It was coined by a number of researchers in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe one pole on a continuum of attitudes and beliefs about sexuality.
[2][3] As a clinical phobia, "erotophobia" describes an irrational and potentially debilitating fear of some object, person or act that is related to sex.
Research on this continuum has shown a correlation between high erotophobia scores and less willingness to use condoms (but not necessarily other contraceptive methods), and less knowledge of topics relating to sex.
[3] It is also important because erotophobia has been shown to create relationship and marital difficulties in multiple studies, dating back to Kinsey.
[5] In his book The Politics of Lust, author and sexual activist John Ince examines three distinct cause and effect forces that fuel erotophobia: "antisexualism", the irrational negative response to harmless sexual expression; "nasty sex", which includes rape and violent pornography; and "rigidity", the inability to enjoy "playful and spontaneous" sex.