Dear WAS Members and Friends,
As the countdown to World Sexual Health Day (WSHD) on 4 September continues, we're diving deeper into this year's theme: Sexual Justice: What Can We Do?
In this week's newsletter, we explore what Sexual Justice really means, share reflections from the WAS Declaration on Sexual Justice, and revisit a key milestone in WAS history.
You'll also find details on the WAS Gold Medal Awards, a special Call for Papers on Sexual Pleasure from the International Journal of Sexual Health, and a visual moment from the #WAS2023 Congress.
Let's keep the momentum building.
| | | WAS Gold Medal Awards 2025 | | | At the 27th Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health, held this June in Brisbane / Meanjin, Australia, WAS had the honor of presenting its highest individual accolade: the WAS Gold Medal.
Awarded every two years, the Gold Medal recognises exceptional, lifelong contributions to the advancement of sexual health, rights, and education worldwide. | | |
Professor Rosemary Coates (Australia)
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Professor Coates has spent more than four decades advancing sexual health, human rights, and medical ethics, laying the foundations for generations of sexologists. As WAS President (2009–2013), she led the launch of World Sexual Health Day, now marked in over 60 countries. Her contributions to teaching, advocacy, and global policy have left a lasting imprint on the field.
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Pictured: P.J. Matt Tilley (Curtin University, Australia) accepting Professor Rosemary Coates' WAS Gold Medal on her behalf, presented by WAS Immediate Past President Dr. Elna Rudolph. | | | |
Dr. Woet Gianotten (the Netherlands)
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A pioneer in medical sexology, Dr. Gianotten's work has expanded the boundaries of care to include those living with chronic illness, disability, and aging. His efforts to bring dignity, pleasure, and justice into these conversations have reshaped clinical and human rights frameworks in sexual health. | | |
Pictured: Yuri Ohlrichs (Rutgers International, Netherlands) accepting Dr. Woet Gianotten's WAS Gold Medal on his behalf, presented by WAS Immediate Past President Dr. Elna Rudolph. | | | | Call for Papers: Special Issue on Sexual Pleasure | | | The International Journal of Sexual Health (IJSH), the official journal of WAS, invites submissions for a forthcoming Special Issue on Sexual Pleasure, to be published in 2027.
Building on the momentum of the 2019/2021 WAS Declaration on Sexual Pleasure and IJSH's first pleasure-focused issue (2021), this new edition will place a stronger emphasis on empirical research while continuing to center pleasure as a core component of sexual rights, health, and well-being.
We welcome diverse, interdisciplinary contributions that critically explore sexual pleasure across different contexts, identities, and life stages.
Optional abstract submission: 15 January 2026
Full manuscript deadline: 15 July 2026
| | Guest Editors: - Prof. Nicola Döring, Technische Universität Ilmenau (Germany)
- Prof. Deevia Bhana, University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa)
- Dr. Verena Klein, University of Southampton (United Kingdom)
- Dr. Dan J. Miller, James Cook University (Australia)
- Prof. Deborah Tolman, City College of New York (United States)
Submissions are especially encouraged from early career researchers, scholars from underrepresented regions, and practitioners working at the intersections of sexual health, rights, and pleasure.
We encourage WAS members and partners to share this opportunity widely, and to consider contributing your own work to this timely and vital issue.
| | | WSHD 2024: What is Sexual Justice? | | | Sexual justice is a transformative framework for addressing the systemic inequalities and inequities that shape global and local experiences of sexuality, health, and rights.
As defined in the official WAS Declaration on Sexual Justice:
"Sexual justice contributes to a more equal and inclusive world and is essential for the achievement of sexual health and rights for all people without discrimination, fear, shame, and stigma."
| | | But what does that mean in practice? | | It means recognizing that not everyone experiences their sexual rights equally - and that real justice requires more than just access to services or protection under the law. It requires dismantling the barriers that prevent people from living with dignity, autonomy, and joy.
Sexual justice invites us to ask: - Who is excluded - and why?
- Whose bodies, identities, and desires are overlooked or punished?
- What needs to change to make sexual rights real for everyone?
It's a call to shift systems, not just stories, and to build communities, policies, and practices where inclusion, pleasure, equity, and safety are not just ideals, but daily realities.
| | Why It Matters -
and What We Can Do | | | Sexual injustice is not accidental. It's built into laws, policies, systems, and cultural norms that restrict autonomy, silence pleasure, and deny rights - especially for those most marginalized by poverty, discrimination, or structural violence.
As reaffirmed in the WAS Declaration:
"Sexual justice requires a challenge to societal norms, power dynamics and institutions, attitudes and prejudices that perpetuate discrimination and violence… and demands structural changes in societies."
| | ✔️ Make injustice visible. Who is excluded from conversations about sexuality, health, and rights in your context? What stories go untold?
✔️ Start where you are. Whether you're an educator, activist, healthcare provider, policymaker, or ally - justice begins in your sphere of influence.
✔️ Shift the frame. Talk about pleasure, not just prevention. Respect, not just risk. Systems, not just symptoms.
✔️ Listen to those most affected. Sexual justice means centering the leadership, knowledge, and priorities of people and communities who have historically been pushed to the margins.
✔️ Take part. In the lead-up to World Sexual Health Day 2025, you can help bring the theme of Sexual Justice to life. Organize a webinar, host a community dialogue, run a school talk, launch a social media campaign - or simply start a conversation in your network.
We'll be sharing resources and spotlighting four key focus areas: sexual rights, access to information, LGBTQ+ youth, and reproductive autonomy.
Together, let's turn this theme into global action - and build a future where sexual rights are real, lived, and just.
| | The 2025 Declaration on Sexual Justice stands on the strong shoulders of a milestone moment in WAS history: the WAS Declaration on Sexual Rights, revised and ratified in 2014.
Adopted by the WAS General Assembly in Singapore, this Declaration affirmed that:
"For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected, and fulfilled."
It laid the foundation for global advocacy by declaring sexual rights as human rights, grounded in dignity, autonomy, freedom from violence, and the right to pleasure, expression, and information.
Today, as WAS advances the work of Sexual Justice, we do so with gratitude for this earlier framework. If sexual rights define what must be protected, sexual justice asks what must change to make those rights real for all, especially those most excluded.
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At the 2023 WAS Congress in Antalya, Türkiye, a powerful moment marked the future of global sexual health: the formal signing of the WAS Charter of Affiliation by the Presidents of all six official WAS Federations.
Pictured: Mehmet Sungur (Past President of EFS), Faysal el Kak (WAS President and President of EMFeSH), Erick Janssen (WAS Secretary General), Lynn Barclay (Past President of NAFSO), Luis Perelman (Previous WAS Secretary General), and Verónica Delgado Parra (Past President of FLASSES).
This symbolic act represents a deeper commitment to shared leadership, regional diversity, and collective action.
| | | Join the Team at Curtin University | | |
Curtin School of Population Health is inviting applications for a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in Sexology to join their dynamic academic team in Perth, Australia. This is a full-time, continuing (permanent) position, with the possibility of part-time job-share for suitable candidates.
The successful applicant will contribute to the development and delivery of Curtin's Sexology courses, housed within the Discipline of Health Promotion and Sexology, and bring a strong commitment to student engagement, inclusive teaching, and evidence-based practice.
Expertise in one or more of the following areas is especially welcome: - Sexually transmissible infections and blood-borne viruses (STI/BBVs)
- Work with LGBTIQA+ communities and/or gender diversity
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With World Sexual Health Day just around the corner we want to close by reminding you that your voice matters.
Whether you're planning a webinar, school talk, workshop, street march, or social media campaign, now's the time to get started. Every conversation, every event, every action helps bring this year's theme, "Sexual Justice: What Can We Do?" to life.
We'll be spotlighting select events in upcoming newsletters and on WAS platforms.
Thank you for being part of it.
The World Association for Sexual Health
| | Support the Mission of WAS We invite you to support the ongoing work of the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS).
Your contributions help us continue our mission of promoting Sexual Health, Rights, and Justice globally. Consider becoming a supporting member or making a financial contribution today.
Donations are tax-deductible in the USA. | | | |  | |
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