A phenomenological inquiry into the lived experience of low sexual desire in women : implications for clinical practice

[摘要] It is a common phenomenon that women's sexual desire diminishes in relationships, yet, to date,limited research has been done locally on this topic. International studies indicate that low sexualdesire affects more than half of women, and that an even greater proportion of women indicatethat they have sexual intercourse with their husbands without they themselves having a desire todo so. In spite of this, there is an expectation in society that couples should continue to have anactive sex life. Low sexual desire may lead to distress in the individual or discord in the couple,and in this aspect the practitioner can render a service.The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the life-world of women with lowsexual desire towards their life-partners, and the extent to which this causes her distress orimpedes on her relationship. The objectives of the study thus included providing an overview ofmodels of sexual response, an evaluation of the diagnostic criteria for sexual dysfunctions, and anexploration of factors affecting the experience of sexual desire, including the role of social scriptson sexual behaviour.The context for the study is provided by a review of relevant literature, and a qualitative studywith a phenomenological interpretative approach was executed. Data gathering focused on a nonprobablepurposive sample of ten participants, and used an interview schedule with open-endedquestions.Seven themes emerged from the analysis of the data, namely(1) perceptions of sexual desire, (2) experience of sexual desire, (3) experience of sex life withoutdesire, (4) the perceived impact of low desire on the individual or the relationship, (5) personalreasons for decline in desire, (6) relationship factors affecting sexual desire, and (7) theexperience of low desire in the socio-cultural context.It was found that 'desire' is difficult to conceptualise, that women put a higher premises on theemotional component of desire, and that there is a difference between innate sexual desires anddesire that is evoked by stimuli. Reasons for low sexual desire include an array of personalmedial, psychological, and life context factors, and in many cases the lack of desire is specific tothe present life-partner. Women are especially sensitive to a wide variety of aspects in therelationship and with regards to their partners, and it emerged that even in happy and intimaterelationships low sexual desire is experienced. Women experience a loss of emotional intimacy as a result of low sexual desire but do notnecessarily feel that their low desire is abnormal. The impact on the relationship is limited mostlybecause women concede to sex for many reasons, including a need for emotional intimacy. Manystrategies, including faking orgasms, are implemented to cope with sexual relationships in theabsence of desire. It also appears that social scripts have a big influence on the inception ofnegative perceptions on sexuality, and generate unreasonable and idealistic expectations of sexualexperiences in long-term relationships.Several recommendations flowed from the findings and conclusions. The most importantrecommendation is that professional people should gain a deeper understanding of the complexityof the phenomenon of low desire in women, in order to render a more effective therapeuticintervention.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University