Sexuality in People with Obesity

Obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease associated with various comorbidities whose prevalence means that it can be considered a true pandemic in Western countries. Obesity has a negative impact on the sexual health of those who suffer from it due to numerous factors related to endocrine-metabolic, cerebral, mechanical, behavioral, and social alterations. Thus, this chapter summarizes the global consequences of obesity on sexual health; the most important associated pathophysiological phenomena are reviewed as well as the repercussion of the development of associated diseases and their treatment on sexual function; sexual dysfunction is also discussed as another comorbidity of obesity (fertility, sexual orientation and identity, influence on developmental stages, association with risk behaviors); the possible influence of obesity itself on affective relationships is covered as well as the repercussion that the different treatments for obesity (especially surgery) have on sexual health.