Better Than Cardio: A Technical Guide To Sexual Pleasure

This piece offers a preview of a new technical guide on sexual pleasure, emphasizing why pleasure must be taken seriously within global health and development. The authors highlight that debates over whether pleasure improves health or good health enables pleasure mirror earlier confusion about exercise—and argue that once the science catches up, the value of pleasure will be just as widely accepted. The guide also challenges stigma around masturbation, noting its long history of moral panic despite strong evidence that it supports healthy sexual development, safer sexual decision-making, and lifelong sexual functioning. Ultimately, the piece frames sexual pleasure as a human right that requires supportive legal, social, and political conditions, including protections against violence, harmful practices, and discrimination. By centering pleasure—and rejecting stereotypes that limit who is “allowed” to experience it—the guide aims to help practitioners adopt a more expansive, inclusive, and evidence-informed approach to sexual wellbeing.