Sexual Disembodiment: Sexual Energy, Trauma, and the Body

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of sexual disembodiment as a functional term for understanding the bodily dynamics of sexual trauma and the dissociative process that may follow. Its contribution lies in bringing an understanding of sexual health and sexual trauma into the framework of somatic psychology. It is suggested that sexual disembodiment can occur when the experience of sexuality causes distress; sexuality is then coupled with fear, dissociated to varying degrees, and suppressed from embodied awareness. While recognizing the primary role that biology and neurophysiology play in the formation of sexual identity, the authors also highlight the social construction of sexual life and suggest that oppression of nonnormative sexual identities can constrain healthy sexual expression. This article takes a holistic approach to sexual experience, combining an experiential understanding of sexual energy with a neurophysiological understanding of sexual trauma to frame a perspective on sexual disembodiment that is person-centered, socially informed, and critical of reductive tendencies within biomedical models of mental health. It is suggested that healing sexual disembodiment may be a critical step in liberating authentic sexual identity.