SPINAL CORD INJURIES (SPIs) are varied and complex. The amount of sensation and mobility a person has in their body is highly dependent on factors like where on the spine the injury occurred, whether or not the injury was “complete” (a.k.a. to the total area), and how long it’s been since the injury. However, SPIs do frequently come with—at least initially—some level of sexual dysfunction.
Significant progress has been made to improve sexual satisfaction in people with SPIs, but sexual health is often overlooked by medical professionals who treat them. There has also historically been very little representation of disabled people having hot, pleasurable sex in the media. People with SPIs, who often have limited sensation and mobility, have found themselves left out of sexual discussions and depictions, as if their sex lives or desires are nonexistent post-injury, which is not at all the case.
To prove this, Men’s Health spoke to three men with SPIs about sex post-injury, including what’s changed physically and mentally when they’re aroused, and how they’ve learned to adapt to their new bodies in the bedroom.
