experiences).”
Fahs and Plante (2017, p. 33)	“Analysis revealed four themes in women’s descriptions of good, happy and joyous sex: (1) Physical pleasure, wanting and orgasm; (2) Emotional connection and relationship satisfaction; (3) Comfort and naturalness; (4) Control over sexual scripts.”
Fileborn et al. (2017, pp. 2106 & 2107)	No definition established. However, their results suggested that, “for some [men], sexual pleasure was about bonding, intimacy and closeness, while for others, the corporeal, embodied pleasures of orgasm were most central. […] ‘Pleasurable’ sex occurred for many of our participants at the nexus of intimacy, bonding and physical pleasure.”
Kelly et al. (2017, p. 249)	“Women might experience a form of ‘connection pleasure’ which we understood as the pleasure or satisfaction they derived from feeling connected and close to their partner while experiencing emotional intimacy.”
World Association of Sexual Health (WAS, 2019)	Definition adapted from GAB-definition, including following addition: “fantasies, emotions and feelings can also be sources of sexual pleasure.” (“Sexual pleasure is the physical and/or psychological satisfaction and enjoyment derived from shared or solitary erotic experiences, including thoughts, fantasies, dreams, emotions, and feelings.”) [italics added to highlight changes]
Halwani (2020, p. 122)	“Sexual pleasure (a) is usually both pleasure-as-sensation and pleasure-as-enjoyment, with (b) the former playing a central role in that the latter typically depends on it and in that it explains why people seek or avoid sexual activity; (c) sexperience machines and other far-fetched cases notwithstanding, it is not an entity detachable from the activity but supervenes on it; and (d) is generally distinguished from nonsexual pleasure through the notion of ‘arousal felt in the genitalia’, itself to be supplemented by a phenomenological or physiological account of ‘arousal’.”
Vigil et al. (2021, p. 327)	“[…] we operationalized sexual pleasure as conscious, positive evaluations of physical sensations during sex, either localized in the genitals or throughout the body.”

Note. We included statements which followed the structure of “Sexual pleasure is…”, or something similar, followed by a conceptual or explanatory definition, or themes which specify how sexual pleasure is defined by interviewees in qualitative studies. We have reviewed more articles than those presented in the table but excluded articles from the table which did not formulate a definition as specified above and articles which referred to one of the definitions in the table. For a list of the reviewed articles, see the supplementary material.

Figure 1. A Sexual Response Surface.

Note. This graphic represents an illustrative visualization of a sexual response surface. This representation should not be overinterpreted as its shape needs to be verified by simulations and modeling of empirical data. For instance, a cusp surface (Huby, 1991; Levin, 2017) might better represent what happens during sexual responding, rather than the shape which is visualized here for illustrative purposes.

Figure 2. A Diagram of Sexual Response Concepts.

Note. The diagram does not specify causal mechanisms but conceptual relations and hierarchies.

Table 2. Proposed Domains of (the Loose Trait Tendency for) State Sexual Pleasure and (Strict) Sexual Pleasure Traits.

Domain	(Strict/Loose) Trait facets	State facets
Hedonic Domain	Arousal Enjoyment The ability/tendency to enjoy sensual stimulation and its psychophysiological consequences.	Sensual Pleasure Level of experienced pleasure through sensual stimulation and its psychophysiological consequences.
Interpersonal Domain	Bonding Enjoyment The ability/tendency to experience and enjoy the bonding-related rewards of sexual interactions.	Bonding Pleasure Level of experienced (pleasure through) feelings of closeness, affection, safety, and security during sexual interactions.
	Interaction Enjoyment The capability/tendency to enjoy pleasuring and being pleasured by a sexual partner (i.e., enjoying the sharing of pleasure).	Interaction Pleasure Level of pleasure experienced during sharing pleasure and from interaction with a sexual partner.
Intrapersonal Domain	Enjoyment-related Self-Efficacy Self-perceived confidence and competence (knowledge and skills on how) to engage in pleasurable sexual activities./ The tendency to be confident and competent about engaging in pleasurable sexual activities.	Pleasure-related Mastery Level of experienced mastery in creating pleasurable sexual activities.
	Enjoyment-related Self-Worth Evaluation of one’s sexual worthiness and feeling deserving of positive sexual experiences. /The tendency to evaluate oneself as sexually worthy and deserving of positive sexual experiences.	Pleasure-related Validation Level of perceived worthiness to experience positive sexual experiences and experienced self-validation during sex.

Note. Note that the state-domains include the word pleasure, while the trait-domains include the word enjoyment and that we differentiate between abilities (as more trait-like dispositions for experience) and capabilities (as more trait-like skills to bring about experience). Hereby, we aim to stress the difference between states of experience versus strict traits for bringing about experience.

Figure 3. A (Work in Progress) Diagram of the Sexual Response System.

Note. This diagram is based on and inspired by the work of Toates (2009), Bancroft (1999), Everaerd et al. (2001), Janssen et al. (2000), Barrett (2017), DeYoung (2015), and Robinaugh et al. (2019). AE = Arousal Enjoyment; BE = Bonding Enjoyment; IE = Interaction Enjoyment; ESW = Enjoyment-related Self-Worth; ESE = Enjoyment-related Self-Efficacy; ET = Enjoyment Traits; A = Arousability; IncRS = Incentive Reward Sensitivity; GenRS = General Reward Sensitivity. Double arrows indicate that the respective processes feed back into each other during processing. Strict traits act as parameters of the functioning of the state-processes (how strongly, quickly, frequently these re/act).⁴ The sexual response surface is added to show that the response emerges as the output of affective processing within context through emotivational construction. The diagram is not exhaustive. For instance, future diagrams need to incorporate inhibitory processes.

Figure 4. A Diagram of Sexual Pleasure and its Conceptual Relatives.

Note. The diagram does not specify causal mechanisms but conceptual overlap. We offer this visual alternative to the verbal conceptual specifications in the text.

Figure 5. A Diagram of the Interrelationship between States and (Strict and Loose) Traits.

Note. The diagram is inspired by the work of Fleeson (2001), DeYoung (2015), and Robinaugh et al. (2019). States are represented by each individual box, loose traits are represented as the tendency for experience across several state experiences, and strict traits are represented as causal factors that determine how a state (and thereby loose trait) evolves and regulates. States are further shaped by the situations in which they occur, with situational variability being affected by contextual likelihoods and the traits of the individual. The traits are a function of nature and nurture, with inborn propensities being shaped by experience through adaptation, which is a function of someone’s (state) experiences. Psychometrically, we often infer strict traits from (self-)reports of someone’s tendency for experience, i.e., loose traits. Adaptation occurs through different learning mechanisms, among which, as discussed here, conditioning and heterostasis. Regulation can occur through several mechanisms, among which, as discussed here, physiological homeostasis. Other mechanisms for adaptation and regulation exist, such as, for instance, social modeling (e.g., Bandura, 2005) and emotion regulation strategies (e.g., McRae & Gross, 2020) respectively.

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