Low-Libido Women Can Read Their Way to Greater Sexual Desire

For decades, sexologists have documented the substantial proportion of women who complain of low libido, known clinically as hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). Two landmark studies by University of Chicago researchers show that low or no desire afflicts approximately one-third of women age 18 to 74, and half of those 75 and older. HSDD is a big deal. In the psychological, sexological, and medical literature, it’s the subject of more than 1,500 studies.

It’s possible to resolve HSDD in women, but sex therapists generally agree it’s not easy to treat. Approaches include self-help books, psychotherapy, sex therapy, mindfulness, cannabis, and two prescription drugs—flibanserin (Addyi) and bremelanotide (Vylessi). My reading of the research suggests that the most cost-effective approach is self-help books, including: A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex by University of Florida psychology professor Laurie B. Mintz, Wanting Sex Again by sex therapist Laurie J. Watson, and Reclaiming Your Sexual Self by sex therapist Kathryn Hall. But a study by Laurie Mintz and colleagues shows that for many women, another type of book works just as well and sometimes better—erotic fiction.

The Study

University of Florida researchers used flyers, radio ads, and the Internet to recruit 47 married women in otherwise happy relationships who wanted help for low libido. After a pre-test assessing their desire, the investigators assigned 20 to read Mintz’s A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex, which previous research had shown provides a significant libido boost. The other 27 read Passion: Erotic Romance for Women, an anthology of sexy short stories edited by Rachel K. Bussel. Six weeks later, participants received gift cards for completing a post-test, with additional gift cards for a follow-up survey six weeks later.

The two books produced very similar benefits. Both significantly improved desire (p < .01), arousal (p < .01), ability to have orgasms (p < .01), and overall sexual satisfaction (p < .001). Both also reduced sex-related pain (p < .001), and showed clear benefit on two standard measures of women’s sexual function (p < .001).

Treatment Versus Entertainment

Mintz’s self-help book addresses low desire using a six-part program easily implemented at home. Meanwhile, the erotic fiction anthology completely ignored the issue of low desire. Its only goal was entertainment. Yet both books produced the same desire-enhancement.

In addition, readers of both books maintained the benefit they’d gained for at least six weeks. This comes as no surprise for the self-help book. It teaches life and sexual skills that can be easily incorporated into daily living, for example, deep relaxation, communication and time management skills, mutual whole-body massage, and scheduling lovemaking in advance. However, the investigators were surprised that the benefits of erotic fiction also lasted over time. A robust literature shows that sexually explicit videos—pornography and other erotic material—boost desire in the short term, but their impact quickly fatigues and fades. In contrast, the women who read erotic fiction maintained its libido-boosting benefits over a considerable time.

It’s not clear why erotic fiction demonstrated long-term benefits. But the researchers note that watching sex videos is a passive activity that delivers canned fantasies. Meanwhile, reading erotic fiction requires more active mental engagement. It encourages readers to use their minds to visualize the sexual fantasies on the page. This mental involvement may account for the fiction’s sustained benefits.

No matter why the fiction worked as well as the self-help book, it did, which provides a new path for resolving women’s libido issues. Actually, not a new path. Several decades before this study’s 2016 publication, three earlier reports—published in 1969, 1973, and 1984—documented the significant effectiveness of erotic fiction for the treatment of low libido. But somehow, for more than 30 years, they were forgotten.

How to Find Erotic Fiction

If you’re a woman concerned about low desire, or if you’re involved with a low-libido woman, here’s how I recommend experimenting with erotic fiction:

• Start with Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L, James. This trilogy marries romance fiction with bondage, discipline, and sado-masochism (BDSM). Published by an obscure Australian website in 2011, Fifty Shades has sold more than 165 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular novels of all time. And no wonder. Among Americans’ sex fantasies, BDSM is very popular. For his book, Tell Me What You Want, Indiana University researcher Justin Lehmiller conducted the largest study ever of the nation’s sex fantasies and found that 96 percent of women have had BDSM daydreams.

• Sample other romance fiction. Romance has been the #1 best-selling category of fiction since it appeared in 1740 with Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded by British printer Samuel Richardson. Romances follow a fairly standard formula. A rich and powerful but barbaric man falls hard for a sexually naïve woman. Initially, she resists his advances. As the plot unfolds, he threatens her—often including threats of sexual violence. In the face of the challenges he presents, the heroine uses her intelligence, resourcefulness, and sexual charisma to tame the savage beast, and turn him into a loving faithful mate ready to father her children. Cue wedding bells. For more on why romance fiction appeals to women, see the chapter that analyzes their appeal in my book, Sizzling Sex for Life. Romance fiction has dozens of sub-genres, some more overtly sexual than others. For help finding romance fiction ask librarians or bookstore employees, or peruse the many Internet romance fiction fan sites.

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• Explore erotic fiction sites. The Internet is replete with sites that publish explicitly sexual fiction, among them: Literotica, Bellesa, Alt.sex.stories, and Adult Fan Fiction.

I can’t guarantee that erotic fiction will increase any woman’s interest in lovemaking. But the four studies published over the past 52 years all agree that the likelihood is high. For best results, I suggest combining sexy fiction with any of the self-help books mentioned above.