Sexual expression is often seen as an important aspect of healthy human functioning. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve wellbeing across many domains, including physical and mental health.
There is concern that these practices may unintentionally perpetuate normative and exclusive understandings of "healthy" sexual expression. This paper explores the intersection between mindfulness and sexuality, examining how mindfulness can reinforce oppressive power dynamics in queer communities.
The following are some specific ways in which mindfulness interventions may unintentionally reinforce normalized ideas of healthy sexuality that exclude queer expressions:
1) Focusing on breath and body awareness during meditation can lead to increased arousal, leading to a focus on heteronormative sex acts.
When meditating, it is common to be aware of one's body and breathe, which can heighten sensations such as tension or relaxation. This focus on bodily awareness can make it difficult for individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ to feel comfortable engaging in non-heteronormative sex acts without shame or guilt.
2) Focusing on acceptance of present moment experience may encourage people to ignore societal expectations of what constitutes 'appropriate' sexual behavior. Acceptance means being open to all experiences without judgment, but this could mean accepting mainstream notions of acceptable sexuality rather than challenging them.
3) Emphasis on compassion towards others through mindfulness practice may reinforce homophobic and transphobic attitudes. Mindfulness teaches us to recognize our own biases and prejudices, but if we do not actively challenge these beliefs, we may continue to perpetuate them even while practicing compassion towards others. In addition, mindfulness often involves cultivating lovingkindness toward oneself and others, which may implicitly reinforce traditional gender roles and restrictive understandings of masculinity and femininity.
4) The emphasis on interpersonal connection in mindfulness-based therapy may prioritize heterosexual relationships over same-sex partnerships. This could lead to the exclusion of queer individuals from certain types of therapeutic support, leaving them feeling isolated and unsupported.
5) Language used in mindfulness practices can be exclusive to certain expressions of sexuality.
Many meditations involve imagining a partner or intimate situation, which assumes the existence of cisgendered, heterosexual partnership.
To address these issues, it is important for mindfulness teachers and clinicians to engage with their own personal biases around sexuality and make efforts to include diverse perspectives when teaching about sexuality.
There should be greater awareness of how power dynamics play out within relationships and how they impact sexual expression.
Researchers need to explore the relationship between mindfulness and sexual health from a more intersectional perspective, considering factors such as race/ethnicity, class, gender identity, religion, age, and ability status.
How might mindfulness-based interventions unintentionally reinforce normalized ideas of “healthy sexuality†that exclude queer expressions?
Mindfulness-based interventions may unintentionally reinforce normative conceptions of "healthy sexuality" by emphasizing self-control and regulation as key components of healthy relationships, which implicitly privilege heteronormative and cisnormative patterns of behavior.