What does desexualise mean?
Desexualise is a verb meaning to strip something of its sexual character, connotations, or appeal. It is applied both to objects and ideas — such as images, language, advertising, clothing, or public spaces — and to people, whose sexual attractiveness or desire may be diminished by circumstance, choice, or medical treatment. A film might be desexualised for a younger audience; a workplace dress code may aim to desexualise professional settings; certain medications can desensualise — indeed, desexualise — patients as a side effect. The word carries a formal, often analytical tone and appears frequently in academic discussions of gender, media representation, and social policy. It can carry positive connotations when describing the removal of inappropriate sexualisation, particularly of children or vulnerable groups, but it can also imply loss or suppression when referring to adults. British spelling uses -ise, while American English prefers -ize. Its opposite is sexualise.
verbTo remove the sexual connotations or associations from something, or to deprive someone or something of sexual character or appeal.
- To remove sexual meaning, connotation, or emphasis from something such as media, language, clothing, or spaces.
- To reduce or eliminate a person's sexual desire, attractiveness, or capacity for sexual feeling.
"The film's marketing campaign was deliberately designed to desexualise the lead actress's image."
"Critics argued that the adaptation desexualised the novel, stripping away its most charged scenes."
"Some medications can desexualise patients as an unwanted side effect."
From advertising boards to school uniforms debates, 'desexualise' is the word that surfaces whenever society argues about stripping sexuality out of public life — and it's barely a century old.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of desexualise
Desexualise is formed from the prefix de-, indicating removal or reversal, attached to sexualise, which derives from sexual. Sexual traces back through Late Latin sexualis to Latin sexus, meaning 'sex'. The verb emerged in English relatively recently, with its use growing notably during the twentieth century alongside modern debates about media, censorship, and gender. It shares its root with related words such as sexuality, sexy, and heterosexual.
Related word forms
How desexualise is actually used
Formal to neutral register, common in academic writing on gender and media studies. The spelling 'desexualise' is standard in British English; American English typically uses 'desexualize'.
Easily confused with desexualise
Desexualise means removing sexual content or character, while desensitise means reducing sensitivity or emotional responsiveness to something generally.