Sexual health day promotes love, care in relationships

National

World Association for Sexual Health chose “love, bonding and intimacy” as the theme for this year’s World Sexual Health Day yesterday.
Rural Primary Health Services delivery project officer Kelwyn Browne said the theme focused on helping people understand intimacy in a relationship.
“Intimacy is about connecting with someone emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically, recreationally, and sexually,” Browne said in a statement.
“This does not mean jealous controlling behaviour but rather kindness, compassion, selflessness.
“This connection or meeting our partners with our brains first and practically implementing 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous or selfish) is the best recipe for satisfying sexual relationships.”
Browne said loving communication between partners meant being kind, patient and non-manipulative.
“Friction can build up between a couple when disagreements about sex or differences about frequency of sex comes up – remembering this Bible text and practicing kindness, patience, and consideration can reduce friction and help maintain love and sexual desire within a relationship.
“If friction grows, sexual desire and attraction goes down and it becomes a potential cause of distress, unhappiness, marital arguments and emotional and physical violence.
“So on this World Sexual Health Day, how about we do something kind for our wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends and talk about ways to increase love and our connections by doing something intimate,”
Intimacy building actions can involve going for a walk together at sunset or sunrise, making a meal that your partner likes, investing time to talk about how you’re both feeling and what needs you have that are not being met.