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FEMALE SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION - episode 2-25
The term "Female Sexual Dysfunction" makes me cringe. It makes me think of sexuality as a purely mechanical object that can break down or a single physical event that can be measured. And what is this great event by which we measure a "functional" sex life? The Orgasm. But we all know that sexuality - including the big "O" itself - is not simply reducible to a series of physical events that begins with lubrication and "blood flow to the clitoris." We have to ask why nearly one third of all women have difficulty reaching orgasm through any method and why 43% of North American women experience their sexuality as "dysfunctional." Most women - and men - are sexually complex creatures who crave more than a simple focus on genital reflexes. And, according to the research, women's orgasms are quite vulnerable to their emotional state. Dr. Carol Ellison, author of Women's Sexualities, surveyed over 2,632 women about their sexuality and sexual practices. She found that when women considered sexual satisfaction in their ongoing relationships, the factors that led the list were # 1 - feeling close to their partner before sex; #2 - feeling emotional closeness after sex; #3 - feeling loved; and lastly came the desire to have one or more orgasms in various forms of stimulation. Dr. Rosemary Basson, also featured in this story supports this finding. The traditional, Masters and Johnson sex response cycle, she says, is in the shape of a mountain that begins with Sexual Desire, moves up to Arousal, peaks with Orgasm and then ends with Resolution. Ultimately, this translates into the wide-spread understanding that a woman's sexual arousal is equivalent to vaginal lubrication. Basson, who headed the first ever study of the effect of Viagra on 577 women with sexual arousal problems, developed an alternative model of female sex response. Her model of female sexuality is in the shape of a circle that begins and ends with Intimacy Needs. Viagra, she says, does not improve women's sexual response. It cannot help women with some of the preconditions for good sex - mental excitement and a desire for enhanced intimacy. Orgasmic release is not essential for sexual satisfaction for many women. And so, before I start to write a "thesis", it is clear that more research in women's sexualities is needed before we embark on all these clinical trials for products that seek to get more blood flow to the clitoris. There is an obvious interplay of psychological and biological factors and there is a weaving together of the quality of one's life, the pressures of our society and the physicality of our sexual expression. Science will hopefully play an increasingly important and extremely valid role in sexual health but we cannot ignore sex and marital therapy. In short, we cannot ignore the social circumstances by which we become sexual people. Michelle Melles
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