PERCEPTION OF OWN SEXUALITY BY WOMEN OF DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS

Abstract

The purpose is to theoretically substantiate the essence of female sexuality at the current stageand empirically determine the psychological features of women’s perception of their own sexuality. Methods: theoretical (analysis, systematization, classification, generalization of scientific information onthe research topic); empirical (“Questionnaire of Sexual Attitudes” of H. Eysenck, “Index of female sexualfunction”; “Assessment of own appearance”, ASI-R); statistical (descriptive statistics, Pearson’s linearcorrelation coefficient). Results. Women have a high level of sexual neuroticism, a low level of sexual shyness,and a low level of sexual excitability. Among the characteristics of female sexuality, the most pronounced are“drive”, somewhat less pronounced excitements, “lubrication”, “orgasm”, “pleasure”, and “pain”. Womenhave a rather high self-esteem for their own appearance. A comparison of the characteristics of women’ssexuality by age group did not reveal any statistical differences, which indicates the individual nature of femalesexuality, which does not depend on age. Correlational analysis revealed that in the studied women, femalesexual function was associated with high excitability and low shyness. High sexual function is associatedwith low motivation towards one’s own body. Conclusions. The obtained results are useful for psychologists,sexologists, and other specialists and provide an opportunity to better understand the nature of the sexualityof a modern woman and her problem areas and to build, accordingly, consultative and practical sexologicalassistance. The proven connection between the level of sexuality, sexual attitudes, and evaluation of one’sown body makes a significant contribution to the construction of programs for the development of individualand group approaches to work with women on the formation of a positive perception of one’s own sexuality.Also, the results of the research can be used as additional material for teaching the disciplines “Psychologyof Gender” and “Fundamentals of Sexology” to students of higher education institutions.