Substance linked sex : Sexual experiences altered by psychoactive substances from the viewpoint of the Sexocorporel approach

Abstract

Substance linked sex (SLS) has recently received an increasing amount of media and public health attention. Research on the topic so far has mainly been coloured by the chemsex subculture specific to men who have sex with men in certain urban settings and drug-related morbidity and mortality. Fewer are the studies investigating SLS from the perspective of people of all sexual orientations and only a handful of studies have done so with a salutogenic approach. The aim of this master`s thesis is to investigate changes to sexual experiences induced by psychoactive substances using the framework of the Sexocorporel approach in predominantly heterosexual individuals. Within the setting of qualitative in-depth interviews, a number of subjects that had recently experienced SLS were interviewed about their experiences based on the tenets of the Sexocorporel approach. Substances caused variegated changes to the sexual experience and these were subsequently analysed from the particular viewpoint of Sexocorporel. Furthermore, sustainable changes to sexuality due to the experiences of SLS are also discussed, as are conclusions on SLS that can be extrapolated to the clinical work with clients in sexual therapy