The sexual potential of a woman is not less but far
greater," observes Mrs. Virginia Johnson who, with Dr. William Masters,
conducted pioneering laboratory studies of human sexual response, "For,
unlike a man, she can immediately go on to another orgasmic experience."
When a woman is frigid, her understanding, coupled with her husband's, of
possible reasons and their joint efforts to relax and to approach sex leisurely
and lovingly sometimes may be enough to solve the problem.
When it is not,
professional help often may do so. What is impotence and what causes it? By
impotence doctors mean the inability of a man to have an erection. It does not
mean sterility, which is inability to have children. Impotence can be, but rarely
is, due to physical causes.
Often, it is due to psychological difficulties such as
hostility to women, guilt, and fears-for example, the fear of contracting a
venereal disease or of being sexually inferior. Some men are able to have
intercourse only with women they do not respect; they are impotent with a woman
they admire or love. This may be due to their subconscious classification of
women as either madonnas or good mothers with whom intercourse is forbidden or
harlots with whom it is permissible.
This stems from an idea that sex is wicked
or from over veneration of the mother. Psychiatric help may be needed to solve
such problems. But many chronic cases of impotence start from a commonplace
cause. It's natural for every man to have occasional episodes of impotence,
usually the result of fatigue, preoccupation, or alcohol.
Some men, increase virility. However, sexual relations
regularly several times a day may decrease the amount of sperm a man produces,
thus reducing chances of having a child. "Too much" sexual activity
does not cause insanity; neither does too little, although distressing
emotional tension may result from frustration. Lack of interest or too much
interest in sex is an indication of difficulties that require expert help.
Occasionally such difficulties are of a physical nature; mostly, however, they
spring from psychological problems.
On this score, we want to warn you: Never
take any medicine, pill, injection, or anything else to increase or decrease
sexual desire unless a competent physician has discovered a physical condition
that requires it. "Potency pills" containing hormones can be
dangerous. Aphrodisiacs such as cantharides ("Spanish fly") are
actually poisonous irritants.
Alcohol does not increase desire, although it may
seem to do so because it releases inhibitions. A tense or shy person
occasionally may find it easier to relax after a glass or two of wine or some
other alcoholic beverage. But anyone who remains dependent on an artificial aid
will probably find some form of psychotherapy a wiser way of overcoming
repressions.
