In the mythical land of perfect love, two partners are supposed to be hot for one another almost all the time – or at least sexually available to each other. Some guy you just met at a bar might turn you down, but not your lover, right?
For couples nowadays, there can be a lot of pressure to have not just a good sex life, but a great sex life. Books abound with titles like “The Art of Sexual Ecstasy,” “Total Sex” and “Hot Monogamy.” (And those are just some of the books on my bookshelf!) If we’re not engaged in wildly passionate lovemaking, we suspect there is something wrong with us, or wrong with our partner. Or maybe we’re just not right for one another, we think.
The truth is that two lovers having the same level of sex drive is almost as unlikely as winning the lottery. In most couples one partner’s drive is higher than the other’s. Sometimes that difference is significant. When that happens, sexologists and relationship therapists describe the situation as one of desire discrepancy – a difference in how much the two people want sex.