ABSTRACT

If your partner sexually assaulted you, he may have destroyed your ability to feel sexual in a positive, loving way. It may take a long time before you begin to experience the sexual side of yourself once again. Even when those feelings of sensuality and sexuality do return, you may experience great difficulty having sex with your next partner. Intimacy with someone new may trigger memories and sensations of the horrors or the abuse. This may cause you to avoid sexual situations completely until you are able to move past those memories. This is a normal reaction to your abuse history and a clear reason to feel a great sense of loss.