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Photo credited to Disabled and Here.

Kathryn collaborated with Dr. Jess Gagui again for this week's blog as a follow up to their last blog focused on the historical context of hypersexualization and fetishization of BIPOC women and femmes.  Be sure to give that a read if you haven't already.  This week focuses on intervention strategies you can use when working with folks who voice experiences of hypersexualization, fetishization, asexualization, and body criticism for not fitting the standard of beauty: for example, white, thin, able bodied.  While last week's blog centered BIPOC women and femmes, we think you’ll find these intervention strategies helpful for many other populations you work with. 

Clients’ experiences related to identity and culture aren’t off limits to clinicians:

Clinicians can, rightfully so, feel cautions to challenge what clients admit as cultural messages.  For example, "I grew up in a Catholic home and still view sex as 'dirty' and 'sinful,' and I’m havin...

Welcome to the second part of our three-part series on addressing sexuality and intimacy after spinal cord injury (SCI). Today, we’ll delve deeper into the crucial role that Occupational Therapists (OTs) play in supporting individuals with SCI in this aspect of their lives. With their expertise and unique perspective, OTs can provide invaluable guidance and interventions to empower SCI patients and promote a positive and fulfilling sexual experience. The OT can be the shining light of comfort and advocacy! OTs are perfectly situated to lead these efforts in a clinical setting both for their patients and for the interdisciplinary team. Let's continue our exploration of the strategies and approaches that OTs employ in this domain.

Education and Understanding:

One of the primary responsibilities of OTs is to educate SCI patients about the impact of their injury on sexual health. By providing comprehensive education, OTs help individuals understand the changes in their bodies and navi...

I recently attended a webinar by Dr. Farris on Sexuality and Intimacy After Brain Injury with the Brain Injury Association of America. It was a great presentation that shed light on some important points that we as OTs should be making sure to address and incorporate into our practice.  

Consider the Partner

When it comes to addressing sexuality and intimacy with a client after brain injury it’s important to consider the impact on the partner, too. How has this injury impacted the couple? What is the partner’s comfort level with addressing sex and intimacy?

Studies have shown that, often, the client is typically comfortable with discussing changes in their sexual function with their healthcare providers and many individuals who did not receive sexual counseling within the first year after an injury wish they would have.

The impact of a brain injury doesn’t stop with the person directly affected. It’s not uncommon for the couple to have deal with connective instability and fru...

What’s an OT to do when Valentine’s Day is approaching, the clinic is covered in hearts and cupids, you're wearing red or pink on every portion of your body, yet your client shows up and says, “I’m dreading Valentine’s Day.”

You dig a little deeper.  

They say, “I’m dreading Valentine’s Day, because I know my partner will want to have sex with me and I have no desire for it.”

Ok, ok, ok, before you freeze up eyes wide open, here’s what you talk about:

Validate them: The hardest part about low desire when “sex is the last thing on your mind” is when it’s met with your partner’s higher desire – among all the things you’re juggling this can feel like a recipe for inadequacy, insecurity, resentment, guilt.

Knowledge is pleasure!  When your clients can understand the changes that happen in their body and how this impacts sexual health, they can also enlighten your partner better about what their experiencing.  

Next, know you can say no.  Reinforce to your client this exact message, h...

I’m SO excited to share my latest “Teach Me Sex” interview with you. It was juicyyy!

I had the pleasure of speaking with Sormeh, a fellow OT and recent OTD graduate. Sormeh's identities include queer, first generational woman of color, and hard fem. She has been active in the queer community for just over a decade and was previously active in the polyamory community.

To Sormeh, queerness falls on a spectrum. It involves all sorts of people, bodies, and includes whatever body parts those individuals do or don’t have. It also shouldn’t be dependent upon how others view you. I think this explanation is a great reminder that sexual identities aren't simply one size fits all terms. - they are identities NOT terms or categories. There are many qualities and traits that fall within an individual’s sexual identity that are unique to them. And sexual identity isn’t defined by how someone looks or how they are viewed by others.

And when it comes to sex, for Sormeh, it seldomly includ...

One question I often get asked is, how should I address sexuality and intimacy with teens and young adults? And I get it... it sounds like it can be an uncomfortable conversation to have! But, I'm here to tell you it doesn't need to feel that scary. There are a handful of topics that fall within our scope of practice and relate to sexuality and intimacy.  

If you haven't already heard of the podcast OT After Dark, it's another great resource for learning more about this niche world of sex, intimacy and OT. Episode 19, Accessible Sex Education: Addressing the Sexual Needs of Individuals with IDD (Intellectual and Developmental Disability) is a great listen and is available on Spotify and apple podcast!

In this episode Dr. Elizabeth Schmidt, PhD, shares her dissertation research and current recommendations on how to address sexuality and intimacy with teens, young adults and more specifically individuals with IDD. 

Individuals with IDD have greater rates of sexual abuse and assault...

I have often thought about the lack of discussion around pleasure and conversely the prioritization of discussing sexual risk and pathology in sexual dialogues – to include academic dialogues, professional dialogues, and even familial or personal dialogues.   

Dr. Jones (2019) reviewed 300 articles from the Journal of Sex Research that were published between 2010-2015 and found disease and pathology were the main focuses of the articles. 

The articles had little discussion of the role pleasure plays in both enhancing quality of life and motivating high-risk behaviors. 

The researcher also highlighted the heteronormativity and lack of inclusivity pervasive in the articles.  They used a feminist and queer lens to challenge White Supremacy and heteronormative ideology pervasive in the articles which investigates very few social factors related to sex and sexuality.

For example, among many, the researcher found most of the articles related to female sexuality emphasized self-esteem, ...