Can Birth Control Changes Affect Your Sexual Satisfaction?

Can Birth Control Changes Affect Your Sexual Satisfaction?

Article
Sexual Health
Women's Health
+1
Contributed byMaulik P. Purohit MD MPHApr 15, 2017

According to research conducted cooperatively by universities in the U.K., Scotland and the Czech Republic, changing birth control can affect a woman’s sexual gratification.

Published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers evaluated 365 couples and investigated how fulfillment levels in both sexual and non-sexual aspects of long-term relationships were influenced by women's current and historical use of hormonal contraception.

They found that women who were on the pill when they met their partner and continued to use it or women who had never used the pill at any point reported greater levels of sexual satisfaction, compared to women who had started or stopped using the pill over the course of the relationship.

“Previous research has shown that hormonal contraceptives, such as the pill, subtly alter women's ideal partner preferences and that often women who are using the pill when they meet their partner find the same partner less physically attractive when they come off the pill,” said study lead author Craig Roberts from the University of Stirling in Scotland.

“Our new results support these earlier findings but, crucially, they also point to the impact a change in hormonal contraceptive use during a relationship -- either starting or stopping -- can have on a woman's sexual satisfaction with her partner.”

When the researchers looked at the non-sexual aspects of relationship satisfaction between the groups of women, they found no significant difference between the groups. Also, the women's history of birth control use was also found to make no difference to their male partners' relationship satisfaction in both sexual and non-sexual contexts.

Roberts believes that the birth control has been a “positive social force” that empowers women, but brings controversy with the altering of a woman’s libido and sexual satisfaction.

Additional Resources:

Partner Choice, Relationship Satisfaction, and Oral Contraception

The Congruency Hypothesis

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Maulik P. Purohit MD MPH

Assistant Medical Director, Medical Editorial Board, DoveMed Team

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