Many people think women should have their own version of Viagra®. However, there's disagreement about just how frequent sexual problems in women are. An earlier survey said they affected 43% of American women, but newer results indicate that things aren't that bad . . .

 Introduction

The availability of Viagra®) (sildenafil) has changed life for the better for many men, so that it's not surprising that there's great interest in the possibility of a similar drug that would work for women. But, of course, erectile dysfunction (ED) cannot be readily compared with women's problems with sex. A commonly-used term for such problems is "female sexual dysfunction", or FSD.

In 1999 a study came out that said that FSD affected at least 4 out of 10 American women. ¹ This extraordinarily high rate (43%) has been widely quoted by sex therapists and drug companies planning to develop treatments for FSD. Recently, however, the use of the word "dysfunction" to establish the rate of women's sexual problems has been questioned. The staff at the famous Kinsey Institute, Indiana, USA, has done a survey to see if a lack of sexual interest or response is actually "dysfunctional". The scientists deliberately used the term "sexual distress" instead of dysfunction in their report, which we summarize here.

What was done

The scientists used a telephone survey of women who had been in a heterosexual relationship for over 6 months. Random dialing was used to ask women between 20 and 65 about their sexual experiences in the previous month. Computer-assisted interviewing was done, to reduce embarrassment and to avoid any influence from the interviewer. Participants were paid $25 for completion of the interview - if someone refused at first, but later agreed to be interviewed, she was paid $50.

Sexual distress was measured by two questions: "During the past 4 weeks, how much distress or worry has your sexual relationship caused you?" and "During the past 4 weeks, how much distress or worry has your own sexuality caused you?" Participants could answer 'none', 'slight', 'moderate', or 'great distress'; as not many women responded with 'moderate' or 'great', the results for these two responses were combined to form a 'marked distress' category.

In addition to these questions, there were detailed questions about sexual experience, as well on aspects of emotional and physical health.

What was found

There were 987 women who completed the survey, but, because not all questions were answered fully, only the results from 853 of them could be analyzed properly.

Roughly 2 out of 10 younger women and 3 out of 10 older women reported 'marked distress' about their sexual relationship, their own sexuality, or both. The exact rate overall was 24.4%.

The results were analyzed to see what factors influenced the occurrence of sexual distress. The scientists found that good emotional health and good physical health were more likely to be linked with a lower rate of sexual distress. Women who had not been sexually active in the previous month were, not surprisingly, more likely to report sexual distress. Premature ejaculation by the man was also linked to more distress in the woman.

The physical side of sexual response in women - arousal, vaginal lubrication, and orgasm - didn't really influence the numbers of reports of distress. Such difficulties were more common in older women, but they weren't clearly linked to reports of distress.

Comment

How do these results square with the 1999 report of 43% of US women having FSD? The authors of this study think that the differences are largely due to the definition of "a sexual problem". In fact, many cases of "sexual dysfunction" may not actually be a problem to the woman concerned.

One can resolve the 43% frequency of "sexual dysfunction" and the 24.4% frequency of "sexual distress" by accepting the idea that about 20% of women can be sexually dysfunctional, but it doesn't distress them. And this may be more common as women get older. This may sound a rather simple explanation, but it is probably correct:

Four out of 10 women when surveyed report symptoms that suggest they have some "sexual dysfunction", but only 2-3 of them are actually distressed by this; the rest (about 2 in10) don't worry about it!

Source

Distress about sex: a national survey of women in heterosexual relationships. J. Bancroft, J. Loftus, J. Scott Long, Arch Sex Beh, 2003, vol. 32, pp. 193--208

Links

• Women's Sexuality at Midlife
• Sex Problems in Women
• It Never Ends: Aging and Sexuality - Part I

Footnotes

1. Sexual dysfunctions in the United States; prevalence and predictors. EO. Laumann, A. Paik, RC. Rosen, JAMA, 1999, vol. 28, pp. 537--544