Sexual and Relationship Therapy Is responsive sexual desire for ...

Sexual and Relationship Therapy 247Downloaded by [b-on: Biblioteca do conhecimento online ISPA] at 04:47 02 November 2013spark-like occurrence of sexual interest (desire), this cyclical model was advocated asa more accurate representation of the sexual response of women in long-termrelationships (Basson, 2001, 2002; Hayes, 2011). One of the core ideas embedded inthe model – which has since substantially influenced both research and clinicalpractice – was that responsive female sexual desire (i.e., being sexually receptiverather than ‘‘spontaneous’’) is not pathological. In other words, a woman’s sexualneutrality at the onset of a sexual encounter is not an obstacle for satisfactory sexualexperience and, hence, it need not be viewed as problematic. Because desire mayfollow arousal that was triggered by external erotic stimuli, a lack of morespontaneous desire caused by internal erotic dynamics such as sexual thoughts is nota sign of inhibited sexual interest (Basson, 2002; Carvalheira, Brotto, & Leal, 2010;Goldhammer & McCabe, 2011).Although Basson (2000) explicitly linked her model (primarily) to women’ssexual experiences, the question about the utility of the concept of responsive desirefor understanding male sexual response seems relevant, especially given theindications that male patterns of sexual desire and arousal may be more complex(particularly as men age) than is usually acknowledged (Bancroft, 2009; Jenssen,McBride, Yarber, Hill, & Butler, 2008). The fact that the cyclical model has recentlybeen challenged – as a couple of studies suggested that it may be more descriptive ofwomen with sexual concerns and deficits in desire than of those with no sexualdifficulties (Giles & McCabe, 2009; Sand & Fisher, 2007) – does not negate the abovereasoning.What do we know about more responsive, or receptive (Meuleman & vanLankveld, 2005), sexual desire (MRD) among men? There is little empirical evidenceon male sexual desire in general (Brotto, 2010; DeRogatis et al., 2012; McCarthy &McDonald, 2009). To the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to studythe prevalence and/or characteristics of the predominantly responsive pattern ofsexual desire among men. However, a couple of studies analyzed consenting,unwanted sexual experiences among male college students. In a three-country study,Sprecher, Hatfield, Cortese, Potapovc and Levitskaya (1994) found that 30–35% ofmale students from one Russian, two Japanese and five American universitiesreported having sex without really wanting it. In the other study, which used a sexdiary method, 21 of the 80 surveyed men (26.3%) claimed one or more episodes ofunwanted sexual activity (O’Sullivan & Rice Allgeier, 1998). A host of reasons weregiven by participants to explain their consent to unwanted sex, including relationship-supportingand intimacy-promoting reasons. Notably, a majority of malestudents (52.3%) reported no negative outcomes related to engaging in unwanted sex(O’Sullivan & Rice Allgeier, 1998). Comparably, approximately one quarter of men(26%) in a random community sample of cohabiting/married Norwegian couplesacknowledged the experience of ‘‘obligatory sex’’ (Træen & Skogerbø, 2009), whichwas defined as having sex ‘‘even though you don’t feel any desire, just to satisfy yourpartner’’. Among men, correlates of obligatory sex were partner communicationabout sexual needs and sharing sexual fantasies.Although documenting the prevalence of unwanted sex among young adult men,these studies provide little information about the existence of a specific pattern ofsexual desire. Are there men who can be characterized as having MRD? If so, doesthe pattern substantially differ from hypoactive desire disorder (HSSD)? One way totest this hypothesis would be to explore whether men with MRD display some ormost of the characteristics associated with HSSD. Anecdotal evidence from sex