Physical health: Women's sexual embodiment after cancer

This chapter will examine physical health through the example of women's sexual embodiment after cancer. Women's sexual embodiment can become disrupted after cancer due to a range of physical changes, body dissatisfaction, and psychological distress, leading to diminished sexual well-being. Life stage, couple relationship status and quality, cultural background, and sexual identity can shape women's experience of sexual change. Existing studies have predominantly reflected Western cultural discourses that privilege a biomedical model of sexual dysfunction, heterosexual relationship dynamics, and the value placed on body appearance for feminine identity. Such discourses inform "abnormal," "unfeminine," and "unsexual" meanings that women ascribe to their bodies after cancer. However, women also report discursive and practical strategies they use to positively renegotiate embodied change. Health professionals can support women with cancer by giving permission for the discussion of sexual matters, providing information, and acknowledging and normalizing sexual change.