A comparison of sexually explicit illustrations for use in psychosexual therapy

Abstract

This quantitative study aimed to establish patients' preferred illustrations for educative use in psychosexual therapy by comparing their responses to photographs and line drawings both depicting sexual activity. A sample of 68 subjects, divided almost equally between the sexes and between the age groups 18-40 and 41-65, attending a sexual dif culties clinic at the Porterbrook Clinic, Shef eld were recruited. Nearly all subjects felt comfortable with both types of illustration and thought that they were helpful. Roughly 70% of subjects favoured photographs over line drawing as being the most informative and useful, and most appealing. However, preference was reversed when subjects were asked which illustrations were most acceptable for keeping at home, with 52% preferring line drawings. There were no signi cant differences between the age groups in their preference choices, in contrast to previous studies which have shown older subjects less accepting of sexually explicit material than younger people.

The use of sexually explicit material in clinical, educational and research settings in the United Kingdom and its relation to the development of psychosexual therapy and sex education

“…http://www.porterbrookclinic.org.uk/publicdocs/leaflets (accessed 10 March 2007). Note: Due to copyright reasons, the photographic image is not that used in the study by Brewster and Wylie (2002). The image shown in this review is similar to that of the study (Wylie 2007).…”

“…A primary difficulty in securing ethics approval for the study of Brewster and Wylie (2002) centred around a proposal that members of the public should participate in the survey as a 'control' group (Brewster and Wylie 2002). The principle concern of the ethics committee was that a volunteer cohort of the general public responding to an advertisement to evaluate a sexually illustrated information sheet for use within the clinic 'would not necessarily reflect the views of the general population'.…”

“…There were no published accounts of research establishing what sort of sexually explicit illustrations patients would find most useful, appealing and acceptable. A small study, with a sample number of 68 including partners of patients who agreed to take part, was undertaken to establish which of either (a) sexually explicit photographs or (b) line drawings, both with accompanying explanatory text, was the more informative and acceptable for keeping at home as an educational aid for patients undergoing sex therapy for sexual difficulties (Brewster and Wylie 2002).…”