Heterosexuality and 'the Labour of Love': A Contribution to Recent Debates on Female Sexual Dysfunction

Abstract

It is increasingly taken for granted that `successful heterosexuality' is contingent upon having a `normal' and `healthy' sex life. The recent popularity of the diagnostic label `Female Sexual Dysfunction' (FSD) is evidence that this social climate has fostered the (re)medicalization of women's sexual problems. In response to feminist concern over the growing use of the FSD label, this article considers data gathered as part of a qualitative, empirical study, examining women's perceptions of sexual difficulties and their treatment. It is argued that women with perceived sexual problems, regardless of whether or not they have been diagnosed with FSD, tend to engage in relationship based `sex work': the rationalization, improvement, and mastery of sex in their personal lives. Their decisions to take part in or resist sex work are closely connected to the discursive and material production of heterosexuality, gender inequalities and power differences amongst women.