When it comes to sex, do you feel like you are looking through a window at a party where everyone else is having a good time? If you think you should enjoy sex more than you do, if you think your sex life should be better than it is, you are not alone.

Over half of the women surveyed in the Janus Report on Sexual Behavior claimed they are not sexually functioning at their best; one in four of those women said they were functioning at 100 percent below their desired level of pleasure.

Researchers say the reasons women don't enjoy sex may be physical or emotional.

A woman may be raised to believe that sex is dirty and that nice girls do not enjoy it, and those feelings may lead to frustration and the inability to relax and enjoy sex.

Because our culture elevates sex, there is often a feeling of shame that accompanies a not-so-great sex life.

We provide you with the latest news, research and resources so that you can have a healthy perspective on your sex life.

Survey: Sexual dysfunction plagues millions of Americans

By MARTHA IRVINE
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - If you think you have sexual problems, you're not alone.

One of the most comprehensive surveys in the United States in decades found that sexual dysfunction afflicts 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men, with problems that include a lack of interest in sex and the inability to have an orgasm.

"I think it gives us a base for explaining why we had this enormous response to Viagra, " said Dr. Edward Laumann, a University of Chicago sociologist and the lead author of the study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And as grim as the findings are, the survey could offer hope to millions, many of whom think they're the only ones having trouble in bed, Laumann said.

"Often they don't even admit it to their partners. It's the old 'I've got a headache' instead of 'I don't feel like having sex,'" he said.

The researchers said problems with sex are often coupled with everything from emotional and health problems to lack of time, job pressures and money trouble. But they said they aren't sure which comes first - stress or problems with sex. The researchers based the findings on the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey, a compilation of interviews with 1,749 women and 1,410 men.

The participants, ages 18 to 59, were asked if they had experienced sexual dysfunction over several months in the previous year. Sexual dysfunction was defined as a regular lack of interest in or pain during sex or persistent problems achieving lubrication, an erection or orgasm.

Lack of interest in sex was the most common problem for women, with about a third saying they regularly didn't want sex. Twenty-six percent said they regularly didn't have orgasms and 23 percent said sex wasn't pleasurable.

About a third of men said they had persistent problems with climaxing too early, while 14 percent said they had no interest in sex and 8 percent said they consistently derived no pleasure form sex.

Overall, 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men said they had one or more persistent problems with sex. Researchers had expected the overall numbers to be closer to maybe 20 percent for each sex.

Researchers said those in the survey who experienced sexual dysfunction often were more likely to be unhappy and more likely to describe their satisfaction with the partnership as unsatisfactory, Laumann said.

Dr. Domeena Renshaw, a Chicago-area sex-therapist, said the results are not surprising, considering the long list of couples waiting to get into the sexual dysfunction clinic she has run at the Loyola University Medical Center since 1972.

In that time, she has treated nearly 140 couples who had never consummated their marriages, including a couple who had been wed for 23 years.

Study author Raymond Rosen, co-director of the Center for Sexual and Marital Health at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., said the survey provides much-needed information about women, who have often been excluded from studies about sexual performance.

He said the findings are the most reliable since Dr. Alfred Kinsey did his landmark studies, in 1948. Kinsey got similar results regarding impotence and failure to achieve orgasm but didn't ask about lack of sexual desire.

Too often, Rosen said, Americans have gotten their information about sex from magazines bought at the grocery-store checkout.

"As a scientist, it makes my hair stand on end," Rosen said. "It's terrible."

Among the survey's other findings:

*Unmarried women were about 50% more likely to have climax problems or sexual anxiety, compared to married women. Also, unmarried men reported higher rates of sexual dysfunction.

*The higher the education level of the respondents, the less likely they were to report sexual problems.

*Men and women who were sexually molested as children were more likely to have sexual problems later in life.

Overall, sexual problems were most common among young women and older men. The researchers explained that observation by saying that young women were more likely to be single, with higher "turnover" among sex partners, creating "instability." That, combined with "inexperience," provides "the basis for sexual pain and anxiety," they said.

Older men tend to have sexual troubles because of underlying medical problems, the researchers said.

Times wire services contributed to this story.

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