Advancing Sex-Positive Social Work Research and Practice

There is a growing concern within social work about the absence or lack of human sexuality training and education that social workers receive, specifically about sex-positive and pleasure-inclusive sexual wellness (Dodd & Tolman, 2017; Williams et al., 2016). As Dodd (2020) described in her book Sex-Positive Social Work, “a sex-positive perspective encourages agency in sexual decision making and embraces consensual sexual activity as healthy, something to be enjoyed without stigma or shame. It embraces sexuality as a human right” (p. 3). However, the scarce training that many social workers receive regarding a limited range of sexuality issues, such as sexual assault, HIV, and pregnancy, has traditionally followed a deficit-based framework that comes from a medicalized model of conceptualizing, pathologizing, and diagnosing sexual health as a problem in need of professional evaluation, control, and treatment (Myers & Milner, 2007). A deficit-based and medicalized model of sexuality in many ways directly conflicts with national and global aims toward the advancement of holistic sexual wellness, particularly for people with marginalized identities, such as children, women, sexual and gender minority people, sex workers, people living with disabilities, and people of color (Chmielewski et al., 2020; Fritsch et al., 2016; Harden, 2014). In response to these growing demands, social workers must examine how to develop a sex-positive framework within clinical practice as well as research

Agency (philosophy · Developmental psychology · Human sexuality · Pleasure · Political science · Population · Psychotherapist · Reproductive health · Shame · Social science · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Gender Studies · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work

• An ethical framework for simulation-based pedagogy

  Lance T Peterson, Jean Roberson et al.•Social Work Education•2024

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• The Routledge History of American Sexuality

  Kevin P Murphy, Jason Ruiz et al.•Routledge History of American…•2020

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• A Sex-Positive Framework for Research on Adolescent Sexuality

  Open Access•K Paige Harden•Perspectives on Psychological…•2014

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• Hypersexualization and the Dark Body

  Open Access•Siobhan Brooks•Sexuality Research and Social…•2010

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• Disability and sex work

  Kelly Fritsch, Robert Heynen et al.•Disability & Society•2016

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• Pathways to Pleasure and Protection

  Open Access•Jennifer F Chmielewski, Christin P Bowman et al.•Psychology of Women Quarterly•2020

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• Boundaries of Social Work or Social Work of Boundaries

  Andrew Abbott•Social Service Review•1995

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• Reviving a Positive Discourse on Sexuality within Social Work

  SJ Dodd, S J Dodd et al.•Social Work•2017

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• Globalization, contemporary challenges and social work practice

  Open Access•Lena Dominelli•International Social Work•2010

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