This moment is a daunting one for many sexual health professionals and the millions of Americans who wish the 2024 election had ended differently.
With everything from abortion bans to the targeting of LGBTQIA+ people on the table, there’s a lot at risk in terms of sexual well-being for the masses.
Still, 2024 brought forth important sexual health knowledge worth embracing, perhaps even more so in light of current events. Here’s a look at five standout sexual health takeaways from 2024, according to experts.
While few States in the US have ever mandated sex education by law or required it to be scientifically accurate, 2024 saw increased conservative pushback to comprehensive sex ed. By mid-spring, 135 related bills were either active or introduced in state legislatures by conservative politicians, most aimed at limiting sex ed through grade 12 in public schools. While most of the bills haven’t passed, sex education professionals are concerned.
Proposed restrictions to sex ed have included banning the discussion of gender identity, sexual orientation and birth control, and increasing the emphasis on abstinence. That’s alarming, considering that 1 in 4 teens identify as LGBTQ+, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and research suggests abstinence-only sex ed leads to earlier and riskier sex among kids.
The pitfalls don’t end there, according to Julia Sheldon, a sex and relationship educator for teens. “When you don’t know the basics of what is happening to your own body, anything slightly different is terrifying and full of shame,” she said. “You’re also far more likely to be influenced negatively by peers and lack a sense of agency over your own life.”
Kids who receive comprehensive sex ed make better-informed choices about their bodies and experience less sexual violence and fewer sexually transmitted infections, Sheldon said. Such advantages carry on into adulthood, she explained, fueling “greater confidence, increased awareness when something about themselves changes, and healthier relationships of all kinds.”
Americans generally lack information about the broad range of diversity of genitals. That’s likely a major reason behind the increasing popularity of cosmetic genital surgeries, like labiaplasty and penis enlargement, both of which bring risks like less pleasurable sex.
Research from 2024 found that two-thirds of health care providers surveyed in different studies had encountered women who expressed an interest in genital cosmetic surgery.
“Vulvas come in all shapes and sizes, just as our bodies do,” said sex and relationship therapist Megan Fleming, PhD, who believes social media and unrealistic beauty standards lead people to seek cosmetic surgery. “Young women often don’t see visual images of the normal range of variability and may falsely believe the images they see, often edited or airbrushed, are the norm.”
While genital surgeries can help address medical issues, such as gender dysphoria and urinary incontinence, most procedures are cosmetic, said Fleming, and should be approached with thorough consideration. “Women need to be adequately educated on the risks, which include complications from reactions to anaesthesia, scar tissue, and loss of sensation,” she said.
Being intersex is about as common as having red hair or green eyes, yet intersex people are often overlooked. This year brought global efforts to end nonvoluntary surgeries for children with intersex traits, which means they have sex traits like chromosomes, genitals, or hormone levels that don’t match up with typical definitions of “male” and “female.” (They may have testicles and a vulva, for example, or XXY chromosomes.)
Hida Viloria, a writer, author, and consultant, was “very happy” to be among the co-authors of a study that advised ending these surgeries for prepubescent minors “because it examines and condemns nonconsensual genital cutting, not just in relation to intersex people…but as a universal human rights violation.”
Viloria finds that examination and condemnation of these surgeries are “critical to dismantling the practice.” These surgeries carry risks that range from scarring and chronic pain to inaccurate gender assignment and trauma that lasts into adulthood.
Viloria wants more people to understand that being born intersex is as natural as being born male or female, and as simple as having blue or green eyes. “I know this first hand, because my parents didn’t make a big deal about my being intersex, and just allowed me to grow up as I was,” Viloria added. “And it’s no coincidence that because of this, I grew up liking myself and my body, without the shame and fear of sex and relationships that so many intersex people who were subjected to invasive procedures to ‘help them’ have reported.”
Another 2024 study linked aligned sexual attitudes, behaviours and desires with relationship satisfaction among senior couples. Joan Price, an author of award-winning books about senior sex and an advocate for ageless sexuality, isn’t surprised by these findings. She is, however, “delighted that these satisfaction factors are finally being surveyed and examined.”
“Sexual expression alignment, what the two people want, how they want it, how they make it work despite the challenges of aging and health conditions, how they find pathways to sexual pleasure – all these contribute greatly to relationship satisfaction overall,” Price said, adding that she often hears from people who haven’t managed to do this.
“One person wants a different kind or frequency of sex, or doesn’t want it at all, and they can’t find a way to come together. This impacts all parts of the relationship.” In other words, she added, “Yes, sex matters.”
The artificial intelligence boom of 2024 affected the sexual health field as well. Sex toys that use AI, such as vibrators that sync up with apps and sensors to track and help increase your arousal (by doing things like upping stimulation or intensity), have increased by 25%. This year also brought the advent of AI sex coaches to the mix.
Fleming sees a lot of advantages to these technologies, especially “accessibility to accurate sex education and suggestions for fun and flirty ways to break out of relationship ruts, including evidence-based practices.” She likes that apps such as WeAreX “can help you connect with like-minded individuals and explore new aspects of your sexuality.”
Fleming said we can all feel a bit stuck at times in our relationships, and intimacy apps, like Intimately Us for Couples, Just Between Us and Love Nudge, “provide a necessary nudge to keep the sexy light on.” Just be aware that digital options aren’t a substitute for working with a qualified sexual health expert.
