Sex and Love: Are You in the Mood? 179
(a) What disorder exists when the female is seldom, or never, able to attain an orgasm dur-
ing sexual activity?
(b) What disorder exists when the muscle associated with the vaginal entrance cramps, mak-
ing entry into the channel both difficult and painful?
Answers: (a) Female orgasmic disorder; (b) Vaginismus.
Male Sexual Dysfunctions: Men Can Have Problems Too
From a cultural point of view, there has been a tendency to look upon men as sex
machines. But men are not always smooth-running machines. They are not
robots. Like women, they too have health problems and emotional conflicts. Con-
sequently, it is possible to identify male sexual dysfunctions. There are three sex-
ual dysfunctions associated primarily with males: (1) male erectile disorder, (2)
premature ejaculation, and (3) male orgasmic disorder. Male erectile disorder
exists when the male is either unable to attain an erection at all or is unable to
attain an erection that is sufficient to complete an act of sexual intercourse. An
older term for this disorder, now considered to be somewhat out of date, is impo-
tence,meaning “lack of power.”
(a) What disorder exists when the male is either unable to attain an erection at all or is
unable to attain an erection sufficient to complete an act of sexual intercourse?
(b) What is an older, somewhat out-of-date term for the above disorder?
Answers: (a) Male erectile disorder; (b) Impotence.
Premature ejaculationexists when the span of time between excitement
and orgasm is overly brief. There is no precise definition of “overly brief.” In gen-
eral, if a male attains his orgasm before a female is able to attain hers, both the
duration and the outcome of sexual intercourse are considered to be unsatisfac-
tory to both participants.
Male orgasmic disorderexists when the male is unable, after both excite-
ment and a sustained period of plateau, to attain an orgasm. This dysfunction is
also known as retarded ejaculation.
The causal factors listed earlier in connection with female dysfunctions also
apply to male sexual dysfunctions.
(Although for convenience of exposition, heterosexual relations were
assumed in the above presentation, the dysfunctions also apply to homosexual
relations.)
