ABSTRACT
Inhibited sexual desire and a no-sex or low-sex marriage pose a major threat to marital satisfaction and viability. When sexuality is pleasurable and functional, it is a positive, integral part of marriage, but not a dominant factor, contributing 15 to 20 percent to marital vitality and satisfaction. The main functions of marital sexuality are to create a shared pleasure, a means to deepen and reinforce intimacy, and a tension-reducer to cope with the stresses of life and marriage. Sexuality energizes and makes special your marital bond. Sexuality that is dysfunctional, inhibited, or nonexistent plays an inordinately powerful role. It becomes 50 to 70 percent of the marriage, draining intimacy and good feelings. Paradoxically, bad sex has a more powerful negative role in marriage than the positive role of good sex.
