World Sexual Health Day 2025: How Taboo Around Sex Is Affecting Your Health

World Sexual Health Day is recognised on the 4th of September each year to raise awareness and talk about the importance of sexual health in reference to our overall health. The day was initiated by the World Health Organisation along with UN's Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP) to encourage fostering healthy life choices surrounding sexual health. This also involves educating people on sexually-transmitted diseases. Last year, WHO published a special issue discussing sexual health, rights and well being. Recognising this day helps us raise awareness about not only sexual health but how taboo around sexual health can affect our overall health.

When conversations surrounding sex and sexuality are silenced or met with shame, people are less likely to seek reliable information, treatment or even preventive care. Studies suggest that this stigma can delay testing of HIV or STIs. It also reduces use of contraception and condoms and discourages women from seeking testing for cervical cancer or even a HPV vaccination. Particularly in India, general silence surrounding sexual health contributes to unsafe abortions, untreated sexual dysfunction and even lack of proper sex education for adolescents. Besides causing a negative impact on our physical health, this taboo worsens our mental health by fuelling stress, shame and discrimination, especially for women and sexual minorities. In short, this gap in willingness to be open about sexual health is greatly detrimental to our health at large. In this article, we uncover how taboo around sex can impact our overall health.

Here's how taboo around sex is affecting your overall health

1. Delayed testing = delayed treatment

People often delay or avoid getting tested for STI/HIV due to shame and stigma around both. This also delays the onset of treatment and affects overall health. Reviews have consistently shown that stigma around STIs acts as a barrier to testing, linkage to care, disclosure and treatment adherence. WHO explicitly links stigma with lower testing and delayed care.

2. Lack of contraception

Lower condom/contraception use due to the embarrassment and judgement especially among youth. Adolescents report shame and embarrassment as key barriers to sexual health information and services. Studies have also documented stigma reducing condom uptake.

3. Lack of screening in women

There is avoidance of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination among women because of modesty, embarrassment, or sexual stigma. This stigma also extends to mammograms for breast cancer. Systematic reviews identify embarrassment and stigma as major barriers to Pap/HPV testing.

4. Unsafe abortions

Due to lack of proper access to education as well as public dialogue, many resort to unsafe ways to go about an abortion. WHO and peer-reviewed syntheses show stigma drives secrecy, delays care, lowers quality and increases unsafe procedures like unsafe abortions.

5. Menstrual health

Stigma around menstruation harms health, participation and care-seeking. Evidence reviews link menstrual stigma to poorer health and social outcomes, absenteeism, and delayed care.

6. Sexual minorities

Sexual minority means people who identify themselves as part of the LGBTQ+ community. They are often met with exclusion. Stigma surrounding sexual minorities poorly affect their mental health and raises risk of suicide. Peer-reviewed work shows shame mediates disparities in depression and anxiety among sexual minorities.

7. Sexual violence

Taboo fuels intimate sexual violence and lowers the possibility of help-seeking. WHO documents wide-ranging health harms from IPV. Stigma, silence and victim-blaming reduce disclosure and service use.

8. Adolescent health

Adolescents often miss out on comprehensive sex education which leads to riskier behaviours and poorer outcomes. UNESCO and WHO syntheses show good-quality sex education improves knowledge, reduces risky behaviours, and supports gender-equitable attitudes.

These factors cause detrimental effects to your health. Making smart choices when it comes to your sexual health is key to preventing issues later on.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

References

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