Sex as leisure approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the quantity and quality of sex life

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has detrimentally affected people’s sex lives. The purpose of this research was to study sex as leisure approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the quantity and quality of people’s sex lives. The cross-sectional data were collected using an online survey methodology (N = 675). The results show that, on average, the participants’ tendency to view sex as leisure has deteriorated during the pandemic, which is a problematic health risk factor because people’s capacity to view sex as leisure was positively related to sexual frequency, desire, quality, diversity, intimacy, and satisfaction during the pandemic. People who strongly believed that sex is leisure prior to the pandemic have preserved this view during the pandemic, which contributed to the resilience of their sex lives. All the decreases in the propensity to view sex as leisure happened among people who held a moderate view of sex as leisure before the pandemic. Socio-demographic factors, adjustment to lockdown, and changes in stress levels have also affected people’s sex lives during the pandemic. These results demonstrate that a strong(er) tendency to view sex as leisure can serve as a protective factor against the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s sex life.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• sex as leisure
• sexual behaviour
• sexual desire
• sexual satisfaction

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to express her appreciation to the students Damien Cavanaugh, Brooklyn L. Clough, Brianna Silveira, and Jessie Li for their help with recruitment and data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liza Berdychevsky

Liza Berdychevsky, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Berdychevsky’s research revolves at the nexus of sexual health and wellbeing in tourism and leisure contexts, adopting a gender-sensitive and a life course-grounded approach. Specifically, she investigates sexual behaviour, risk taking, positive sexuality, and sexual health education needs among young and older adults in various leisure and tourism contexts. Her research contributes to a deeper understanding of the issues associated with sexual health in tourism and leisure contexts and offers directions for health education programmes and prevention and intervention methods. Dr. Berdychevsky recently co-edited a special issue on innovation and impact of sex as leisure in research and practice in Leisure Sciences and a book on the light and dark sides of sex in tourism. She published in leading academic leisure, tourism, sexuality, health, and gerontology journals and serves as an associate editor in Leisure Sciences, an editorial board member in Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, and Annals of Leisure Research, and a consulting editor in The Journal of Sex Research.