This article explores heterosexual women's accounts of sexual desire loss, particularly the ways in which it can affect their sense of themselves as women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 participants recruited through a psychosexual clinic in England, and the data analysed using a material-discursive approach. The findings showed that having sexual desire loss often challenged participants' perceptions of themselves as women. Specific challenges related to dealing with isolation and `otherness', addressing their own feelings of not being `proper wives' because they did not sexually satisfy their partners and maintaining a sense of sexual attractiveness in the absence of sexual desire. Participants responded to these challenges in various ways, often renegotiating their identities as women. The findings are discussed in relation to theorizing women's sexuality and their implications for health care.
Alperstein, L., Ellison, C., Fishman, J.R., Hall, M., Handwerker, L., Hartley, H. et al. (2000). A new view of women's sexual problems. Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, 3(15), 1-6. Available at http://www.ejhs.org/volume3/newview.htm
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
3.
Bordo, S. (2003). Unbearable weight: Feminism, western culture and the body, 10th anniversary edn. London: University of California Press.
4.
Butcher, J. (1999). Female sexual problems 1: Loss of desire. In J. Tomlinson (Ed.), ABC of sexual health, pp. 19-21. London: BMJ Books .
5.
Davies, S., Katz, J. and Jackson, J.L. (1999). Sexual desire discrepancies: Effects on sexual and relationship satisfaction in heterosexual dating couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28(6), 553-67.
6.
Donahey K.M. and Carroll, R.A. (1993). Gender differences in factors associated with hypoactive sexual desire. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 19(1), 25-40.
7.
Dunn, K.M., Croft, P.R. and Hackett, G.I. (1998). Sexual problems: A study of the prevalence and need for health care in the general population. Family Practice , 15(6), 519-24.
8.
Gavey, N., McPhillips, K. and Braun, V. (1999). Interruptus coitus: Heterosexuals accounting for intercourse. Sexualities, 2(1), 35-68.
9.
Gott, M. (2005). Sexuality, sexual health and ageing. Berkshire: Open University Press.
10.
Gray, J. (1995). Mars and Venus in the bedroom: A guide to lasting romance and passion. New York: Harper Collins.
11.
Hicks, K.M. (2005). The `New View' approach to women's sexual problems . Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/4705_pnt
12.
Hinchliff, S. and Gott, M. (2004). Intimacy, commitment and adaptation: Sexual relationships within long-term marriages. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 21(5), 595-609.
13.
Hite, S. (2000). The new Hite report: The revolutionary report on female sexuality updated. London: Hamlyn.
14.
Hollway, W. (1984). Gender difference and the production of subjectivity . In J. Henriques, W. Hollway, C. Venn and V. Walkerdine (Eds.), Changing the subject: Psychology, social regulation and subjectivity, pp. 227-63. London : Methuen.
15.
Kaler, A. (2004). Unreal women: Gender, identity and the lived experience of vulvar pain. Paper presented at the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Gender, Sexuality and Health, Simon-Fraser University, Vancouver, 10-13 June.
16.
Kaschak, E. and Tiefer, L. (2001). A new view of women's sexual problems. New York: The Haworth Press.
17.
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Los Angeles: SAGE .
18.
Lavie, M. and Willig, C. (2005). I don't feel like melting butter: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of `inorgasmia'. Psychology and Health, 20(1), 115-28.
19.
Lee, C. (1998). Women's health: Psychological and social perspectives . London: SAGE.
20.
Masters, W.H. and Johnson, V.E. (1966). Human Sexual Response. Boston, MA: Little Brown.
21.
Moynihan, R. (2003). The making of a disease: Female sexual dysfunction . British Medical Journal, 326(7379), 45-7.
22.
Nazareth, I., Boynton, P. and King, M. (2003). Problems with sexual functioning in people attending London general practitioners: Cross sectional study. British Medical Journal, 327(7412), 423-8.
23.
Nicolson, P. (1993). Public values and private beliefs: Why do women refer themselves for sex therapy? In J.M. Ussher and C.D. Baker (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on sexual problems: New directions in theory and practice, pp. 56-76. London: Routledge .
24.
Nicolson, P. (2003). FSD: How do we `hear' women's voices? Available at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/326/7379/45
25.
Nicolson, P. and Burr, J. (2003). What is `normal' about women's (hetero)sexual desire and orgasm? A report of an in-depth interview study. Social Science and Medicine, 57(9), 1735-45.
26.
Orbach, S. (1998). Fat is a feminist issue, 3rd edn. London: Arrow Books.
27.
Osborn, M., Hawton, K. and Gath, D. (1988). Sexual dysfunction among middle aged women in the community. British Medical Journal, 296(6627), 959-62.
28.
Potts, A. (2002). The science/fiction of sex: Feminist deconstruction and the vocabularies of heterosex. East Sussex: Routledge.
29.
Read, S., King, M. and Watson, J. (1997). Sexual dysfunction in primary medical care: Prevalence, characteristics and detection by the general practitioner. Journal of Public Health Medicine, 19(4), 387-91.
30.
Ritchie, J. and Spencer, L. (1994). Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research . In A. Bryman and R.G. Burman (Eds.), Analyzing qualitative data, pp. 173-94. London : Routledge.
31.
Stoppard, J.M. (1997). Women's bodies, women's lives and depression: Towards a reconciliation of material and discursive accounts. In J. Ussher (Ed.), Body talk: The material and discursive regulation of sexuality, madness and reproduction, pp. 10-32. London : Routledge.
Ussher, J.M. (1993). The construction of female sexual problems: Regulating sex, regulating women. In J.M. Ussher and C.D. Baker (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on sexual problems: New directions in theory and practice, pp. 9-40. London: Routledge .
34.
Ussher, J.M. (1997). Introduction: Towards a material-discursive analysis of madness, sexuality and reproduction. In J.M. Ussher (Ed.), Body talk: The material and discursive regulation of sexuality, madness and reproduction, pp. 1-9. London: Routledge.
35.
Ussher, J.M. (2005). The meaning of sexual desire: Experiences of heterosexual and lesbian girls. Feminism and Psychology, 15(1), 27-32.
36.
Ussher, J.M. (2006). Managing the monstrous feminine: Regulating the reproductive body. East Sussex: Routledge.
37.
Wilkinson, S. (2000). Women with breast cancer talking causes: Comparing content, biographical and discursive analyses. Feminism and Psychology, 10(4), 431-60.
38.
Yardley, L. (1996). Reconciling discursive and materialist perspectives on heath and illness. Theory & Psychology, 6(3), 485-508.
39.
Yardley, L. (1997). Introducing discursive methods. In L. Yardley (Ed.), Material discourses of health and illness, pp. 25-49. London: Routledge .
