Sexual Disorders and Gender

Sexuality, an integral component of many people’s lives, is affected by biological, psychological, gender, and other cultural factors. One component of sexuality is sexual behavior, which is important to [Page 1509]overall functioning. When sexual functioning becomes impaired, people may experience sexual disorders. Sexual disorders include diagnoses related to sexual dysfunction as well as paraphilias, which are atypical means by which some individuals achieve arousal. Due to differing sexual anatomy, most sexual dysfunction diagnoses are specific to either men or women. While paraphilic disorders do not distinguish between symptoms for men and women, most of the people diagnosed with paraphilias are men.

Biological, social, and cultural variables contribute to differences in the definitions, rates of diagnosis, and perceptions of sexual disorders for men and women. This entry ...