In "Sans Rendez-vous", the sexologist and psychoanalyst Catherine Blanc evokes the link between sexuality and the hormonal cycle.
The period of menstruation, since it is incompatible with fertilization, has long been put aside.
Having sex during menstruation is possible but psychological discomfort persists for some.
>> Periods, since they are manifested by a flow of blood, may seem to indicate an inability to have sex. An erroneous idea explains sexologist and psychoanalyst Catherine Blanc in "Sans Rendez-vous". However, she recalls that the hormonal cycle has long been stigmatized. If this is less the case today and there is not, a priori, physical impossibility, both men and women may experience psychological embarrassment at the idea of having a report during this period.
The question :
We tend to think that when the rules are there we necessarily put our sexuality in parentheses.
Is this really the case?
Catherine Blanc's response
First, we must understand why we put it in parentheses.
Historically, the great religions, in particular, put aside the woman when she is regulated.
In some places of worship, it does not fit for this reason.
Since menstruation is not a time of fertilization and sexuality is the means of fertilization, this period puts it outside the framework of the reproductive question.
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From the moment we separated reproductive sexuality from pleasure, the question of feasibility arose again.
And that becomes an arbitration specific to each one.
One can, for example, argue that there is a greater risk of contamination when there is blood.
This justifies that we can put this time in brackets.
Does a woman's desire change during the cycle?
Studies show that desire is greater when a woman is ovulating, for hormonal reasons.
Except that psychology sometimes comes to shake things up.
There are women who, once they are settled, have no desire.
The difficulty, pain or physical discomfort that a period can cause does not promote a desire for sex.
Others, when they ovulate, which could be a time of "optimum" for sexuality, are not well either because the project of motherhood that it represents can be a source of anxiety.
These women will therefore systematically avoid it.
There is therefore physiological reality, with its possibilities, but also all the psychological diversions that we can implement to avoid or on the contrary satisfy what nature offers.
Do hormones control libido and can interfere with it?
Yes of course.
We are able to program ourselves against all odds, but sexuality is not just a question of a project, it is also a momentum of the body.
This is the whole difficulty of menopause.
We also see it in women who have amenorrhea, they are very dry, often very thin.
In these situations, the body has a hard time manufacturing its hormones to be comfortable, which creates low availability.
However, this is not just a hormonal story otherwise everything would stop at menopause.
But they are extremely involved not only of the momentum, but also of the good functioning, in particular of the lubrication.
Ultimately, is sex possible during menstruation?
When a woman is aroused, the fact that she is very lubricated tends to stop the blood flow.
It is therefore generally rather retained.
However, there is some blood loss.
And in everyone's imagination, it can be very scary.
In men on the one hand, because making love to a woman who is regulated can arouse the fear of being dangerous for her, of hurting her, since there is bloody evidence.
For others, it will feed their fantasies of deflowering their partner, even if the latter is not a virgin.
On the other hand, for some women, periods represent an idea of what they contain.
And it's not something they necessarily want to share.
A woman belongs to herself and she must not allow herself to be imposed on herself which is not part of her impetus.
And neither should she impose it on a man who has the right to be disturbed.