Does desire precede sexual arousal in both men and women?

[romantic_guy]

I know that this is similar to another thread, but I felt like another thread would expand the discussion. I came across this article yesterday:

"The conventional wisdom is that desire precedes sexual arousal. This works for most men. Men (typically men under 50) are often coiled springs of desire and easily aroused. Men often describe their libido as a drive similar to hunger or thirst. Twentieth-century sexologists assumed that women’s libido was, if not identical, then similar–and that if women didn’t feel desire, something was wrong.

Using this reasoning, something would be wrong with one-third of women. That’s what University of Chicago researchers found in a landmark 1999 survey. Only 15 percent of male respondents said they felt little or no desire–and alcohol, stress, diabetes, heart disease, and disabilities were clear predictors. But 30 percent of women respondents said they lacked libido, usually for no apparent reason. The Chicago researchers concluded that low libido–or “hypoactive desire disorder”–was disturbingly prevalent among women.
The drug companies agree. They are busily trying to develop pills to boost women’s desire.
But what if desire does not precede arousal?

That’s what University of British Columbia psychiatrist Rosemary Basson, M.D., discovered in interviews with hundreds of women. Contrary to the conventional model, for many women, desire is not the cause of lovemaking, but rather, its result. “Women,” Basson explains, “often begin sexual experiences feeling sexually neutral.” But as things heat up, so do they, and they eventually experience desire.
If a substantial proportion of women don’t experience desire before becoming sexual, then drugs and supplements that try to pique it before the fact put the cart before the horse and may be a waste of money.
This new concept of women’s desire explains why Viagra doesn’t work for most women, and why sex-boosting herb blends help only some. These products do not affect desire. They increase blood flow into the genitals. Men are always aware of increased genital blood flow. It’s hard to miss an erection, and it’s only a short step from erection to desire. But a good deal of research shows that women are often unaware of genital blood engorgement. “Many women have little awareness of it,” Basson notes. Even when women are aware it, they often deny feeling aroused.

If so many women don’t experience male-style desire before sex, then why do they make love? According to Basson, for reasons that affirm their relationships but are not inherently sexual: wanting to please their lover, feel intimate, prevent strife, or make up after it. Basson’s model supports an old saying about the difference between men and women: Men become intimate to have sex. Women have sex to become intimate.
If many women experience desire as the result of lovemaking, then the critical question becomes not how to ignite their desire before sex, but rather: What kind of lovemaking arouses women sufficiently to enable them to experience desire?

According to leading sexologists, the type of sex that fuels desire is leisurely, playful, sensual lovemaking based on whole-body massage that includes the genitals but is not limited to them. This is the lovestyle that many surveys show women prefer, but often don’t get. One of women’s main sexual complaints is that men are non-sensual–too rushed, and too focused on the breasts, genitals, and a quick, plunge into intercourse. Given Basson’s view of women’s desire, this complaint makes perfect sense. Rushed lovemaking doesn’t give women the time many need to become aroused enough to experience desire.
Ironically, the sexual style that allows women to experience desire is the same one sex therapists recommend for men who want to cure premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. In other words, a sensual, massage-based approach to lovemaking is a win-win. Men’s penises act the way men want. And women are much more likely to experience desire, and become the enthusiastic lovers that both they and their lovers would like them to be."

I will take one exception to the article:
"Men (typically men under 50) are often coiled springs of desire and easily aroused."

I am am almost 57 and I am still a "coiled spring of desire and easily aroused." The article explains exactly how my wife is about sex. She does not initiate all that often, and will often "begin sexual experiences feeling sexually neutral." But as things heat up, so does she, and will eventually experience desire and have a great orgasm.

So how is it with the rest of you out there?

[Superfantastich]

coiled spring of desire female

[sadie_genie]

Doesn't make sense to me. I often experience desire before physical contact. I am female.

[sexylingerie]

Keep some degreee imagine between each other.

[HeartIsAching]

My wife is a "coiled spring of desire" type. So am I.

[CAM]

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH850qp85Zk[/url]

[Amber2011]

Hmm. An interesting thread.

I've got something else to throw into the discussion. I'm 55 and widowed. For the past 6 years, my late husband and I had no physical contact, save for just cuddling in bed. This was because he had serious heart problems.

Over the years I have learned to do without, something that didn't particularly bother me (probably because of my fairly strict upbringing where sex was a taboo subject).

Now, that I've started tentatively dating again, I find the thought of going to bed with another man terrifying.

I met a lovely man at the weekend (there is another thread on this). He made it very clear he fancied me, wanted a long-term relationship with me - and it scared the hell out of me. Apart from the fact that I felt genuinely ill - I started to feel ill as I was driving there with an upset tummy, I really panicked and left early. On a first meeting there's no way I would have gone to bed with him anyway and I made that clear before we met. Incidentally, it was a couple of days before I got rid of my upset tummy so think I picked up a bug from somewhere - there's a lot of tummy bugs on the go here at the moment.

This man was very tactile and I just didn't know how to handle it. If I'd said "right, let's do it", he would have had his kit (and mine) off before you could snap your fingers.

I need to take time to get to know someone before I'd even think about going to bed with them and I think the majority of women are the same. My late husband and I got to know each other over a period of several months before we slept together and, in the early years before illness struck, we had a very good and active sex life.

I think most women need the emotional attachment first - I know I do, then the physical side happens naturally.

I think men need to have a bit more patience. In other words, good, old-fashioned courtship.

As one of my friends says "Softly, softly, catchee monkee".