Chapter 12
PSYCHIC FRIGIDITY
The problem of sexual promiscuity in women suffering
from frigidity is a common one. Speaking in very general
terms, it can be said to emanate from a desire to be sexually
awakened. Women who seek a solution of this type feel that
the next man will somehow break through the barrier that
separates them from true sexual satisfaction, true relatedness,
restore them to their erotic birthright. They are doomed to
disappointment, of course, for an exterior solution of any
permanent kind to this interior problem does not exist.
There is one form of promiscuity, however, that does not fit this above description. Basically it is not a search for the beloved but rather a deep, characterological tendency, closely allied to a curious and seemingly contradictory form of frigidity. The kind of woman who suffers from this disorder we have already characterized as the psychically frigid type. We have described this type as one which, if sexual reactions alone determined our definition, might be considered perfectly normal. The psychically frigid woman responds readily to sexual foreplay, and her orgasm is usually deep and satisfying. Examine her reactions as closely as we may, we can
