Sexual Pleasure after Breast Cancer Treatment: A Narrative Review of Embodied, Relational, and Sociocultural Influences

Abstract Purpose of Review Sexual health after breast cancer has often been framed through a dysfunction-oriented lens, with survivorship commonly understood in relation to symptoms, functional impairment, and risk management. Although sexual difficulties are widely documented, sexual pleasure remains comparatively underexamined within breast cancer survivorship research. This narrative integrative review examines how sexual pleasure is shaped and renegotiated following breast cancer treatment, moving beyond symptom-based and deficit-focused models of sexuality. Recent Findings Across multidisciplinary literature, four interrelated processes were identified: embodied changes associated with treatment and menopausal symptoms, disruptions in body image and sexual self-concept, relational dynamics within intimate partnerships, and sociocultural conditions shaping the legitimacy and expression of pleasure. Evidence suggests that improvements in sexual functioning alone are often insufficient to restore pleasurable sexual experience. Instead, pleasure appears to be shaped by relational safety, meaning-making, emotional connection, and broader cultural context. Summary Sexual pleasure after breast cancer is best understood as a dynamic, context-dependent process shaped by embodied, relational, and sociocultural factors. This review advances a pleasure-centred perspective on survivorship sexuality that extends beyond dysfunction-focused approaches and highlights the importance of supporting meaningful and pleasurable sexual well-being within survivorship care.