Boredom, Sexual

From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality

One of the most frequent complaints reported to sex therapists comes from people who have good emotional relations with a sexual partner but have developed a lack of sexual interest that they may interpret as a low sex drive. When this decrease in sexual desire is not the result of organic difficulties or the effects of medication, it very likely results from boredom with sexual activity due to long-term repetition of time, place, and techniques for sexual episodes. This results in a loss of excitement about and anticipation of sexual activity. Routinization may lead to predictability and, for many others, it will result in sexual boredom.

The treatment of sexual boredom depends upon the participants recognizing that routinization is probably the cause of the problem and that all five senses are usually involved in a successful sexual act. Participants should also recognize that solutions depend on altering as many of the sensory components surrounding the sexual act as possible: the senses of smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. Scented body oils, massages, syrups to be licked from the skin, erotic movies, and verbalized fantasies are only a small sample of the wide variety of new inputs into a sexual relationship to help overcome boredom.