Making Healthy Sexual Decisions

Making Healthy Sexual Decisions

What is Sexual Health?

Like other ways we care for ourselves, we can make decisions that promote our sexual health.

Sexual health means you have information and skills and use them to make choices to act responsibly to protect your own health and also the health of others.

Sexuality is an important part of the personality of every human being.

Sexual activity is only one part of sexuality. It also involves gender identity and roles, intimacy, and reproduction. It involves values, beliefs, attitudes, desires, thoughts and behaviors, and relationships.

Sexual health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality.

It requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.

Taking care of your sexual health is an important part of maintaining your health in general. To ensure that you are sexually healthy, you need to have access to confidential, non-judgmental sexual and reproductive information and services to help you make informed decisions throughout your life.

You may wish to explore these links as they are helpful for all the information and services that can help you make informed decisions. 

Sexual Relationships
Sexual Decision-Making

Talking with Your Child about Sexual Health

 If you are a parent, you are the most important sex educator for them

Children start the lifelong process of learning about sexuality from the time they are born. As a parent, you have a wonderful opportunity to help your child grow up to be a loving, caring, sexually healthy adult.

Sexuality is much more than sex. It includes our sense of who we are and how we feel about ourselves as sexual beings. You teach your child by what you do and say. The tone of your voice and the feelings you express are as important as the words you use.

Most of us grew up in families and societies that gave us confusing messages about sex. You may feel uncomfortable about talking with your child if you grew up with negative messages or confusing information.

Things to consider:

• Who talked to you about sex?
• What are your own attitudes about sex?
• How might you pass on your feelings - both positive and negative to your child?

Below is a helpful link to talk to your pre/teen aged child:

Love is Respect

Written by: Joan Neave RN, MSN,  Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse,  Assistant Professor of Nursing Herzing University, Clinical Nurse Educator Rogers Memorial Hospital, Joan has several years experience working with survivors across the lifespan.