What are the 7 principles of sexual health?

Sexual health is about much more than preventing infections or unplanned pregnancy. When you ask, “what are the 7 principles of sexual health,” you are really asking how to build a sexual life that feels safe, satisfying, respectful, and aligned with your values.

Several experts and organizations have created principle-based frameworks to guide you. In this article, you will explore the seven Pleasure Principles from The Pleasure Project and see how they connect to broader sexual health ideas like consent, communication, and self-care. You will also see how your daily habits, from sleep and stress to food and exercise, fit into a bigger picture of sexual wellness.

Understand sexual health as a whole

Sexual health is not just the absence of problems. It is a state of physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being related to your sexuality. That includes your body, your relationships, your pleasure, and your rights.

Doug Braun-Harvey, who developed the Six Principles of Sexual Health, emphasizes that most people come to therapy with concerns about behavior, satisfaction, frequency, or desire, but these are only one slice of a much larger picture of sexual health (The Harvey Institute). His framework highlights consent, non-exploitative behavior, honesty, shared values, prevention, and pleasure as core goals that help you define your own vision of sexual health and live it out respectfully over time.

The Pleasure Project builds on this broader view. Their work places pleasure at the center of sexual health, not as an optional extra, but as a basic part of human experience and sexual rights following the World Association for Sexual Health Declaration on Sexual Pleasure (The Case for Her).

Meet the 7 Pleasure Principles

When you see the question “what are the 7 principles of sexual health,” one clear answer is The Pleasure Project’s seven Pleasure Principles. These are simple, practical ideas you can use to guide how you learn about sex, talk about it, and experience it.

According to The Pleasure Project, the seven principles are (The Pleasure Project):

Love Yourself
Embrace Learning
Talk Sexy
Be Flexible
Think Universal
Rights First
Be Positive

These principles were designed to help educators and organizations offer pleasure-based, sex positive education, and they also work as a personal checklist for you. A systematic review of 33 studies published between 2005 and 2020 found that when sexual health programs include pleasure, people have better outcomes like higher condom use and better knowledge about sexual choices (The Case for Her). In other words, prioritizing pleasure can actually help you make safer and more informed decisions.

Love Yourself

Loving yourself means starting sexual health with your own worth, comfort, and boundaries. When you value yourself, you are more likely to insist on consent, reject exploitative situations, and seek experiences that feel good emotionally as well as physically.

Self love shows up in many ways. You might give yourself permission to feel desire without shame, to say no when something does not feel right, or to explore what you enjoy at your own pace. This aligns with the idea that sexual health is a lifelong journey toward living a sexual life with pride and respecting your own rights, as Braun-Harvey describes (The Harvey Institute).

Loving yourself also includes care for your body. Regular movement, adequate rest, and kind self talk all support your physical and emotional readiness for intimacy.

Embrace Learning

Sexual health is not something you master once and forget. It changes as your body, relationships, and circumstances change. Embracing learning means staying curious rather than embarrassed or ashamed.

This might look like reading up on contraception options that support both prevention and pleasure, or learning how to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections while still enjoying sex. Braun-Harvey’s third principle of sexual health highlights protection from STIs and unintended pregnancy as a key concern for safer relationships (Natalie Orosen).

You can also embrace learning about communication, boundaries, and what turns you on. Sex positive education, which treats sex as a natural and healthy part of life, encourages you to explore sexuality and gender without judgment and with open communication (The Case for Her).

Talk Sexy

“Talk Sexy” is The Pleasure Project’s way of reminding you that language is central to sexual health. It is not about performing a script, but about learning to speak honestly and respectfully about sex, pleasure, and boundaries.

Braun-Harvey’s principles of honesty and shared values match this idea. Honesty does not mean you must share every intimate thought, but it does mean your partner has the information they need to make informed choices. Shared values help you and your partner agree on what sex means in your relationship so you avoid painful misunderstandings (Natalie Orosen).

Talking sexy can include:

Asking for what you want and what you do not want
Checking in about contraception and STI prevention
Naming feelings like nervousness, excitement, or uncertainty
Using words that make you and your partner feel respected and desired

Open communication has real health benefits. Dr. Andrew Wong notes that maintaining emotional connection through check ins, appreciation, and phone free time can enhance intimacy and satisfaction in your sexual life (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).

Be Flexible

Being flexible means recognizing that desires, bodies, and circumstances change. What felt good five years ago, or even last month, might not be right for you now.

Flexibility helps you adjust when stress, illness, medication, or life events affect your libido or performance. Braun-Harvey and colleagues emphasize using principles as aspirations instead of rigid rules so you can navigate changes over time with less shame and more compassion (The Harvey Institute).

You might be flexible by:

Exploring different forms of intimacy when penetration is not comfortable
Redefining what a “successful” sexual experience looks like for you
Pausing sexual activity to focus on communication or health concerns

This principle also supports partners who are navigating mismatched desires. Staying open to new solutions can help you find a shared path that feels fair and caring.

Think Universal

Sexual health principles apply to everyone. “Think Universal” invites you to consider how your choices affect both you and others, including people with different identities, bodies, and experiences than your own.

This principle fits with the idea of non-exploitative behavior. Non exploitative sex is free from coercion, pressure, or power imbalances that push one person to agree to something they do not want, such as a subordinate feeling forced to say yes to a supervisor to keep a job (Natalie Orosen).

Thinking universal also means supporting policies and education that treat pleasure as important for everyone, not just for certain genders, orientations, or relationship types. Despite growing evidence that pleasure improves health outcomes, there is still a gender gap in research and funding, especially around women using contraception partly for pleasure rather than only for reproduction (The Case for Her).

Rights First

Putting “Rights First” means recognizing that your sexual experiences should always be grounded in respect for human rights. Consent sits at the heart of this idea.

Consent means everyone actively agrees to take part, understands what they are agreeing to, and feels free to stop or change their mind. Braun-Harvey and many other experts treat consent as the most basic and universal requirement for sexual health (Natalie Orosen).

Rights first also covers your right to accurate information, access to health services, and freedom from discrimination or violence related to your sexuality or gender. The Declaration on Sexual Pleasure and The Pleasure Project’s work frame pleasure itself as a human right that should be integrated into sexual health policies and education (The Case for Her).

Be Positive

Being positive does not mean ignoring problems. It means approaching sex with curiosity, openness, and hope rather than fear and shame.

Sex positivity starts from the belief that sex is a natural part of life, and that people should be able to explore sexuality and gender without judgment, as long as core principles like consent and non exploitation are in place (The Case for Her). This mindset makes it easier to seek help when something is not working, because you are not treating sexual challenges as proof that something is “wrong” with you.

When you are positive about sexual health, you are more likely to:

Ask questions instead of staying confused
Address pain, dryness, or performance issues with a professional
Experiment with new forms of pleasure, intimacy, or connection
Accept that your needs may shift over time

A positive approach also supports your partner. It signals that you are willing to learn together, repair misunderstandings, and celebrate what feels good rather than focusing only on what is not perfect.

At its core, a principle based approach to sexual health asks you to balance three things: safety, rights, and pleasure. None of these need to cancel the others. They work best when they are in balance.

Support your sexual health every day

The seven principles give you a big picture, but your daily habits help make them real. Sexual health is closely tied to general wellness, and small changes can have a noticeable impact.

Dr. Andrew Wong highlights several lifestyle factors that directly support sexual desire and performance:

Exercise: Moving your body with brisk walking, cycling, or strength training for 20 to 30 minutes a few times per week improves blood flow, stamina, and hormone balance, all of which support healthy sexual function (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).
Sleep: Getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep helps restore hormone balance, including testosterone, which plays a key role in libido and performance (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).
Stress management: Chronic stress raises cortisol, which can lower testosterone and dampen desire. Mindfulness, yoga, deep breathing, or regular walks can help you manage stress and protect your libido (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).
Nutrition: A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins supports circulation, hormone health, and energy. Avoiding heavy, uncomfortable meals before intimacy can help you feel more present and relaxed (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).
Connection: Emotional intimacy feeds sexual intimacy. Simple habits like regular check ins, expressing appreciation, and setting aside phone free time with your partner can deepen connection and satisfaction (St. Vincent’s Medical Center).

These practices reinforce the seven principles by helping you feel more at home in your body, more emotionally available, and more able to enjoy and communicate about sex.

Put the 7 principles into practice

You do not need to transform everything overnight. You can start by picking one or two principles that resonate most with you and experimenting with small changes.

For example, you might:

Focus on “Love Yourself” by noticing and challenging one shame based belief you hold about your own sexuality.
Practice “Talk Sexy” by having a gentle conversation with your partner about something new you want to try, or a boundary you want to clarify.
Choose “Rights First” by revisiting contraception or STI prevention plans so they reflect your current needs and values.

As you make these shifts, you are answering your own version of “what are the 7 principles of sexual health” by living them, not just memorizing them. Over time, these principles can help you create a sexual life that is safer, more satisfying, and more deeply aligned with who you are.