Almost Half of Women Have Sexual Problems

If almost half of women have sexual problems are men to blame?

www.washingtonpost.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- In a double whammy for the female gender, new research shows that 40 percent of women report sexual problems, but only 12 percent are distressed about it.

"The good news is that 12 percent is a very different number than 40 percent," said study author Dr. Jan Shifren, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Vincent Menopause Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston.

But 12 percent of 83 million U.S. women aged 20 to 65 is nothing to scoff at, noted a related editorial in the November issue ofObstetrics & Gynecology. The research was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim International, maker of flibanserin, a drug for female sexual dysfunction that is currently being tested in clinical trials.

Previous surveys have reported similar estimates of female sexual dysfunction, including low desire and problems with orgasm. The most widely quoted figure, from the U.S. National Health and Social Life Survey, is 43 percent.

However, few of those surveys have looked at distress, despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association and U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guidelines require such distress as part of the diagnostic criteria.

This study included almost 32,000 female respondents aged 18 and older.

Overall, 43.1 percent of those surveyed reported some kind of sexual problem: 39 percent reported diminished desire, 26 percent reported problems with arousal, and 21 percent problems with achieving orgasm.

Only 12 percent, however, reported significant personal distress associated with this problem.

And there were age differences. "The highest prevalence of sexual dysfunction was in older women, but they experienced less associated distress," Shifren said. "The most distress occurred at mid-life, and the youngest women had the lowest prevalence of problems and of associated distress."

Although the study did not specifically look at why older women had more problems yet less distress about them, the authors postulated that reasons could include partner changes, other medical problems, or problems with their partners health.

Women currently experiencing depression had more than double the risk of having distressing sexual problems when compared with non-depressed women. While conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease affect men's sexual health, none of these issues impacted women's sexual health in this study.

"This is a wake-up call to health-care professionals . . . of the importance of sexual health and sexual quality of life," said Sheryl Kingsberg, chief of the division of behavioral medicine at MacDonald Women's Hospital, University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. "Forty percent of patients have sexual concerns, and 12 percent have enough of a concern that it's a significant dysfunction in life. This needs to be addressed."

While clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals as well as sex therapists have been working with couples on these issues for decades, medical options, including flibanserin, are now also on the horizon.

"There is research going on, and my hope is that women are finally going to have some options when it comes to sexual disorder treatments," Kingsberg said. "Right now, there are very limited options, but I think it's coming."

[edit on 1-11-2008 by djpyro21]

There are so many other things to worry about in life.
I'm 37, female, no problems aside from the fact my boyfriend doesn't live close enough.
Besides that fact, sex, is not top priority nor do I feel it should be made a top priority anywhere in anyones life unless you are trying to have a child.
The way the world is these days, you are better off not having it at all.

Originally posted by AccessDenied
The way the world is these days, you are better off not having it at all.

\

That seems a little harsh.

I'm a 37 year old woman who's not currently involved with anyone, and I have to say I think my life would be better if I had more sex

But you are right about it not being a top priority.

And I wonder in studies like the OP cited, how much of what's being measured is actually problems in relationships or with emotional intimacy, reflected in physical sexual problems.

reply to post by AccessDenied


I am sorry but you are wrong! sex is the cornerstone of relationships, yes ok respect , honesty, trust..blah blah blah..all there too, but attraction and bed manners keep relationships going.. you don't have that many pleasures in life, that is one, so enjoy it!

as far as a woman's sexual dysfunction is concerned, me thinks this report will be followed by a miracle pleasure pill for women developed by a pharmaceutical giant that probably paid to have this report out.

And where is the report that explains how men perversed and MKULTRAD by porn on the net , who believe every woman is and should be a pornstar, fit in with this statistic?

I believe woman get discouraged when they cant please their man correctly ( now that they've been perversed) therefore creating the sexual dysfunction in their mind..the rest follows...

As a woman of 28 I really never had any problems when it comes to sex. The only times I had any problems is when my partners made me feel ashamed because I like sex. When you have a partner that you are comfortable with you feel more desire and that lets you relax. Some guys just don't get women and have no idea how to make it fun and good for them. Most guys can't even turn a woman on with a switch because they could careless if they please them. My ex-husband for example had the problems in that area, not me, but he made me feel ashamed because I like sex. So maybe they should do the study on the men, I bet most of the problems females have stem from their partners.

I am not saying sex is the one thing that defines people's relationship. I am not saying sex is always going to be good for all women. I am also not saying all women like sex. But if a guy takes the time to learn how to please a woman sex would be better for both of them.

It's from my experience that most women like to be treated rather naughty. When a guy doesn't treat a woman the way she wants (naughty/dirty) it leads to a boring sex life.

I'm not really surprised.. if I was a girl I wouldn't wanna have sex with guys either!

reply to post by silverflame


I agree with everything you said there. And I also had a similar ex. He didn't understand the difference between standards and automatics and then maintained that there was something wrong with me. I left a couple of magazines lying around that discussed things in full, but he just got upset. There was no way to carefully bring it up or explore anything with him.

Originally posted by djpyro21
If almost half of women have sexual problems are men to blame?

And if half of men have sexual problems are women to blame?

I wonder how many women are to blame for these disorders too?

Peer pressure from other women could also play a part as could many things, not just men.

And don't forget this is an American survey and so does not pertain to ALL women.....just American!

Does anyone else find it ironic/amusing that this topic is moderated by:

Harlemhottie
Dr. Love?

How appropo.

Originally posted by AccessDenied
There are so many other things to worry about in life.
I'm 37, female, no problems aside from the fact my boyfriend doesn't live close enough.
Besides that fact, sex, is not top priority nor do I feel it should be made a top priority anywhere in anyones life unless you are trying to have a child.
The way the world is these days, you are better off not having it at all.

'

I second that emotion ..that is the second star for you tonight ....lol ..

But I bet my hubby wants to sign up to be the first on the list for those drugs they are working on for women ......he would order a case of them lol ....
I could do without sex no problem for the rest of my life ..and I am done with kids so thats not an issue anymore .....


This is not good though considering that males could be in decline ...*woman not careing about sex and now men not able to produce offspring (chemicals,pollution etc ) and are being born defective etc ..not looking good for the future of mankind is it .....
www.canada.com...


[edit on 8-11-2008 by Simplynoone]

Half of women have sexual problems. . . tell me about it!
At some time or other I think I've dated most of them!!!

Or maybe they're not problems, they're working the right way?! My mom is a midwife, she knows a lot about this stuff.
Pretty much most women can't orgasm without direct clitoral stimulation but they all think they should be able to.
It's the worst thing ever, and women fake orgasms, and women make men believe that they are orgasm machines and you know what? We're not that easy. Really, we don't work like men. If it feels good that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
SO FRUSTRATING.
Almost makes me hate sex.
And being a tad nympho I hate when guys get tired or aren't in the mood.
You men need to just accept how we are and quit complaining about too much of this or too little of that. You're lucky you get anything since most animals don't mate like we do.

[edit on 11/22/2008 by ravenshadow13]

reply to post by ravenshadow13


I starred you for having the guts to say it. Sorry guys, but the majority of you have no clue. That of course, is not entirely your fault.
The biggest sexual problem is...
LACK OF COMMUNICATION
It seems fine for all of us to go around and DO IT, but not talk about it.
Even in long term relationships and marriages, there is little discussion of what each partner likes. It becomes routine, boring, and that is what leads to problems.
Don't be afraid to tell your partner what you like and what works for you. EVERYONE is different.

Agree completely. Most people, men and women, have trouble telling the truth about what pleases them. They never learn to be comfortable saying, "this does it for me. More of this, less of that." And then be ok if the partner doesn't agree.

Before I got married, I met a lot of women who'd never really had a great climax, and weren't comfortable talking about what I needed to do in order to get them to the top of mt everest.

Frau Dr. has always been explicit about what she wants, and we have no trouble saying, "I liked that, we should do that again." Or "slower, to the left." etc. On the other hand, until her, intimacy seemed more like a porn movie. Now it seems like a sweeping epic.

We've been married a decade; we invented something we can't find in the Kama Sutra earlier this year, and I can say I've had the best sex of my life in the last two months.

I would say that if your partner isn't eager to participate in your happiness, you may be with the wrong person.

I just finished reading a report compiled by Sheree Hite, it is called the Hite Report... fascinating read ESPECIALLY for women, maybe men should read it too... ?

I would recommend it... for all women, considering these findings suggest 1/2 women have sexual problems.

The solution to any problem is education. Educate yourself on an issue, then work through it.

Thankfully, I found myself in the Hite Report so I felt that I was, hmm normal... with a twist of dysfunction. ha ha ha that sounds interesting doesn't it?

Questions like:

Is masturbation normal? How many people masturbate? What do they do? What is an orgasm for them? Do they use toys? etc

When someone orgasms, is it like a convulsion and is it painful?

Pretty scary stuff so to get answers about things and then realise that your orgasm is actually reliving rape or sexual abuse helps you to deal with the dysfunction and damage and then helps you to start addressing the problems.

Know you have a problem and fix it.

Shere Hite

book info




[edit on 24-11-2008 by Thurisaz]