Introduction: Sexualities [Gender & Development]

Abstract

This issue of Gender & Development addresses Sexualities. Sexual health and rights have been prominent in the human rights and women's rights movement for decades. The Platform for Action from the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women highlighted the right of women to have control over and make decisions concerning their own sexuality, including their own sexual and reproductive health (Paras 92, 93 and 94). Since then, the concept of sexual rights has gained broader acceptance; these are the rights of all human beings to have the possibility of pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence (WHO) (2015).