Definition and classification of female sexual disorders

The diagnosis and classification of female sexual disorders has undergone significant changes over the last fifty years as a function of changing societal expectations for female sexual conduct, available knowledge about sexual psychophysiology and actual clinical practice. Currently, female sexual disorders are conceptualized as disturbances in desire, arousal, or orgasm as well as sexual pain disorders which include dyspareunia and vaginismus. The lack of objective, empirically-grounded criteria for diagnosis as well as the comorbidity of female sexual disorders contributes to the lack of reliability in the diagnosis of female sexual complaints. At the present time, hypoactive sexual desire disorder is the most commonly diagnosed female sexual disorder followed by female orgasmic disorder. Nevertheless, the major clinical complaints among women center on their dissatisfaction with such non-genital behaviors as affection, communication, and non-genital touching as well as issues of attraction and passion. These factors should be assessed as well as genital response for greater validity in evaluating female sexual disorders in both research and clinical practice.