What is ‘normal’ about womenʹs (hetero)sexual desire and orgasm?: a report of an in-depth interview study

This paper challenges the rapidly re-emerging medicalised model of womenʹs sexual problems, or female sexual dysfunction, particularly those concerned with problems of orgasm. It reports a qualitative in-depth interview study of 33 women between the ages of 19 and 60 years (mean age 28.6 years) where the data analysis particularly focused upon their subjective perceptions of what constituted ‘normal’ sexual satisfaction for themselves and other women. The data comprised taped interviews which were fully transcribed and analysed using an interpretive framework based on both symbolic interactionist and psychodynamic concepts. The results indicated that these womenʹs desires and expectations differed appreciably from those reported in the typical clinical and sexological literature. Women interviewed here seemed less concerned with achieving orgasm through heterosexual intercourse for themselves than the literature suggested they might be. There was however, evidence of a strong desire to experience orgasm in this way for the sake of their male partners. Thus, it is suggested that there is probably a closer relationship between popular beliefs about what is ‘normal’ based upon the medical model with women placing themselves in a dysfunctional category, than there is between the everyday enjoyment of sex and women identifying themselves as being sexually healthy.