Why self-esteem may be the key to lasting desire

A WOMAN’S loss of sexual desire at the menopause may not be due to changing hormones, say American researchers.

It may simply be caused by her dissatisfaction with her looks.

Their study found that the less attractive a woman thinks she is, the less she is likely to want sex.

And most women around the age of menopause believed their looks had deteriorated over the previous ten years.

The results suggest that controversial Hormone Replacement Therapy – which has been linked to breast cancer – is not always necessary to boost a woman’s sex drive.

‘She just has to feel good about herself,’ said study leader Dr Patricia Barthalow Koch.

Dr Koch, an associate professor of biobehavioural health and women’s studies at Penn State University, studied 307 heterosexual women aged between 35 to 55.

Twenty- one per cent said they were pre- menopausal, 63.5 per cent said they were undergoing some menopausal changes and 15.5 per cent were past menopause.

Most said they believed they were more attractive when they were ten years younger.

But more than one in five said they could not think of even one attractive feature about themselves, and reported an overall sense of dissatisfaction with their bodies.

The most common complaints were about stomachs, hips, thighs and legs.

Writing in the The Journal of Sex Research, Dr Koch says: ‘The more a woman perceived herself as less attractive than before, the more likely she was to report a decline in sexual desire or frequency of sexual activity.

‘Conversely, the more she perceived herself as attractive, the more likely she was to experience an increase in sexual desire, orgasm, enjoyment or frequency of sexual activity.’ The biomedical explanation – which views sex as purely about reproduction and survival of the species – is that this is due to a drop in oestrogen levels during and after menopause.

But that approach has been criticised for viewing menopause as a ` deficiency disease’ causing sexual problems.

Previous researchers have ignored the idea that a woman’s perception of her physical appearance could have a significant impact on her sexual responses.

Dr Koch said the new approach ‘is more about what’s in the mind than in body chemicals. Body image, or body esteem, is an important part.

‘ Body image is thought to have three components – sexual attractiveness, weight concerns and physical condition.’

The researchers said Western women face the double problem of ageism and sexism which can diminish their sense of attractiveness.