Sexual adjustment and feminine attractiveness among spinal cord injured women

Responses to semistructured interviews with 31 spinal cord injured women yielded sexual adjustment scores and material concerning sexual compensation and orgasm, bowel and bladder programs, and methods of enhancing attractiveness. Sexual adjustment scores were unrelated to time since injury. Few subjects reported the need to make special provision to control elimination during sexual activity. Openness and honesty with mates were stressed. Those with high sexual-adjustment scores compensated for lost sensation and mobility. Orgasm descriptions and most attractiveness-related behaviors resembled those of able-bodied women; some attractiveness behaviors specifically compensated for disability.