TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual Desire Discrepancy as a Feature, Not a Bug, of Long-Term Relationships
T2 - Women's Self-Reported Strategies for Modulating Sexual Desire
AU - Herbenick, Debby
AU - Mullinax, Margo
AU - Mark, Kristen
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - Introduction: Sexual desire discrepancy is commonly reported by couples in long-term romantic relationships. Given the idiosyncratic nature of desire, and the lack of a "one size fits all" model approach to address desire concerns, it is useful to understand more about the range of ways that women and their partners modulate sexual desire. Aim: This study aims to assess women's strategies to influence their sexual desire and the self-reported effectiveness of these strategies. Methods: One hundred seventy-nine women who had been in a relationship with a male partner for 5+ years completed an anonymous Internet-based survey. Main Outcome Measures: Participants responded to three open-ended items about the strategies they use to address desire issues and how helpful those strategies are. Results: The most common responses regarding what participants did to get desire back on track included: communication, trying to meet partner's needs, having sex without desire, and having patience/letting time work out the problem. Women also mentioned several specific strategies they had employed: communication, scheduling sex, lingerie, and a date night. However, a large number of women discussed that the issue was not resolved, and they were dissatisfied with attempted strategies. Conclusions: This research provides valuable insight into the construction of women's sexual desire and the strategies used to navigate sexual desire in long-term relationships.
AB - Introduction: Sexual desire discrepancy is commonly reported by couples in long-term romantic relationships. Given the idiosyncratic nature of desire, and the lack of a "one size fits all" model approach to address desire concerns, it is useful to understand more about the range of ways that women and their partners modulate sexual desire. Aim: This study aims to assess women's strategies to influence their sexual desire and the self-reported effectiveness of these strategies. Methods: One hundred seventy-nine women who had been in a relationship with a male partner for 5+ years completed an anonymous Internet-based survey. Main Outcome Measures: Participants responded to three open-ended items about the strategies they use to address desire issues and how helpful those strategies are. Results: The most common responses regarding what participants did to get desire back on track included: communication, trying to meet partner's needs, having sex without desire, and having patience/letting time work out the problem. Women also mentioned several specific strategies they had employed: communication, scheduling sex, lingerie, and a date night. However, a large number of women discussed that the issue was not resolved, and they were dissatisfied with attempted strategies. Conclusions: This research provides valuable insight into the construction of women's sexual desire and the strategies used to navigate sexual desire in long-term relationships.
KW - Desire Discrepancy
KW - Female Sexual Function
KW - Relationship Sexual Dysfunction
KW - Sexual Desire
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U2 - 10.1111/jsm.12625
DO - 10.1111/jsm.12625
M3 - Article
C2 - 25052706
AN - SCOPUS:84908356493
SN - 1743-6095
VL - 11
SP - 2196
EP - 2206
JO - Journal of Sexual Medicine
JF - Journal of Sexual Medicine
IS - 9
ER -