Here in the 14th installment of the “Ask a Mormon Sex Therapist” series I discuss a fascinating research article about sexual arousal with Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife (title and abstract below) and Jennifer fields a question about the frustration a couple is experiencing derived from not being able to experience orgasms through intercourse alone.

Here is the title and the abstract from the article we discussed.

Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in Sexual Response to Sexual Activities Versus Gender of Actors in Sexual Films

In this study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that women’s sexual orientation and sexual responses in the laboratory correlate less highly than do men’s because women respond primarily to the sexual activities performed by actors, whereas men respond primarily to the gender of the actors. The participants were 20 homosexual women, 27 heterosexual women, 17 homosexual men, and 27 heterosexual men. The videotaped stimuli included men and women engaging in same-sex intercourse, solitary masturbation, or nude exercise (no sexual activity); human male–female copulation; and animal (bonobo chimpanzee or Pan paniscus) copulation. Genital and subjective sexual arousal were continuously recorded. The genital responses of both sexes were weakest to nude exercise and strongest to intercourse. As predicted, however, actor gender was more important for men than for women, and the level of sexual activity was more important for women than for men. Consistent with this result, women responded genitally to bonobo copulation, whereas men did not. An unexpected result was that homosexual women responded more to nude female targets exercising and masturbating than to nude male targets, whereas heterosexual women responded about the same to both sexes at each activity level.

Also I mentioned the 13th part in this series wherein the controversy over oral sex and prophetic counsel are both discussed and articulated in writing. Lastly here is a link to the Ian Kerner book that was mentioned, She Comes First.

Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife is a psychotherapist who focuses on issues surrounding female sexuality and feminism within the LDS framework. She holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Boston College where she wrote her dissertation on LDS women and sexuality. She has taught college-level classes on human sexuality and currently has a private therapy practice in Chicago. In her private practice, she primarily works with LDS couples on sexuality and relationship issues. She also teaches online courses to LDS couples on these issues. She is married, has three kids, and is an active member of the LDS church.

If you have a question for the good doctor you can comment below OR send an email to askdrfife@rationalfaiths.com

Music: Sugar Blues (Pubic Domain)

Brian was born and raised in Northern Utah and is now working as a chemist in Ohio. He has one wife and three children. He currently serves as the ward hall monitor. He likes to eat good food, and build cool things.

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