Really? If a bit wordy, I thought the article was quite well argued - but then, that could describe me as well
or so I like to flatter myself.
What I found interesting is Basson's theory that "responsive/triggered' desire is the norm in women, and that women who feel no desire are actually physically responding to sex - as measured by increased blood flow to the vagina - but do not let themselves respond emotionally to the physical stimulation. This contrasts with male desire which is lust driven. I quote:
"All of this might seem awfully abstract, but Basson’s lesson for women, which has been distilled by sex therapists into three words, “desire follows arousal,” is a real rearrangement of expectation and a reweighting of sexual theory. The model with swollen red lips gazing out with molten need from the billboard or the MTV dancer pumping her half-covered hips at the camera — these icons in heat embody a cultural standard. And though some women, according to Basson, do feel such craving some of the time — at the beginning of a new relationship, for example, or possibly at a certain point in the menstrual cycle — and though a few women may sense such electricity surging regularly through them, these images, she suggests, are largely illusory ideals. More likely for most women, Basson argues, the start of plenty — and maybe the great majority — of sexual encounters is defined not by heat but by slight warmth or flat neutrality. And there’s nothing wrong with this, she says, nothing disordered."
