Prioritizing the partner’s enjoyment: a population-based study on young Swedish women with experience of pain during vaginal intercourse

Abstract

The present study examines the prevalence of women who continue to have vaginal intercourse (VIC) despite pain, avoid telling the partner, and feign enjoyment. It also considers the reasons for this behavior. A sample of 1566 female senior high school students (aged 18–22 years) completed a questionnaire concerning their experiences and attitudes toward their body and sexuality. Forty-seven percent (270/576) of those women who reported pain during VIC continued to have VIC despite the pain. The most common reasons were that they did not want to spoil sex for or hurt the partner by interrupting VIC. Feigning enjoyment and not telling the partner about their pain were reported by 22 and 33%, respectively. Continuing to have VIC despite pain was associated with feelings of being inferior to the partner during sex, dissatisfaction with their own sex lives and feigning enjoyment while having pain. Pain during VIC is reported by every third young Swedish woman, and almost half of those still continue to have VIC. The major reason given is noteworthy – prioritizing the partner’s enjoyment before their own – and indicates that young women who continue to have VIC despite pain take a subordinate position in sexual interactions.

• Female health
• gynecological pain
• psychosomatic gynecology
• sexual health
• women’s sexuality

Acknowledgements

The authors are most grateful to the women participated in this study.

Current knowledge on these subjects

• Pain during VIC is a frequent complaint among young Swedish women, of whom unknown proportions continue to have VIC despite pain.

• Young women who continue to have VIC despite pain run a theoretical risk of developing chronic pain associated with VIC.

• Previous qualitative research has found that diverse social processes such as social norms and demands affect young women’s chances of attaining equal sexual pleasure in (hetero) sexual interactions.

What this study adds

• Almost half of the women who had had VIC reported an experience of pain and/or discomfort during VIC, and almost half of them continue to have VIC despite pain.

• The major reason given for continuing to have VIC despite pain was that they regarded the partner’s satisfaction as more important than their own.

• The findings portray the complexity of “pain during VIC”, and expand the understanding of influences of gender norms on young women’s sexuality.