The Facts
The term sexual dysfunction describes a person's inability to fully, healthily,
and pleasurably experience some or all of the various physical states or stages
the body normally goes through during sexual activity. These stages can
be broadly thought of as the desire phase, the arousal phase, and the orgasm
phase. It has been estimated that about 19% to 50% of women are affected
by sexual dysfunction to some degree.
In women, sexual dysfunction takes many forms and has numerous causes, but
a particular kind of dysfunction at one stage of sexual activity is often connected
to dysfunction at another. This makes it important to address all of sexuality's
aspects - whether physical, psychological, physiological (mechanical), or
interpersonal - in order to resolve problems. Female sexual dysfunction is actually
quite common. As many as one in seven women believes she's never had an orgasm.
In men, sexual dysfunction is called erectile dysfunction.