Vivian Baruch

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

This blog about overcoming sexual disappointment is adapted from a post written by one my sex education teachers, Martha Kauppi. For my clients who are therapists, I highly recommend you get some training from Martha. You can read her blog here.

Many people have not received clear, science-based education and information about sex and sexual functioning. Because of this sad fact, many people suffer unnecessarily from sexual disappointment. There are two crucial pieces of psycho-education that everyone should know.

1. Erections come and go through the course of a sexual interaction
2. An erection is a physiological sign of arousal, and anxiety kills arousal. No-one can stay erect if anxiety is present.

Two more helpful pieces of scientific fact

Fact 1: less than 20% of people with a vagina and clitoris reach orgasm from vaginal penetration alone. The vast majority, more than 80%, require direct clitoral stimulation. And most need quite a lot of time spent on clitoral stimulation to reach orgasm. You can read more information on Myths About Orgasm – there are many of them.

Fact 2: most people with a penis are able to reach orgasm without being fully hard. This might be easier to do with self-stimulation than for a partner to do it, but for most, it is possible.

If you know these facts, when an erection is lost during a sexual interaction, instead of struggling with sexual disappointment, mange your reaction by self-soothing. You can do it in that moment, by engaging in some positive self-talk.

Positive self-talk

If you’re the partner with a vagina, you can say any one of these things to yourself :

• I know my partner is attracted to me, even though I sometimes have some insecurities about my body.
• It’s a fact that erections come and go, so this erection fading is not a reason to think my partner isn’t attracted to me.
• I would really love more sex play that involves clitoral stimulation.
• It’s OK. I can show my partner that there’s no need to be ashamed or embarrassed, and that I don’t need to be focused on an erection.
• I could take the lead here, and we could see how much pleasure we could generate not related to penetration. Who knows, I might even reach orgasm in the process, which would be a fun side benefit.

The partner with a penis could also use the above knowledge to create a different meaning when an erection is lost. Their sexual disappointment could be managed by saying:

• It’s OK. I can show my partner how attracted I am in this moment in many different ways.
• I would love it if she became really highly aroused. She’s told me that clitoral stimulation, as well as a few other things that she enjoys, will get her there.
• I always get really turned on when she’s really turned on, and my erection will probably come back. If it doesn’t, that’s OK, I can still touch myself and reach orgasm if I want to.
• We can have penis-in-vagina sex another time.

Sexual disappointment is inevitable

It can come from erection issues, lubrication issues, sex pain, premature ejaculation, postpartum low desire, mismatched desire or some other sex issue. Everyone will sometimes find themselves in a situation where their body doesn’t cooperate in a sexual activity.

Taking this personally is just not helpful. Our bodies cannot obey our wishes. If they could, we’d all have perfect bodies. Practicing being mindful and present during sex helps a lot when you’re dealing with sexual disappointment.

Managing your own reactions

Learning how to handle these moments is the number one skill-set you need to have great sex for a lifetime. A sexual situation that doesn’t go as planned is not an emergency. It’s only a sexual disappointment that is happening in this one moment. Keep it focused on what you can do now to avert sexual disappointment.

In fact, these moments are an opportunity to connect on a deeper level. They help you to get in touch with your partner’s vulnerabilities, and to respond authentically to moment-by-moment experience. The unexpected can be beautiful, moving, and, above all, sexy. Especially if you learn to meet it with curiosity and flexibility. Talking about sex in helpful ways is also very important. Research shows that only 9% of couples who can’t comfortably talk about sex with each other say that they’re satisfied sexually.

Update your sexual scripts and sexual vision

The problem is, your cultural script of how sex “should” go doesn’t include the unexpected. Movies and porn rarely show the unexpected. And unfortunately many people get their sex education from movies and porn. There are many myths about porn and people believe that what they see in the media is how their bodies “should” function. Those people are acting. And they have lots of props like make-up, lighting, scripted moves and sounds. It’s not real sex at all.

Porn, among many other things, has negatively impacted your cultural script about sex. In big ways your cultural script does not take into account that we all have bodies that change over time. All bodies are affected by stress, illness, relationship tension, lifestyle choices, age, where we’re having sex and life circumstances.

You may believe that when your body doesn’t cooperate, it’s a sign of either a problem in the relationship or a pathological “broken-ness” that requires medical intervention. That may not be the case. Of course, medical interventions can be an important part of improving sexual function. But nothing should have the power to get in the way of the intimate connection between partners, regardless of physical ability or sexual function.

How to handle sexual disappointment

For you and your partner to handle any moment of sexual disappointment well, you will need to:

• get good at self-regulation/self-soothing during a stressful situation that feels emotionally tense, and
• keep your focus on strengthening connection and pleasure, regardless of what sexual activities you engage in. You don’t have to stop any sexual interaction because your body isn’t responding in the way you think it “should”.

Helping you move from freaked-out to flexible-and-connected during expectable disappointments is a really important sexual skill. You absolutely have the ability to increase your self-soothing skills in stressful situations. When you apply those tools to sexual situations, you will experience a huge difference in the quality of your intimate interactions. 

If you need help in learning how to deal with sexual disappointment, call 0421 961 687 or email us to schedule an appointment. International callers should call +61 421 961 687. 

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