1. Body Image and Sexuality
Chapter 16

2. Body Image
Body image may be used to refer to an individual’s self-assessment of overall appearance, or the extent to which a person is satisfied with how his or her body looks.
Body image may also refer to the self-assessment of particular body parts or even self-assessment to bodily functioning as opposed to appearance.

3. Research More research has been done on women than on men.
Most studies have been done on Western cultures.

4. Global body satisfaction is the type of body image least predictive of sexual activity and functioning.
More relevant are measures of body image as experienced during sexual activity and measures assessing perceptions of those boy parts most relevant to sexual activity or sexual appeal.

5. The aspect of body image most relevant for sexual functioning appears to be the experience of anxious self-consciousness during sexual intimacy with a partner.
To the extent that a person is focused on body image concerns, he or she may focus less on aspects of the sexual interaction that should be arousing and enjoyable.

6. Most Frequent Body Image Problems
For men – the size of their penises.
For women – the size of their breasts
Breast augmentation surgery is the most commong form of cosmetic surgery performed in the US. In 2011, more than 300,000 such surgeries were performed, a 4% increase from 2010 and a 45% increase from the year 2000.

7. Some Possible Questions for Intake
Does how you think or feel about your body ever interfere with your sex life? If yes, in what ways?
Does it affect your frequency of sexual activity, your ability to ask for what you want and set limits with your partners, or distract you from focusing on your pleasure during sex?
What have you tried before to work around the problem? What happened?

8. Treatments
Address thoughts experienced by the client during sexual activity.
Challenge “negative mind reading” of the client about their partner.
Use systematic desensitization.
Encouraging physical exercise may improve body image, even in the absence of weight loss.

9. Human nature is such that we more readily compare our circumstances with those who are better off than us rather than those who are worse off.
Part of the value in exposing particular clients to a wide range of images of bodies and genitals is to make explicit that not everyone is thinner, more muscular, or more attractive.