CoP Overview and Introduction

The Sexual Pleasure Community of Practice (CoP) aims to showcase how sexual pleasure and sexual well-being can be put into practice and add value to wider Sexual and Reproductive (SRH) programming by sharing knowledge and resources on sexual pleasure with the other CoPs, Share-Net members and the SRH community in general. The CoP is fiercely passionate about destigmatising the topic of sexual pleasure and advocating why it is critical for comprehensive sexuality education and comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programmes. 

The CoP has 8 members including NGO practitioners, creatives, researchers, and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) experts who meet regularly. They have been consistently developing knowledge over since 2019 and participating in conferences and any other opportunity where they can showcase their pleasure work. 

Since its conception, the Sexual Pleasure CoP have been a busy group, developing a sexual pleasure checklist on how to start conversations on pleasure, then developing a guide on how to identify and use pleasure-positive images, and then finally, creating an open access digital library of pleasure focused images entitled The Pleasure Bank, which is due to be launched in Summer 2023. 

The CoP is very open to new members from all backgrounds. Currently, the CoP consists of Share-Net Netherlands members only. If you are a member of Share-Net Netherlands and are interested in joining or learning more, please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

CoP Objectives

Since 2022, the Sexual Pleasure CoP has been focusing primarily on the role of imagery in the pleasure movement. The objectives for 2023 are related to this and include: 

• To launch The Pleasure Bank, an online digital gallery of pleasure focused images 
• To create a community of NGOs / partners who commission creatives to develop pleasure-positive images 
• To support educators and content creators in using pleasure focused images 
• To destigmatise the use of illustrations which showcase the spectrum of pleasure 
• To have fun! 

Key CoP Resources or Publications 

The Sexual Pleasure Checklist: to help integrate sexual pleasure and wellbeing into SRHR programmes   

Beyond Bananas: A Guide to Identify Good Pleasure Focused Imagery

The Pleasure Bank: Free-to-use and community built gallery of pleasure-focused images that are evidence-based, realistic and people-centred to support the work of any sexual health educator, content creator and advocate

Key Annual CoP activities 

There are currently no regular annual activities for the CoP 

Main CoP Information Page

To read more about Share-Net Netherlands’s CoP on Sexual Pleasure, please visit their main CoP information page

CoP Launch Date 

The CoP started in 2019 and accepts members on a rolling basis  

CoP Contact 

For more information about the CoP, please contact Shannon Mathew at s.mathew@kit.nl or info@share-net.nl.