Sexual desire is a complicated phenomenon and so many things can affect desire individually and between two people. Every couple will experience a “desire discrepancy” because no two people want exactly the same amount of sex, though sometimes, one person’s desire seems to fall off completely.
Society sets us up to believe that this only happens for women. But the truth is that men can also struggle with desire. If you’ve been feeling like your husband isn’t interested in you sexually, here are things that might be going on and what to do about it.
Possible reasons your husband isn’t interested in sex
If the two of you have other problems, it will often show up in the bedroom. If there are power struggles, resentments, conflict, or tension, your husband may not be interested in intimacy. While some people are happy to still share sex with their partner despite any negativity in the relationship, plenty of people of all genders are going to avoid it. And sometimes people withhold sex out of anger and frustration.
As life gets more complicated and more difficult, it can be more of a struggle to feel desire for sex. Men, just like women, can get stuck in their heads, finding it hard to let everything go and get in the mood. For many people, stress and worry shut down the systems that would create sexual desire.
Overall health, disease, and medications can all play a role in sexual interest. Certain conditions, like heart disease and diabetes, can affect sexual functioning as well as libido. Some medications can dampen sexual desire as well as sexual responsiveness. If someone feels lousy and sluggish in general, they may not have the energy for sex or feel good enough about themselves or their body to want to be physically intimate.
While we tend to expect to feel spontaneous desire for sex (and we especially expect this of men), the truth is that sexual desire often switches over to a more “reactive” type, especially as we age and as we are together longer. This means someone doesn’t really feel in the mood or think about sex as much, but they can become interested if they get started and get the touch and time they need. This reactive sexual desire requires getting started, an opportunity to emerge. But if people are waiting to “be in the mood,” they may not be creating those opportunities.
Men can be under a tremendous burden to “perform.” They may believe they are supposed to be good lovers, supposed to know how to please a partner, and supposed to get and maintain an erection. If any of this is a struggle, sex can become stressful and risky rather than pleasurable. It’s common to avoid sex when it sets you up to feel like a failure.
When we’re in a relationship for a long time, we tend to settle into a routine with sex. We do things because they’re efficient, they work, they get us from A to B. But that can also get boring. We know what to expect, and there’s no intrigue left. Combine that with the natural shift toward reactive desire, and your husband may not feel like it’s worth the effort to be sexual.
Sometimes someone has had (or discovers) some erotic interest that doesn’t seem to match well with yours or with what the two of you have traditionally done in the bedroom. While it’s possible for men to realize or admit they are gay after years in a heterosexual marriage, it’s more common that they have an interest in something they believe you don’t like or wouldn’t be open to.
It is possible that your husband is spending his sexual energy somewhere else, with either another partner, an online contact, or in masturbation.
What it means
There isn’t one answer to what it means if your husband doesn’t want sex anymore. It’s important to figure out which of the above reasons apply to him. The tendency may be to think the worst: “He isn’t attracted to me,” “He doesn’t love me anymore,” or “He must be cheating.” While any of those could be true, there are other explanations that aren’t so dire.
Sexual challenges are normal. We don’t see this in the media, and people aren’t generally talking about their sexual issues, so we don’t realize how common it is to struggle with sex. And when sex gets difficult, when there’s a chance we can “fail,” when we might end up feeling broken or inadequate, we tend to avoid it. The fact that your husband avoids sex now is most likely rooted in these types of negative consequences.
It’s also common to believe that nothing can revitalize a dreary sex life, that a sexless relationship is hopeless. Many people worry that the lack of sex means their relationship is doomed or that they are facing the rest of their life or marriage without intimacy. But you can work together to understand what’s been happening and to create a sex life that is actually easy and fun for both of you.
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