vaginismus

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Today, the letter is V, and V is for vaginismus.

Vaginismus is a sexual disorder that involves vaginal tightness, which can cause pain, discomfort, or the complete inability to have sexual intercourse or all of the above.

It is thought to be a result of an involuntary tightening of the pelvic floor muscles, though the woman may not be aware that this is the cause of her penetration or pain difficulties.

And there are a variety of other theories as to how vaginismus occurs.

Talking about vaginismus is something that happens more often than most in psychosexual therapy.

So today I am talking to Kate Moyle, a psychosexual and relationship therapist and co-founder of the Pillow Play app.

Vaginismus, although it is not widely spoken about, impacts as many as two in every 1,000 women, but it's still not widely discussed, and many don't even have a name for their symptoms until they see a professional.

We used to have sex all the time, and now vaginismus is going on.

What do you think she has?

Vaginismus, the tightening? So that thing is like locked

shut like Fort Knox.

Yeah.

No.

So va- vaginismus and dyspareunia are, um, sexual pain disorders.

Vaginismus is-

Mm-hmm

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