Women Reproduction Health

As U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday, women who lose their sexual desire as they age may be reacting to their own body image rather than hormonal changes.
From Penn State University found that by perceiving herself as less attractive, more women likely report a decline in sexual desire or activity over the past 10 years.

Dr. Patricia Barthalow Koch, an associate professor of biobehavioral health and women’s studies led the study with a team of 307 mostly white, heterosexual women aged 35 to 55. About 21% said they were pre-menopausal, 63.5% said they were undergoing some menopausal changes and 15.5% were past menopause.
Koch said that form the results suggest that treatment via medication, of menopausal effects for this purpose seems unwarranted in light of the findings that menopausal status did not have a significant impact on the sexual responding of the women in this study.

From Dr. Koch’s team reports in The Journal of Sex Research, nearly 21% of the women reported an overall sense of dissatisfaction with their bodies and could not think of even one attractive feature. Most women especially disliked their stomachs or abdomens, hips, thighs and legs.
Two-thirds of the women said they either desired sex less than 10 years before or that they had sex less often. But something interest from the women report that when they did have sex, there was a high level of enjoyment, with 72% saying they were physically and emotionally satisfied in their sexual relationships.

Koch said that there has been a dearth of research examining the relationship between body image and women’s sexual response. These new results support a link between body image and sexual responding that needs further study.

Adapted News from Reuters