You might think the biggest barrier to sex research is finding people who are willing to speak openly and honestly about their sexuality. But while that is an obstacle faced by sex researchers, they must first contend with several other issues before they can even focus on participants. Nevertheless, you can understand why so many barriers exist if you recognize how they stem from the same basis: the stigma surrounding sexuality.
It would be easy to say that people should ignore the stigma around sex, whether personally or professionally. However, ignoring stigma is not easy—or practical—when it has real consequences, as it so often does. You may have heard of teachers who have lost their jobs for supplementing their meager incomes with OnlyFans accounts or know kinksters who are extremely careful about disclosing their interests for fear of professional or legal consequences. Along these same lines, sexuality research faces other barriers that you might never have considered!
Sexuality Research Is A Funding Battleground
When it comes to research, lack of funding can be a deal-breaker. Without funding, researchers would have to donate their time outside of their daytime jobs, which sometimes happens. Nevertheless, an all-volunteer staff is not enough to produce research. Studies can be large undertakings with other costs, including the software necessary to securely gather and store information. Considering travel and potential compensation for participants—not to mention the education required to learn how to conduct research well—and costs add up quickly.
No scientist can avoid the realities of research. However, sex researchers are especially at a disadvantage when stigma prevents investors from contributing to projects. Sexuality research faces another funding barrier because projects may not receive approval or funding is they involve minors, even though we all know that people don’t wait until they are legal adults to explore their sexualities. Prohibitions like these ostensibly exist to protect minors; however, research helps us understand how people engage sexually, including risky behavior. The exclusion of minors in federally-funded sex research ignores a real opportunity to minimize risks for that vulnerable population.
I’ve also personally learned through one of my internships how applying for funding may invite more scrutiny into sex research. Research proposals must be approved by internal review boards (IRBs) within an organization (or occasionally a third-party IRB). These boards may scrutinize proposals much more closely when they involve sexuality or request grants. And the research that does both is often the target of several discriminating eyes. If IRB board members have biases about sexuality, they may “obstruct the production of sexual knowledge.” Even when funding is not a concern, IRB approval can vary widely when research involves minors.
Legal Censorship Abounds
Funding may not even be your biggest problem, especially if you want to perform research that others want to criminalize based on their personal and political beliefs. While you may think these issues only impact inexperienced researchers or small organizations, even established names such as the Kinsey Institute are not safe from stigma. There may be no such thing as “too big to fail” in sex research. In fact, the Kinsey Institute’s notoriety may be why it has attracted ire from conservatives in its home state of Indiana. Earlier this year, politicians drafted a bill to cut funding, claiming that the Institute harms children. However, Justin Garcia, the Institute’s current director, argues that this proposed bill is an attempt to block research into the diversity of human sexuality.
Everyone is paying attention to moves like this. Politicians across the country (and others with a similar agenda) will quickly follow suit if Indiana manages to block funding to the Kinsey Institute. Similarly, researchers may wonder whether their jobs are sustainable if their options shrink, and future potential researchers may reconsider their career paths. In the big picture, this prevents us from learning more about human sexuality—but for the real people involved in sexuality research, their ability to put food on the table may be even more directly threatened.
Worries about backlash have already pushed some sex researchers to move to Canada, which is now home to multiple teams including the Sexual and Gender Lab at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia’s Sexual Health Laboratory. Of course, Canada still has stigma and research restrictions, but the increased openness to this type of research puts it at the forefront of the field, with the United States lagging behind. The number of sexuality research labs in this country limits both the amount of research possible and the number of realistic opportunities for graduate students and future researchers.
Of course, this really isn’t news. Twenty years ago, sex researchers struggled to obtain funds if their programs didn’t align with then-president George W. Bush’s focus on abstinence.
Participant Reliability Compounds
Once the legality, funding, and participants are confirmed, sexuality researchers must deal with a final barrier: participant truthfulness. It’s not that participants intend to lie, but no one has a perfect memory. Results can also vary depending on whether participants count or estimate partners, for example. Furthermore, participants may fudge their answers to look better to researchers or want to hide aspects of their gender or sexual identity. All of these factors contribute to results that may leave us with even more questions. For example, men report more “opposite-sex” partners than women do, indicating they have had more sex than is possible when compared to women’s responses. Fortunately, how researchers word questions can help contribute to the accuracy of a participant’s responses, and researchers can take steps to make participants across a spectrum of sexual identity and behavior feel more welcome to answer honestly.
Of course, not all research relies on self-reporting. Scientists sometimes put participants into MRIs and place electrodes on them to understand the physical response to sexual arousal, stimulation, and orgasm. However, plenty of research relies on self-reporting. This is especially true in the age of the Internet, where it is easier than ever to reach the masses with online surveys (which can also attract trolls and spammers). After researchers clean up invalid responses, they must still remember that research will never perfectly represent the public.
From conception to publishing, there are plenty of hurdles in sexuality research. But when scientists can surmount those obstacles, it results in knowledge that can contribute to the greater good for all of us—and maybe even to your own sex life.
Written by Nicole Martinez.
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