COVID19 and Sexuality
Creators
- 1. Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka-1340, Bangladesh
- 2. Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, UP, India
- 3. Indian Institute of Sexology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected
almost every aspect of human lives across
the globe; sexual life is not an exception to it.
However, larger robust studies are warranted
to determine the effects of COVID-19
and/or lockdown on human sexuality. In the
context of COVID-19, some immediate
questions should be addressed regarding the
sexual transmission of Coronavirus
(Holtmann et al., 2020), safe sexual practice,
regular sexual behaviour, pornography,
sexual minority group concerns, pregnancy
and childbirth during COVID-19 (Kumar,
2020), effective ways of dealing sexual
medicine emergencies, domestic violence
during the COVID-19 lockdown, effects of
COVID-19 on fetus and pregnancy
outcome, effect on mar riage and
cohabitation, challenges of commercial sex
workers and customers etc. Studies reported
that during this lockdown as well as postlockdown
period, pornography consumption
has been substantially increased (Mestre-
Bach et al., 2020). Erectile dysfunction can be
found in the COVID-19 survivors due to
endothelial dysfunction (Sansone et al., 2020)
and COVID-19 can also cause male infertility
(Vishvkarma and Rajender, 2020). One study
from the three countries of South-East Asia
(Bangladesh, India, & Nepal) found no major
change in sexual habit and increased
emotional closeness among heterosexual
couples (Arafat et al., 2020). Other studies
from Italy revealed a significant reduction of
sexual frequency and reduction in Female
Sexual Function Index (FSFI)score (Schiavi
et al., 2020).
COVID-19 affecting the sexual life can be
speculated in several ways such as the biology
of Coronavirus, risk of transmission,
psychological consequences of the
pandemic itself as well as the lockdown
measures, sudden changes in lifestyle,
changes in income, social aspects like social
exclusion and isolation which can be in either
direction.It has been seen that people with
psychiatric disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety
disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar affective
disorders, etc) also experience sexual
dysfunction (due to the nature of the illness
and side effects of the medications). It has
been seen that during this pandemic there is
increase in depression and anxiety (Roy et al.,
2020), which is likely to affect the sexual
functioning too. Similarly, people many times
self-medicate for their mental health issues
and encounter several side effects, which
might affect the sexual functioning
Files
1 covid 19 and Sexuality Editorial.pdf
Files
(584.6 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:ac636b58144ea6edd4289a7e007d6a77
|
291.1 kB | Preview Download |
|
md5:e8801e22ef5f5c1ea5edf5e6cf41fc35
|
293.5 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Related works
- Is derived from
- Journal article: 2581-575X (ISSN)
References
- Arafat, S.M.Y., Alradie-Mohamed, A., Kar, S. K., Sharma, P., & Kabir, R. (2020).Does COVID-19 pandemic affect sexual behaviour? A crosssectional, cross-national online survey. Psychiatry Research, 289, 113050.
- Holtmann, N., Edimiris, P., Andree, M., Doehmen, C., Baston-Buest, D., Adams, O., Kruessel, J. S., & Bielfeld, A. P. (2020). Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in human semen-a cohort study.Fertility and sterility, 113, 233-238.
- Kumar N. (2020). COVID 19 era: a beginning of upsurge in unwanted pregnancies, unmet need for contraception and other women related issues. The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care, 25, 323-325.
- Mestre-Bach, G., Blycker, G. R., & Potenza, M. N. (2020).Pornography use in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 9(2), 181-183.
- Sansone, A., Mollaioli, D., Ciocca, G., Limoncin, E., Colonnello, E., Vena, W., &Jannini, E. A. (2020).Addressing male sexual and reproductive health in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. JournalofEndocrinologicalInvestigation.https:/ /doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01350-1
- Schiavi, M. C., Spina, V., Zullo, M. A., Colagiovanni, V., Luffarelli, P., Rago, R., &Palazzetti, P. (2020). Love in the Time of COVID-19: Sexual Function and Quality of Life Analysis During the Social Distancing Measures in a Group of Italian Reproductive-Age Women. The journal of sexual medicine, 17, 1407-1413.
- Roy, D., Tripathy, S., Kar, S.K., Sharma, N., Verma, S.K. and Kaushal, V., 2020. Study of knowledge, attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51, 102083.
- Vishvkarma, R., &Rajender, S. (2020). Could SARS-CoV-2 affect male fertility?.Andrologia, 52, e13712.