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Chapter 13: Sexuality in Women: Theoretical Perspectives

DOI:

10.1891/9780826164056.0013

Authors

  • Cleary, Vicki
  • Burton, Aileen
  • Hegarty, Josephine

Abstract

This chapter presents a conceptual framework for the study of female sexuality from a holistic perspective based on the work of Nancy Fugate Woods. Woods’s diagrammatic representation of sexuality encompasses three interrelated elements: sexual self-concept, sexual relationships, and sexual functioning. Body image has been considered both as a dimension of sexual self-concept and self-concept. The chapter highlights that feminine identity and gender role is important dimension of sexual self-concept and incorporates feelings of femininity and associated behavior such as the role of a mother. According to Woods, sexual function, sexual self-concept, and sexual relationships are inextricably linked, and any alteration in one dimension will automatically cause subsequent alterations in the remaining two dimensions, thus affecting an individual’s sexual health. The inclusion of sexuality within nursing theories devised by Roy; Watson; and Roper, Logan, and Tierney firmly placed sexuality within the sphere of nursing care.