"Your story," Dr. Hilda writes to Marcia, "is one that I hear almost every day. It is not easy to take care of a home and two very busy adolescents. At the end of the day, sex can begin to feel like one more chore that you need to do for someone else."
What can you do? First, be patient, understanding, and loving. He is hurting. Pressuring him to perform sexually will only make him feel like more of a failure as a man and push him farther away. (Aren’t “real men” supposed to be ready to have sex every hour of every day?) Let him know that you understand his feelings and that you are there for him.
Gynecologist Hilda Hutcherson, M.D., a member of WVFC’s Medical Advisory Board—and one-half of WVFC’s “Sex Talk” team— responds to a reader's search for answers.
Personally, I think that every woman should own at least one sex toy, especially if she is over 40.