Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Alarcão, V.
Data de Publicação: 2016
Outros Autores: Machado, F. L., Giami, A.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/12144
Resumo: Research on how sexual changes are understood as dysfunctions versus normal change remains scarce, namely in societies where traditional gender roles persist among the growing diversity of sexual relationships and practices. This article discusses controversies on sexual function definitions through sociology of diagnosis and sexual scripting theoretical frameworks, drawing on 313 structured interviews with primary healthcare users of the Greater Lisbon area, followed by in-depth interviews with a subsample of 25 heterosexual men and women. The low level of agreement found between the scores of the most widely used instruments for sexual function evaluation in epidemiology studies and self-diagnosis may be understood as a challenge for the predominant biomedical model and a need to re-conceptualize sexual dysfunctions other than as organic dysfunctions, with implications for both research and practice. Results show that individuals not only challenge illness concepts and sexual dysfunction diagnoses and their treatments, as they also construct sexual problems based on their impacts in daily life. Demonstrating the permanence of traditional social scripts that operate in the definitions of sexual function is one way to understand gender as an embodied social structure and get adequate practice to the problem, particularly in the Portuguese society where sexuality remains highly gendered.
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spelling Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effectsSexual dysfunctionsSelf-diagnosisDiagnostic toolsGender differencesPortugalResearch on how sexual changes are understood as dysfunctions versus normal change remains scarce, namely in societies where traditional gender roles persist among the growing diversity of sexual relationships and practices. This article discusses controversies on sexual function definitions through sociology of diagnosis and sexual scripting theoretical frameworks, drawing on 313 structured interviews with primary healthcare users of the Greater Lisbon area, followed by in-depth interviews with a subsample of 25 heterosexual men and women. The low level of agreement found between the scores of the most widely used instruments for sexual function evaluation in epidemiology studies and self-diagnosis may be understood as a challenge for the predominant biomedical model and a need to re-conceptualize sexual dysfunctions other than as organic dysfunctions, with implications for both research and practice. Results show that individuals not only challenge illness concepts and sexual dysfunction diagnoses and their treatments, as they also construct sexual problems based on their impacts in daily life. Demonstrating the permanence of traditional social scripts that operate in the definitions of sexual function is one way to understand gender as an embodied social structure and get adequate practice to the problem, particularly in the Portuguese society where sexuality remains highly gendered.Routledge2016-12-05T15:20:31Z2016-01-01T00:00:00Z20162019-04-24T10:38:10Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10071/12144eng1468-199410.1080/14681994.2015.1088643Alarcão, V.Machado, F. L.Giami, A.info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-09T18:02:12Zoai:repositorio.iscte-iul.pt:10071/12144Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T22:33:28.136768Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
title Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
spellingShingle Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
Alarcão, V.
Sexual dysfunctions
Self-diagnosis
Diagnostic tools
Gender differences
Portugal
title_short Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
title_full Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
title_fullStr Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
title_full_unstemmed Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
title_sort Traditions and contradictions of sexual function definitions for Portuguese heterossexual men and women: medicalization and socially constructed gender effects
author Alarcão, V.
author_facet Alarcão, V.
Machado, F. L.
Giami, A.
author_role author
author2 Machado, F. L.
Giami, A.
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Alarcão, V.
Machado, F. L.
Giami, A.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Sexual dysfunctions
Self-diagnosis
Diagnostic tools
Gender differences
Portugal
topic Sexual dysfunctions
Self-diagnosis
Diagnostic tools
Gender differences
Portugal
description Research on how sexual changes are understood as dysfunctions versus normal change remains scarce, namely in societies where traditional gender roles persist among the growing diversity of sexual relationships and practices. This article discusses controversies on sexual function definitions through sociology of diagnosis and sexual scripting theoretical frameworks, drawing on 313 structured interviews with primary healthcare users of the Greater Lisbon area, followed by in-depth interviews with a subsample of 25 heterosexual men and women. The low level of agreement found between the scores of the most widely used instruments for sexual function evaluation in epidemiology studies and self-diagnosis may be understood as a challenge for the predominant biomedical model and a need to re-conceptualize sexual dysfunctions other than as organic dysfunctions, with implications for both research and practice. Results show that individuals not only challenge illness concepts and sexual dysfunction diagnoses and their treatments, as they also construct sexual problems based on their impacts in daily life. Demonstrating the permanence of traditional social scripts that operate in the definitions of sexual function is one way to understand gender as an embodied social structure and get adequate practice to the problem, particularly in the Portuguese society where sexuality remains highly gendered.
publishDate 2016
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2016-12-05T15:20:31Z
2016-01-01T00:00:00Z
2016
2019-04-24T10:38:10Z
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url http://hdl.handle.net/10071/12144
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dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv 1468-1994
10.1080/14681994.2015.1088643
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