A sexual empowerment process predicting heterosexual women’s sexual pleasure

ABSTRACT

Gender-based inequities within patriarchy create barriers to women’s sexual well-being. This study integrated empowerment theory with research on heterosexual women’s sexuality to examine multiple factors related to sexual pleasure. An empowerment process is one mechanism through which less powerful individuals gain influence and power that results in increased opportunities to control decisions that affect their lives. Although psychologists have been studying empowerment for decades, sexual empowerment has been under-explored. In this study, 253 heterosexual undergraduate women completed a questionnaire assessing sexual empowerment dimensions, including critical consciousness about gender and sexuality, sexual subjectivity, sexual assertiveness, and sexual pleasure. Data were analysed with structural equation modelling. A mediated sexual empowerment process in which critical consciousness was indirectly related to sexual pleasure through two mediators, sexual subjectivity and sexual assertiveness, was supported. To the extent that women can reject heteronormative beliefs and conform less to patriarchal norms of sexual fidelity, they may be able to realise more sexual subjectivity, assertiveness, and pleasure. This study has implications for rights-based sexual education and pleasure-inclusive clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual empowerment
• sexual subjectivity
• sexual pleasure
• women
• sexual assertiveness
• feminism

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dr. Shelly Grabe, Dr. Eileen Zurbriggen, Dr. Phillip Hammack, Dr. Marcia Ochoa, Dr. Doug Bonett, and Dr. Anjali Dutt for their guidance and support; to my research assistants for their help; and to the participants for sharing their time and experiences.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of California, Santa Cruz Psychology Department Mini Grants, and the University of California, Santa Cruz Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship.