The sexual interaction of women with secondary orgasmic dysfunction and their partners

Abstract

This paper reports the sexual interaction of 48 couples in which the women had secondary orgasmic dysfunction and the men reported no difficulties in sexual functioning. The results were contrasted with a sample of 63 “sexually satisfied” couples. On the Sexual Interaction Inventory, male and female members of the dysfunctional couples reported greater dissatisfaction with the frequency and range of specific sexual activities engaged in than their counterparts in the normative sample. Males in the dysfunctional group rated their sexual pleasure slightly higher than the norm, whereas the dysfunctional females' ratings were below average on this dimension. Within the dysfunctional group, males reported low self-acceptance and mate acceptance, while the females were less accepting of themselves but more accepting of their mates' responsivity. The female members of the dysfunctional couples had an average knowledge of their partners' sexual preferences, whereas the males were less accurate than the normative group in their perceptions of their partners' sexual preferences. As expected, the dysfunctional group reported greater overall disharmony and dissatisfaction in their sexual interaction. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.