Over the past decade, there has been a notable expansion in research relating to body image and sexuality. However, most researchers have conceptualized and measured this concept in a variety of different ways. This can be explained by the fact the studies have sampled participants of different ages, even though other demographic variables such as education are significantly comparable. Correlational analysis, which is widely adopted in these studies, indicates a notable correlation of body dissatisfaction in relation to body image and female sexuality. This brings difficulty in drawing one coherent conclusion across studies. The primary focus of this paper is to better understand how body image is related to female sexual functioning and behavior.
Based on scientific literature, it's not easy to explain the relationship between body image and sexuality. The reviews done across studies clearly show existence of direct relationship on major aspects of female sexual functioning and behavior with negative body evaluations. Mostly, women with negative body image have low body satisfaction during sexual interactions with their partners. According to Ackard et al. (2000); Koch et al. (2005); Seal et al., (2009), such women have lower levels of desire and arousal, are likely to avoid sexual activity (Reissing et al., 2005; La Rocque & Cioe, 2010), may not achieve orgasm and thus not being sexually satisfied (Sanchez & Kiefer, 2007; Yamamiya et al., 2006). .
As mentioned earlier, body image may negatively influence sexual arousal in women. In a recent study Ackard, Kearney- Cooke, and Peterson (2000) examined the effects of body image and self-image on women's sexual behaviors. For this particular experiment, the sample consisted of 3,627 Northern American women (mostly Caucasian) between the ages of 17-74. They found that women who were more satisfied with their body image reported more sexual activity, orgasm, and initiating sex.