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Common Sexual Health Concerns - Women

The main sexual health issues that women face include issues with arousal, low sexual desire, decreased sexual self-confidence, and pain during intercourse.

Pain during intercourse

This condition, called vaginismus, may leave sufferers feeling sexually inadequate and less ‘womanly’. It often leads to serious problems in their relationships.

Vaginismus is defined as a vaginal tightness causing discomfort, burning pain, penetration problems, or the complete inability to have intercourse.

Many women find that sex changes after birth

Their libidos may decrease, they may become self-conscious about the changes their body has gone through, or they may simply just be too exhausted to think about sex. Having a child not only changes a woman’s role from ‘wife’ to ‘wife and mother’, but it also changes her physical relationship with her partner.

Menopause

For older women, menopause can have an effect on the libido, and may even cause pain during intercourse.

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Loss of Sexual Desire

Libido, sex drive, desire…these are all words describing a person’s desire or wish to have sex.

Sex drive or the desire for sex comes from many different places and is affected by many different things. For women, sexual desire is very psychological, and for men, sexual desire is very physical.

To find out what affects desire, a psychologist will look at a client’s physical health (hormones, sickness, age), emotional or personal wellbeing (stress, anxiety, depression), neurological health (hormone production), relationship health (happy or in a rut) and environment (safety, comfort).

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Painful Intercourse

Two conditions describe painful intercourse: Vaginismus and Dyspareunia.

Vaginismus

Vaginismus is defined as ‘vaginal tightness causing discomfort, burning pain, penetration problems, or the complete inability to have intercourse.

It may leave the woman feeling sexually inadequate and less 'womanly'. This often leads to serious problems in their relationships.

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Sex & Pregnancy

Can you have sex during pregnancy?

There are several myths surrounding sex during pregnancy for example: sex will cause miscarriage, premature labour or foetal damage.

But research has proven that these myths are groundless, and intercourse during all stages of a NORMAL pregnancy is completely safe. If your pregnancy is not “normal” (History of miscarriage; history of pre-term labour; unexplained vaginal bleeding, discharge or cramping; leakage of amniotic fluid; multiple foetuses) you should consult your doctor before having sex. 

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How menopause affects your libido

Many women find that their libidos are affected by perimenopause and menopause. Perimenopause is the period of time before a woman’s body transitions into menopause, and may begin as many as ten years beforehand.

Over time, less oestrogen is produced in a woman’s ovaries, and ultimately the ovaries cease to release eggs. Perimenopause symptoms include hot flushes, irregular periods, changing cholesterol levels and changes in sexual functioning. 

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