Sexual Behavior in Pregnancy

Abstract

This chapter reports on a study of the sexuality of pregnant women. In general, the results showed a linear decrease in sexual interest, frequency of coitus, and frequency of orgasm over the course of pregnancy. These results should be viewed with caution, however, for a number of reasons. First, this is a retrospective study. Within a few days of delivery, women were asked to recall their sexual patterns over the course of their pregnancy. Such retrospective reports of events in the distant past are often distorted by selective memory and by the active memory of more recent events. Since the subjects were generally physically uncomfortable and therefore uninterested in sex during the ninth month of their pregnancy, their reports of decreased sexual activity during the first months of pregnancy may have been influenced by this recent memory. Secondly, the interviewers were all young males. It is reasonable to expect that many women, immediately after delivery, would be reluctant to describe themselves as highly interested in sex to young male strangers.

Regardless of these methodological problems, pregnancy is obviously an event that can have profound effects on a couple’s sexual relationship. The clinician treating sexual dysfunction should always inquire carefully about pregnancy and the postdelivery period when taking sexual histories from patients.