Posts Tagged ‘male sexual dysfunction’

How long is too long: the average time for intercourse

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 by Bat Sheva Marcus LMSW MPH PhD

Okay ladies (and the men who may be looking over their shoulder.) The average time for intercourse is 3-5 minutes. So if your partner is thrusting inside of you for 25 minutes and your vagina hurts or gets sore, there is nothing wrong with your vagina. There is something wrong with your timing! Now… lets respond to all the possible women’s reactions:

 “But I LIKE intercourse for 30 minutes” Great!! You’re just not average. If you and your partner enjoy prolonged intercourse and you’re not having pain afterwards – go for it! Have fun.

 “But he needs 25-30 minutes to ejaculate” – Try exploring other stimulations for 15-20 minutes. Rubbing against your body, using your hands, using your mouth, him using his hands are all good possibilities. Then when he comes inside of you he may only need 5 minutes or so.

 “He really needs 40 minutes inside of me to ejaculate.” This is where I think you need to bring in a male sexual dysfunction specialist to have him evaluated.

 Bottom line. Don’t always blame your vagina!!

Sexual gridlock

Monday, June 7th, 2010 by Shannon Bertha, ACS, PhD

Sexual dysfunction is a complicated problem and often it isn’t one thing – or one person’s issue –  that is causing it.  If the problem goes on long enough, often it begins to affect other issues in  the relationship.  I notice that women often take on this problem as their own, “It’s my fault” or “It is my problem” or “My husband is fine, it is ME!”  At times, partners may be contributing to the problem or experiencing sexual dysfunction themselves.  At the Center, we work with our female patients to achieve optimal sexual functioning, but at times, we can only take the patient so far and may need her husband or partner to seek treatment as well.  He may be suffering from sexual dysfunctions such as difficulty achieving or maintaining his erection, low desire or ejaculation problems.  At times, men are embarrassed about getting help and therefore stop initiating lovemaking.  If  this disrupts the natural patterns in a relationship,  sexual activity may decrease in frequency and women are then left wondering what happened.   The lack of desire may become magnified, no one feels comfortable initiating sex and we have  sexual gridlock!  No on’e s moving. No one’s initiating. No one’s talking about it.  And…no one’s having sex!

Keep in mind that sexual issues are a multidimensional and it is important to investigate this from many angles. If you begin to sense gridlock in your sex life, stop the cycle, be gentle with your partner, and try to understand what’s happening between you.  If it appears to be a physical issue, there are practitioners who can help men and those who specialize in women’s sexuality.  If it doesn’t seem to be sourced in a physical problem, often some short term couples therapy can help you talk through immediate issues and get back to business!