Who's Lighting the Fire?

A look into the importance of initiating sex.

WebMD Feature

Be honest. In your romantic relationship, who usually initiates sex? You? Your partner. Or do you both take turns?

Your answer may be linked to how sexually satisfied you are, according to a study by Susan Sprecher, PhD, a professor of sociology at Illinois State University, Normal. Sexual satisfaction was greater, she found, in relationships in which partners initiated equally or in which women sometimes initiated sex.

Sprecher tracked 38 college-educated couples (28 of them were married) in their twenties over a four-year period, asking each partner at the beginning and then every year thereafter, "Who usually initiates sexual activity in your relationship?" and "How sexually satisfying is the relationship to you?" Throughout the study, partners' responses to the first question agreed to a high level, suggesting that both were being truthful.

The Results

Among the findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:

In more than 60% of the couples, men initiated more often than women; in 30% of couples, initiation was equally divided between partners; and in those remaining, the women initiated more frequently. Like other similar studies, Sprecher says she found that men usually suggest having sex more often than do their wives or girlfriends.

Whatever patterns of initiation were reported at one year into the study usually remained the same after three or four years.

The information about initiation was then compared to how couples rated their sexual satisfaction. Partners who reported equal initiation and female initiation patterns also tended to report greater sexual satisfaction for both partners. This finding, according to Sprecher, is also consistent with other studies suggesting that relationships with the most balance are the most satisfying.

Behind the Stereotype

Why then, do so many couples fall into the pattern of the man being the only one to suggest having sex? Sprecher and other sex researchers speculate that society's norms suggest that men should pursue and women should be pursued. The result may be that women tend to be less comfortable initiating sex. Or it may be that women tend to use subtle, indirect cues -- which may not be consciously noticed -- to initiate sexual activity, while men use more direct verbal requests and other measures.

Says Sandra A. Davis, PhD, a sex therapist in Pittsburgh, Pa.: "Many women I see in my practice are strong, progressive women in all other areas of their lives. But when it comes to an intimate sexual level, they aren't comfortable expressing themselves, and they feel a man should pursue them." To help break this pattern, Davis works with her clients to help them understand where these feelings are coming from and to become more assertive.

Women who initiate sex frequently are often very sexually satisfied to begin with, Sprecher believes, and this enables them to be more at ease about expressing their sexual desires. A woman who initiates sex also often stimulates her partner's sex drive and his desire for her, which helps drive this entire pattern.

Several studies have found that many men like it when their female partner initiates sex. Matt Sess, 39, of New York City, says that he has always been the primary initiator in his relationship with Laura, his wife of eight years. "But when she initiates sex, it's definitely a turn-on," he says. "It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does, it's a pleasant surprise."

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