Are you ever confused by your own sexual arousal? By what turns you on and when? Or… maybe you’re confused by your spouse. Why doesn’t she ever initiate sex? Why is he always so turned on? The “he” and “she” there are stereotypical — sometimes it goes the other way — but scientists have identified two different pathways to arousal that map onto these common perceptions. The two polarities are called “spontaneous desire” and “responsive desire”, and they lead to very different behavior that can confuse you and your spouse if you don’t recognize what’s happening.
Men typically (but not always) exhibit spontaneous desire. This polarity manifests as sexual desire that isn’t triggered by any obvious external factors. “Hey, I want to have sex!” Spontaneous desire motivates the initiation of sexual behavior. Spontaneous desire leads you to ask for a date, lean in for a kiss, test boundaries for touching, escalate a physical encounter, try new things, and risk rejection. These behaviors can be confusing for the recipient, because it may seem like the sexual behavior is coming out of nowhere — which it is. It’s spontaneous. The recipient of these behaviors may ask themselves things like:
- “Why is he touching me now?”
- “Why does he want to do that?“
- “Why is he so persistent?”
- “Again?”
- “Does he think about anything besides sex?”
Women typically (but not always) exhibit responsive desire. This polarity manifests as sexual desire that grows after sexual behavior has started. “Oh, that feels good… I guess I am in the mood!” A person with responsive desire may seem to have a low libido because she doesn’t often initiate sex, and it can take some effort on her part to “get into the mood”. What’s especially interesting is that women often don’t even know when they’re aroused at first.
Men’s subjective ratings of arousal were in agreement with their body’s level of sexual arousal about 66 percent of the time, while women’s were in line only about 26 percent of the time.
“The general pattern that I have seen in my laboratory is that women experience a genital response but do not report feeling sexually aroused,” Chivers told LiveScience.
Women’s bodies often get aroused before their minds do. Crazy, huh? With responsive desire, sexual arousal will follow physical or mental sexual stimulation, and that stimulation usually comes from a husband who is trying to initiate sex. Without understanding this process, a husband may think things like:
- “Why doesn’t she ever initiate sex?”
- “I’ll wait for her to initiate this time.”
- “Why do I have to try so hard to turn her on?”
- “Isn’t she attracted to me? Doesn’t she want me?”
- “Why doesn’t she suggest something new?”
Of course, there are no absolutes in life. Some men are more responsive, and some women are more spontaneous. What’s more, a person’s desire polarity may vary over time — especially for women, as their hormones change throughout their menstrual cycles.
Now that you know about spontaneous and responsive desire, what action can you take?
If you and your spouse are both spontaneous… well, you’re probably having sex all the time. Congrats!
If you are spontaneous and your spouse is responsive:
- Don’t judge your responsive spouse for not being spontaneous.
- Learn how to elicit sexual response from your spouse and recognize when she is getting turned on.
- Be enthusiastic and persistent with initiation; don’t get frustrated that you initiate most of the time.
If you are responsive and your spouse is spontaneous:
- Don’t judge your spontaneous spouse for not being responsive.
- When your spontaneous spouse initiates sex, don’t immediately see it as an annoyance or distraction! Give your mind a body a chance to respond.
- Learn to recognize your own arousal when your mind and body respond to your spouse’s initiation. It may not be obvious.
If you and your spouse are both responsive, you’re going to need to be extra intentional. Try one of our sex games or the random foreplay generator to initiate sex when you’ve got time, even if neither of you is particularly in the mood. Once you get started, you can both respond to the heat generated by the game!
Do you have any experiences to share? Any advice? Leave a comment!
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