Sexophobia is the fear of sexual organs or sexual activities[1] and, in a larger sense, the fear of sexuality. As such, it can be applied to the attitude of a person based on their educational background, personal experience, and psyche, or to general stigmatization from collective entities like religious groups, institutions and/or states.[2]

Health

Sexophobia in the clinical talk has an effect on the way patients speak to their doctors, as it manifests itself in the communication strategies that are employed to speak about private health problems.[3] In that sense, the use of neutral and veiled vocabulary by doctors can discourage patients to speak openly about their sexual issues.[3]

Otherwise, historian and sociologist Cindy Patton has identified sexophobia as one of the main trends that characterized the development of the second phase of the HIV epidemics in Great Britain, along with homophobia and germophobia.[4]

References

  1. ^ Definition by The Free Dictionary, based on the Segen's Medical Dictionary
  2. ^ Jackson, Richard (2004). (Re)constructing Cultures of Violence and Peace. Rodopi. p. 96. ISBN 9789042011496. Sexophobia is the social and personal stigma associated with anything related to the physical and psychological aspects of sex and sexuality. This is evident from the 1961 Soviet Moral Code (…)
  3. ^ a b Minichiello, V; Browne, J (1998). "Issues in clinical care of people being tested/treated for sexually transmissible infections". Venereology. 11 (4): 27. Retrieved 11 February 2017. Other researchers provide evidence of the impact of sexophobia on clinical talk through the identification of the strategies which are used to deal with embarrassing issues. These include the use of neutral and veiled vocabulary by doctors, which discourages patients from talking about sexual issues.
  4. ^ Aggleton, Peter; Parker, Richard (2002). Culture, Society And Sexuality: A Reader. Routledge. p. 337. ISBN 9781135360030. Retrieved 11 February 2017. On the other hand, there was widespread and continuing fear and prejudice about AIDS which found expression both unofficial circles (for example in media coverage) and in official indifference at a policy level. This phase is well characterized by Cindy Patton (1985) as one of 'homophobia, sexophobia and germophobia'.
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