A Positive & Healthy Sexual Self Worth is more than just sex. It impacts the Sexual Health & Sexual Relationships.

There is always a buzz and conversation around self-confidence and self-esteem. But have you ever known or spoken about sexual self-esteem? An innate aspect of self-confidence and self-esteem. In short, sexual self-esteem is referred as the positive or negative regard of one’s sexuality and the acceptance of the same. Confused? Keep reading to get more clarity on the same.

When in a relationship, what do you expect from your partner? Love, respect, and support. The moment you receive this, the next question, you ask yourself is, ‘Do I deserve this?’. We all question isn’t it? Do you feel this? Pause – Worry not. You are not alone in this. Just like you, up to 40% of women in the world, go through the same emotion on a daily basis.

The answer to this question is very important. Why? Because, the way you feel about yourself – your self-esteem – has a very big hand in your ability to have a healthy sexual relationship with your partner. If you don’t think you are not worthy of happiness, you also intend to think that you are unworthy of a healthy and happy sexual life. And this is where sexual self-esteem comes into the picture.

So, sexual self-esteem is how you view your sense of self as a sexual being. For instance, we constantly keep questioning our personality – Am I deserving? Am I appealing? Am I sexually attractive and competent? All these questions blend into the perspective of your sexual self-esteem. In an ideological world, the degree of sexual self-esteem must be high. But the reality is contradicting. There are multiple reasons that cause and affect the level of sexual self-esteem in an individual.

Sexual self-esteem is affected by a number of factors such as past experiences of childhood sexual abuse, physical and emotional harassment during adolescence, body shaming and embarrassment, lack of open communication, etc. These sexually demeaning experiences of the past can have an alarming brunt, causing sexual-disability, interfering in the functioning of the sexual life of an individual. Studies have shown that low sexual self-esteem is seen, both in, male and female, but typically more in women.

Women with low sexual self-esteem are prone to have more problems in their sexual life. This is usually related to how a woman perceives her body and how confident is she about her self-image. For instance, psychological surveys have revealed that an overweight or lean woman, miss sexual desire, avoid sexual encounters and typically lack healthy sexual life.

Male or female – doesn’t matter. Sexual self-esteem is complicated and personal. The best part is we have diagnosed the problem area. It’s time to overcome the same. Firstly, instead of denying, let’s commit to ourselves to take the first step towards our sexual self-esteem. Let’s build healthy sexual self-esteem. Let’s pledge to comfort, soothe, and take care of our body-image instead of abusing it. Let’s feel empowered and beautiful about ourselves no matter the body shape and size. Let’s appreciate the person we are. In short, let’s embrace ourselves as we are.

NOTE: Most of the time, it is advised to seek help from a counselor or a therapist. A person who could help you and hold you as you go through this journey of learning, unlearning, and healing.