What is Healthy Sexuality?

Humans are sexual beings. Essentially, all aspects of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves create our sexuality. This includes our culture, our values and beliefs, our gender, our sense of self, our relationships with other people, the people that we find attractive, what feels good to our bodies, our past experiences, and many more things. 

Health and healthy sexuality are states of balance within ourselves. They are not necessarily an absence of disease or illness.

The emphasis of this website is the body, or the physical self. However, since our bodies are affected by our mental, emotional, and spiritual states, it is important to address these areas too. For example, if our esteem or sense of self (mental and emotional health) is poor, we are less likely to take care of our bodies (physical health).

Respecting Cultural Diversity

The information here is designed to help you maintain and improve your sexual health. As much as possible, we have tried to present information in a non-judgmental way that respects the diversity of all GLBTT* people. 

While GLBTT* people may share some common experiences, we all come from different cultural backgrounds. Each of us belongs to a culture that shapes our values, beliefs, thoughts, language, and behaviours. So the ways that we understand and make choices about our health and sexuality will necessarily be different. 

Respecting Spiritual Diversity

Some people may not identify with any religion, but may still have a perspective that allows room for spirituality. Others may not identify with the existence of a spiritual self at all. Our goal is not to exclude anyone, but to include those who do identify with a spiritual aspect of themselves. Feel free to ignore the word ‘spiritual’ or to substitute it for any other part(s) of yourself that are more meaningful to you. For more information on this topic, you may be interested in the section on Spiritual Health.