Female Sexual Arousal Disorder

"The Maiden Must Be Kissed Into A Woman"

Most pharmacological treatments that are currently being developed for women with sexual arousal disorder are directed at remedying a vasculogenic deficit. In a study we did in the late 1990s we compared pre- and postmenopausal women with and without sexual arousal disorder, diagnosed according to strict DSM-IV criteria. Women with any somatic or mental comorbidity were excluded. This study investigated whether pre- and postmenopausal women with sexual arousal disorder were less genitally responsive to visual sexual stimuli than pre- and postmenopausal women without sexual problems. From the findings of this study we concluded that in such women, sexual arousal disorder is unconnected to organic etiology. In other words, we are certain, from this and other studies to be reviewed, that in women without any somatic or mental comorbidity, impaired genital responsiveness is not a valid diagnostic criterion. The sexual problems of women with sexual arousal disorder are not related to their potential to become genitally aroused. We propose that in healthy women with sexual arousal disorder, lack of sufficient sexual stimulation, with or without concurrent negative effect, underlies sexual arousal problems. This view is at odds with the dominant view on male sexual arousal problems.

In the history of sexological science, the study of women's sexuality has been omitted, or has been obscured by comparisons with sexuality of men. In textbooks, descriptions of women and men's sexuality were frequently aimed at increasing awareness of similarities in physiological and psychological mechanisms. Even today, clear conceptualities of women's sexual problems and dysfunctions seem impeded by dominance of the male model.

For a long time, the general idea in western civilization has been that although women may have a disposition for sexual feelings, in decent and healthy women these feelings will only be aroused by a loving husband. In women, particularly in those who live a natural and healthy life, sexual excitement also tends to occur spontaneously, but by no means so often as in men. In a very large number of women the sexual impulse remains latent until aroused by a lover's caresses. The youth spontaneously becomes a man; but the maiden as it has been said must be kissed into a woman . Stekel conceived that it was a man's task to awaken sexual feelings in a woman, a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. As a matter of fact it is the duty of every man whose wife is unfortunately anaesthetic to investigate for himself his marital partner's sensitive zones, adroitly, carefully until he discovers the areas or positions which are effective of rousing his wife's libido and of bringing on her orgasm during intercourse . He disapprovingly remarked: There are men so brutally blunt and so selfish that they take no trouble to study their wives so as to become acquainted with their erogenous zones and learn to meet their particular desires . About half a century earlier, a book entitled The Functions and Disorder of the Reproductive Organs by W. Acton, a surgeon, passed through many editions and was popularly viewed as a standard authority on the subjects with which it dealt. The book was almost solely concerned with men; the author evidently regarded the function of reproduction as exclusively appertaining to men. He claimed that women, if well brought up, are, and should be, absolutely ignorant of all matters concerning it. I should say, this author remarked, that the majority of women (happily for society) are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind. The speculation that women do possess sexual feelings he considered a vile aspersion.

It was not until the late 18th century, nevertheless, that the above view had become the superior one. For thousands of years prior to this, scholars had assumed that concept could not take place without the woman becoming sexually aroused and having an orgasm. Therefore, sexual pleasure for women was not only accepted, but also substantial. However, although sexual feelings in women were acknowledged, they were not always considered to be unproblematic. Shorter summarized the prevalent view of women's sexuality in the Middle Ages as follows: Women are furnaces of carnality, who time and again will lead men to perdition, if given a chance. Because the flame of female sexuality could snuff out a man's spirit, women had sexually to be broken and controlled .

Ellis had distinctive opinions about differences between women and men relating the physiological mechanisms involved in sexuality. In men, the process of tumescence and detumescence was regarded to be simple. In women we have in the clitoris a corresponding apparatus on a small scale, but behind this has developed a much more extensive mechanism, which also demands satisfaction, and requires for that satisfaction the presence of different conditions that are almost antagonistic. . . . It is the difference, roughly speaking, between a lock and a key. . . .We have to imagine a lock that not only requires a key to fit it, but should only be entered at the right moment, and, under the best conditions, may only become adjusted to the key by considerable use . It seems that phrases such as an extensive mechanism behind the clitoris served to conceal ignorance about physiological facts. Even today, scholars recognize that it is glaringly obvious that we know so little about sexual arousal that we cannot answer some of the most elementary questions about the human genital function .

Laqueur demonstrated that conceptions about human sexuality were not the result of scientific progress. Rather, he argued, they were part of social and political changes, explicable only within the context of battles over gender and power . Feminists have long criticized the notion that the behavior and abilities of women are uniquely determined by their biology. This criticism led to an almost total rejection of the role of biology in the construction of gender. It also contributed to an image of female sexuality devoid of the body. Masters and Johnson were the first to cautiously study and describe the genital and extragenital shifts that occurred in sexually aroused women. Tiefer critiqued the suggestion of the human sexual response cycle as a universal model for sexual response, not in the least because the concept of sexual desire was not embedded in the model, therewith eliminating an element which is notoriously variable within populations . She argued that the human sexual response cycle, with its genital focus, neglects women's sexual priorities and experiences. Indeed, Masters and Johnson did not assess the subjective sexual experience of the 694 men and women who were studied. Their emphasis on peripheral physiology, particularly the genital vasocongestive processes linked with sexual response, may reflect the influence of primarily male-dominated theorizing and research in sexology, with its inevitable emphasis on penile vaginal sexual contact. Tiefer wondered why problems such as too little tenderness or partner has no sense of romance were excluded. These problems have been oftentimes reported by women. The sexual response cycle model assumes men and women have and like the same kind of sexuality. Still, different studies show that women care more about affection and intimacy, and men care more about sexual gratification in sexual relationships. There seems to be support for the cliche Men give love to get sex, and women give sex to get love. Men and women are raised with different sets of sexual values. Tiefer concludes that focusing on the physical aspects of sexuality and ignoring other aspects of the sexual response cycle favors men's value training over women's.

About The Author

David Crawford is the CEO and owner of a Male Enhancement Reviews company known as Male Enhancement Group which is dedicated to researching and comparing male enhancement products in order to determine which male enhancement product is safer and more effective than other products on the market. Copyright 2009 David Crawford of Natural Male Enhancement This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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