Women's experience of lack of sexual desire in relationships, and implications for intervention

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study that aimed to explore women's lived experience of low sexual desire in marriage or partnership. The findings indicate that a decline in desire is a normal occurrence in lengthy relationships, even when those are loving and emotionally satisfying, but that many women remain sexually desirous of men other than their partners. Nearly all women, for a multitude of reasons, continue to accommodate their partners' sexual needs, even when having no desire themselves, resulting in differing levels of discomfort. Several suggestions for the clinician are made for the management of this situation.