Negotiating Sexual Agency: Postmenopausal Women's Meaning and Experience of Sexual Desire

The purpose of this feminist grounded theory study was to understand the meaning and experience of postmenopausal women's sexual desire. Data collection from 22 postmenopausal women who were ongoing participants of the TREMIN Research Program on Women's Health occurred via audiotaped, tele...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2007-02, Vol.17 (2), p.189-200
Main Authors: Wood, Jill M., Mansfield, Phyllis Kernoff, Koch, Patricia Barthalow
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Bargaining
Discovery
Female
Feminism
Gays & lesbians
Gender Identity
Grounded theory
Health technology assessment
Humans
Internalization
Interviews as Topic
Libido - physiology
Meaning
Medical personnel
Middle Aged
Narration
Negotiating - psychology
Personal Autonomy
Postmenopausal women
Postmenopause - physiology
Postmenopause - psychology
Qualitative Research
Self Efficacy
Sexual desire
Sexual Partners - psychology
Sexuality - ethnology
Sexuality - physiology
Sexuality - psychology
Social privilege
Sociocultural factors
Telephone service
United States
Women's Health - ethnology
Womens health
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Summary:The purpose of this feminist grounded theory study was to understand the meaning and experience of postmenopausal women's sexual desire. Data collection from 22 postmenopausal women who were ongoing participants of the TREMIN Research Program on Women's Health occurred via audiotaped, telephone-based, semistructured interviews. Women's descriptions of their sexual needs and desires led to the discovery of the core category, negotiating sexual agency, which refers to women's ability to act on behalf of their sexual needs, desires, and wishes. Women negotiated their sexual agency within three main domains (or axial codes): their own sexual self, their partners, and the medical system. An important finding was women's internalization of sociocultural assumptions that privilege their male partners' sexual needs over their own. The findings of this study, especially the contexts in which women negotiate their sexual agency, are important for women, women's health care providers, and women's life partners to understand.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732306297415