Autistic Narratives of Sensory Features, Sexuality, and Relationships.

Background: Research about the experience of sexuality and intimacy for autistic people has largely excluded the potential influences of autistic sensory features, which are highly common. The aim of this study was to explore how autistic sensory features influence autistic people's experiences of sexuality and relationships, including the impact of low and high neurological threshold sensory patterns and regarding specific sensory modalities. Methods: Utilizing a qualitative approach, we explored autistic people's perspectives about the influences of sensory features on their experiences of sexuality and relationships through existing publicly available narratives (5 books and 13 online forums containing messages from 72 unique usernames) and responses to an open-ended survey question ( Results: Our findings indicated that sexual and relationship experiences were related to both sensory sensitivity and sensation seeking (i.e., low and high threshold sensory patterns) across several sensory modalities, including touch, sight, sound, and smell. Sensory features influenced autistic people's sexual and relationship experiences in both positive and negative ways. Examined narratives revealed adaptations and strategies used by autistic people to enhance or enable engagement in sexual activity as well as implications for their sexual identity. Conclusions: Sensory features and their impact on the sexuality and relationship experiences of autistic people should be considered in clinical practice and educational programming. More research is needed to further understand the impact of autistic sensory features on experiences of sexuality and relationships, and to develop effective strategies to promote safe and satisfying engagement, when desired. Lay summary: