Sexuality After Voluntary Sterilization: Lived Experiences of Childfree Women

This study examines how childfree women experience voluntary sterilization and its implications for sexuality and autonomy in a Central European context. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews with five Czech women, the study shows that sterilization was experienced as an act of self-determination rather than merely contraception. Prior to the procedure, fear of unintended pregnancy shaped women’s sexual lives through stress and vigilance. After sterilization, participants described psychological relief, greater sexual confidence and intimacy. The findings highlight sterilization as a sexually acceptable contraceptive choice that reinforces reproductive autonomy within a persistently pronatalist context.