1.2 What is Sexuality?

The Dimensions of Sexuality

Sexuality is comprised of multiple dimensions. As first explained in Dailey’s Circles of Sexuality model (1981), sexuality connects five different concepts: sensuality, intimacy, sexual identity, sexual health and reproduction, and sexualization.

Sensuality is the degree to which and how someone experiences physical or psychological pleasure from their body and those of other people. It includes:

• Stimuli from the senses, such as touch, smell, taste, vision, and hearing
• Skin hunger, which is the degree to which we want to be touched
• Eroticism and pleasure
• Fantasy
• Body image
• How bodies respond to sexual stimulation

Intimacy is how a person experiences emotional connections with others. It’s not limited to sexual or romantic relationships, but all relationships in life, such as those with our friends and family. In establishing intimacy with another person, it most often includes needing the following components in one’s actions or ways of communicating:

• Caring and sharing
• Liking or loving
• Trust
• Vulnerability
• Risk-taking
• Self-disclosure

Sexual Identity is the sense of who one is as a person and how they both explain and express those aspects to other people. It includes:

• Sex assigned at birth
• Gender identity
• Gender expression
• Gender roles
• Sexual orientation
• Romantic orientation

Sexual Health and Reproduction focuses on our bodies and how they function in the context of sexual activity and reproduction across the course of our lives, from birth to death. It includes:

• Anatomy and physiology of the sexual and reproductive systems
• Sexually transmitted infections
• Contraception
• Fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and childbirth
• Changes to the sexual and reproductive systems across the lifespan
• Challenges related to the sexual and reproductive systems

Sexualization is how power is used to influence, manipulate, or control others. Sexualization can be used in positive and negative contexts, based on consent. Sexualization includes:

• Flirting and seduction
• Withholding sex
• Sexual harassment
• Sexual assault
• Sexual abuse and incest
• Advertising and the media

All of the dimensions of sexuality influence the others. For example, the decision to share the results of sexually transmitted infections testing could be influenced by the level of intimacy and trust someone has with their partner. Or consider how a person’s past experiences with advertising and media could change how they believe they should act in future sexual encounters. Our attitudes, values, and feelings are influenced by the interplay of each of the five dimensions and is unique to each of us. Sexuality is a part of everyone, regardless of age, and is a natural part of human life that changes over time.

Our sexuality is also influenced by sources outside of ourselves. These include our friends, peers, and family, but it also includes larger organizations and systems, like schools, culture, faith, politics, law, and the media. How we view and express our own sexuality changes as we grow. Gaining more self-confidence, or being influenced by the people or systems that surround us, shapes how we think, act, and feel. You can express your sexuality in a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, thoughts, feelings, dress, and behaviors.

Student Perspectives: How Do you Define Sexuality?

Video Transcript