| Abstract [eng] |
Topic: Embodied Experiences of Women’s Reluctance to Make Love Research problem: The studied phenomenon is common yet poorly understood, often reduced to a treatable dysfunction or symptom. Such an approach neglects how sexual disinterest is experienced through the body, the self, and the environment, overlooking its subjective and phenomenological complexity. There is a lack of studies analyzing sexual disinterest as an embodied, subjective, and potentially transformative experience. Dance movement therapy, although showing promise for exploring complex and hard-to-verbalize experiences - including women’s relationships with their bodies and sexuality (Lee et al., 2023) - remains underused, especially in Lithuania. Existing research mostly relies on verbal expression, ignoring somatic manifestations that are essential to self-perception and the relationship with one's body and sexuality. This highlights the need for embodied and phenomenological approaches to move beyond the dysfunction paradigm and create experience-based support practices. Aim: To explore embodied experiences of sexual disinterest among women and their meanings. Participants: Women (n=7) who had experienced sexual disinterest within a partnerships. Methods: A qualitative research design grounded in a phenomenological approach was applied. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews that included embodied reflection elements—gestures, postures, and movement. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2012). The study was conducted in Vilnius between January and May 2024. Results: Three main themes emerged, describing women’s embodied experiences of sexual disinterest: “Violated Bodies: Stolen Subjectivity, Traded Sexuality, and Seeking the Self in the Other”; “Speaking Bodies: Guardians of Silenced Boundaries”; “Angry Bodies: When Anger Awakens the Self and Becomes a Healing Act”. Conclusions: Participants demonstrated a norm-driven, complicated relationship with intimacy and their bodies - marked by sexual engagement misaligned with bodily needs, shame, blurred boundaries, disconnection from personal anger. Suppressing bodily disinterest was often driven by the longing for inner wholeness (“unity”), and led to psychosomatic symptoms. Findings revealed that sexual disinterest carries transformative potential. Partner responses played an accelerating role in enabling women to embody previously suppressed anger - crucial for restoring boundaries and reclaiming personal responsibility. This process opened the way toward healing the relationship with the body and intimacy, often accompanied by the revield ability to experience orgasm. The previously externalized search for “unity” became an internal, self-anchored experience. |
