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Posted by Joseph on November 5, 2008
The numbers aren’t good. From the Washington Post: ”Almost Half of Women Have Sexual Problems“
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.
The good news, I guess, is that many of the problems aren’t serious; and many women don’t care. (Is it really good news if they don’t care?) But, damn. Half of women.
Is this more pronounced among Mormons? Offhand, I’d say it probably is.
So, what can or should we do about it?
Starfoxy said
I read this article too, and it really bothered me because of that disconnect- the idea that 28% (40 minus 12) of women have sexual problems, but aren’t distressed about it indicates a major problem. Either their definition of ’sexual problem’ is completely divorced from the lived reality of women, or (as you noted) women are so hopelessly conditioned to be content with sub-par sex that nobody seems to care that these women don’t enjoy sex.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it is in men’s best interest for women to actually enjoy sex.
MoJo said
But how do they know it’s sub-par? You don’t know what you don’t know, so I’m going to posit that not only are the definitions ineffective and/or insufficient, but that there is no real way to test and refine those definitions.
It’s not like you can put a respondent in a room with a man or woman or device and a guarantee of orgasm to teach them what they’re missing so they can answer the question in a more, uh, scientific? fashion.
Although now I’ve had the idea, I could see how I could probably get a government grant for such a study.
Joe said
I wonder if using the same criteria with men wouldn’t end up with similar results.
I’m also curious about the definition of sub-par sex. Who’s making this judgment? I’m not Mr. Sexually Experienced, but I think we over-romanticize sex in our heads. From a purely physical perspective, there isn’t a whole lot variation for a given person’s physiology. Sex is largely a mental thing–doing exactly the same thing with two different partners with exactly the same physiological results may produce extremely different judgments on quality, for lack of a better way phrasing it.
Could it be that women who report having “sub-par” sex, but who do nothing about it, know deep down inside that they are comparing their experience against the fantasized one or even against past experiences they know were intense for reasons that can’t be repeated.
traumerin said
Maybe if almost half of women have “sexual dysfunction,” it’s not dysfunction…it’s just “normal.” Based on past experiences with people, mainly men, who had unrealistic expectations about female sexuality, it wouldn’t surprise me.
This is not to say that no one has “sexual problems” or should be concerned about them, but it does leave me wondering if something is wrong with our entire model of “good and normal” sex.