Fun and facts are good bedfellows

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Fun and facts are good bedfellows

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Professor Kim Je-jong of Korea University (left) and Dr. Irwin Goldstein, founder of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. [JoongAng Ilbo]

Men are often ignorant when it comes to the sexuality of their wives. A husband who knows he should rush his wife to the hospital when she has high blood pressure or a bad fever is often clueless if she complains of a sexual disorder.
Irwin Goldstein, chief editor of the prominent academic journal “Sexual Medicine,” was invited to Korea by the drug company Bayer Korea, to give two lectures to Korean doctors. Dr. Goldstein was previously the director of the Institute of Sexual Medicine at Boston University, and is the founder of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. Professor Kim Je-jong of Korea University, who worked with Dr. Goldstein at Boston University Medical School in 1988, when he was a visiting professor there, met with Dr. Goldstein on March 13th.

Women now have a voice in the home, but not in the bed. It seems that men are still conservative and prejudiced in this regard.
Humans have the right to a healthy and happy sex life. Last year, some eminent researchers asked the French how important sexuality was in their lives. 70.7% of men and 65.1% of women replied that it was important. 87% of men and 83% of women said that sex was crucial to maintaining a good relationship.
There are studies which show that sex is good for the health. Women who have an active sex life have normal blood pressure during intercourse, but women who do not have sex regularly have abnormally high blood pressure during intercourse.

What is the role of men in women’s sexual issues?
When a husband experiences sexual problems, such as impotency, they regard these problems as their own, but women feel that they are to blame for the man’s problems as well as their own. If a man is impotent his wife is likely to feel that she is not sexually attractive and she feels angry or disappointed. If men do not understand women’s sexuality, sexual problems cannot be avoided.

Women’s sexuality is complicated. Sexual dysfunction can be categorized into sexual aversion disorder, orgasmic disorder and dyspareunia. These symptoms all have different causes that are not easy to resolve.
That is true. Psychological, biological and social approaches are necessary to solve these problems. But now there are various diagnostic methods that can be used. A sexual quotient test has been developed and psychological tests are available. Even the amount of stress experienced during sex can be measured. Blood tests can be taken for sex hormones, and marital or social relationships can be evaluated. Nerve stimulus tests are also available. For example, women who jog or cycle were tested for nerve sensitivity, and the former group was shown to be much more sensitive.

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If a husband suspects that his wife has some kind of sexual disorder, what should he do?
If his wife had high blood pressure, the husband would take his wife to a hospital. The same applies to sexual disorders. Women’s sex organs are a part of the body, just like the nose or eyes. Professional help should be sought.

Couples should undertake any kind of sexual therapy together, but many husbands do not care, even if their wives have dyspareunia. It is hard to find a clinic specializing in female sexual disorders. Urologists are sometimes interested, but more participation from psychology or obstetric experts is required. What is the situation in the U.S.?
Not much has changed since the Kinsey Report was published in the 1950s. There has been research, and new medicines, but there is still not enough effort among couples to overcome their problems. It is the role of the sex doctors to enlighten the public.

What about when we grow old?
Desire declines when women are not sexually active. Research conducted in 2005 showed that sexual satisfaction was proportional to frequency. A group of women who engaged in sex more than 15 times per month was twice as satisfied, compared to group of women who had sex less than twice per month. Another study showed that the husband’s impotency lowered the wife’s sexual desire from 72 to 46 per cent and orgasm from 65 to 34 per cent. The interesting thing was that, after treating the husband’s impotency, the wife’s sexual function also improved.


By Ko Jong-kwan JoongAng Ilbo [estyle@joongang.co.kr]
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