Could DES Daughters have difficulties in sexual desire and enjoyment?
1985 Study Abstract
Thirty women with a history of prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) underwent a detailed sexual history and were compared to a demographically similar sample of 30 women with a history of an abnormal Pap smear.
Sexual activity level and sexual functioning in women prenatally exposed to diethylstilbestrol, US National Library of Medicine, Psychosomatic medicine, NCBI PubMed PMID: 4070521, 1985 Nov-Dec.
Image credit Helen Taylor.
The DES women were found to have less well-established sex-partner relationships and less experience with child-bearing, to be lower in sexual desire and enjoyment, sexual excitability, and orgasmic coital functioning, but to be comparable (and low) with regard to such sexual dysfunctions as vaginismus and dyspareunia.
Both potential psychosocial and neuroendocrine explanations are discussed.
More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources
- Other studies on DES and psychological health.
- Diethylstilbestrol DES studies by topics.