Unwanted sexual intercourse in a group of married women: prevalence, reasons and short term consequences

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of unwanted sexual intercourse, its reasons, some short term consequences and related sexual function disorder in a group of married women. Methods: Sixty three married women who have been working as research fellow in a university have participated in the study. A study form including sociodemographic features and information relevant to unwanted sexual experiences of cases were completed by participants. Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale were given to collect information about sexual life and experiences of subjects. Results: More than half of the cases revealed that they had unwanted sexual inter-course during their lifetime. The most common reasons for unwanted sexual intercourse were using sex as a way of showing their love and satisfying a need to be sensual. According to Arizona Sexual Experience Scale, women those have unwanted sexual intercourse had significantly lower sexual desire, arousal, orgasm and sexual satisfac-tion subscale as compared to women those did not have unwanted sexual intercourse. Discussion: This study has shown that all unwanted sexual intercourse may not be considered as traumatic and for some women it might be considered as positive sexual experience. However, in some cases it may lead to negative psychological conse-quences and sexual dysfunction. Thus, further studies are warranted to determine the factors leading an unwanted sexual course to be considered as a positive or negative experience. In psychiatric practice, evaluating unwanted sexual course might help psychiatrists to find out a precipitating factor for a sexual dysfunction and some psychiatric syndromes. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2015; 16(6.000): 389-396]