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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

New-ish relationship but sex is dropping off

41 replies

bananadrama8 · 24/01/2024 16:04

I'd appreciate some steer on my situation. Feeling really down today about the state of sex in my fairly new relationship.

Last year while on a trial separation from my H of 5 years i met a man, also separated, who I completely clicked with, fell for quickly and it was mutual. Bit of a rollercoaster, both of us making the decision to file for divorce from our spouses and be together which has happened within 6 months including him moving 300 miles to my city so we can date (previously, we were long distance but spent several weekends and a couple of weeks together.) Now he is here i am in my own place, divorce underway and the marital home is under offer. Which is what we have talked about so much as he felt threatened by me still being married (even though he also still is.)

However it feels like sex is already dwindling. We previously would have sex every other day when seeing each other, and when we stayed the night together sex and lots of foreplay was normal. He has talked about how his 20-year marriage was mainly sexless; she wasn't very interested and he talked a lot about how that was an issue for him and made him feel unwanted. However he was obviously able to stick it out for 20 years even with their other emotional issues, and even though they had no kids. When we first started hooking up, he was a bit nervous and said it was because he wasn't used to someone wanting him. He would prefer to pleasure me than me to pleasure him, and penetrative sex would be over quite fast. I think he has a bit of 'death grip' because he masturbates quite a lot and because of how he has sex. This hasn't changed but i was happy with the frequency and that he desired me.
However now, over 7 months in, we have spent the last 4 days and 3 nights together much of that alone in my flat with a bed and no work to do as we took some days off, and we haven't had sex except once on Sunday. We took a bath together at my suggestion and he didn't seem to find that particularly sexy, we just lay there and talked. He will kiss me but we don't make out anymore. It feels weird to have had all this time together at home and him not have initiated anything. i have tried kissing him, straddling him on the sofa, or lingering in bed when we wake up, but i can tell the desire just isn't there for him, which feels early days to not be taking advantage of this time together especially since we talked so much about how we wanted to have a proper r'ship and be getting divorced from our toxic marriages. He would rather have a movie marathon in bed and eat snacks or drink tea and have long conversations. It feels like its more of a friendship in that way but when i said this he was like 'well friendship is the foundation of a good relationship'.

I brought this up, asking if he felt we had different sex drives, and he denied it at first and said we had sex on Sunday, but since he has said that he feels he has low libido at the moment due to high stress or perhaps illness, and he has even referred to it might be a problem with his 'equipment'..... so it feels like something he has always maybe been aware of. And i am thinking more and more about his long, sexless marriage and thinking, if sex was that important to him as he has prev said, why didn't he leave sooner? But he says sex is important to him. Yet can't see how it feels if i'm naked in bed with him and he doesn't want to do anything with me, or if he loses his erection as i'm touching him or giving him oral. He swears it isn't about his attraction to me. He says his therapy will resolve it. He says it is partly about the fact we both met when till technically married although separated, and he feels 'ashamed' that we were intimate up until filing for divorce- even though he wanted sex then and was able to orgasm, etc!

He is 44 but super-fit and good blood pressure etc. I am 35 and also in good shape, clean, groomed etc. If thats relevant. I dont have a crazy sex drive i dont think but i do fancy him and when we are alone together I do crave some moments of intimacy, but in the last 5 days it has just been the one time of PiV sex and a little bit of foreplay the same day. Am i being unreasonable to be questioning things? I really like him but i dont want to find myself in a low-sex relationship at 35 and i'm not judging him but i think he should be honest about his sex drive if it is low for any reason. Especially if this is a recent development. he has accused me of not being 'caring' of him possibly being unwell and/or very stressed - I feel a little bit gaslighted as though its totally normal to be naked in bed together or spend whole days together and not have sex or fool around at this point, and i shouldnt even think about it. He has said a couple times 'what if i had a motorcycle accident and wasnt able to have sex, would you leave me'? Which seems so extreme, like i'm being horrible or unreasonable.

Is this just a pre-sexless relationship 'script'?

OP posts:
Caffeinedetox · 24/01/2024 16:53

I've just re-read your post OP (apologies was skim reading last time!).

How many excuses can he come up with?! He's stressed / depressed / has an illness / a problem with his 'equipment'.. Yep sorry but all these all sound like excuses to me. Like you say, if he stayed in a 20 year sexless marriage with no kids then it's most likely him...

Also "he says it is partly about the fact we both met when till technically married although separated, and he feels 'ashamed' that we were intimate up until filing for divorce" is absolute nonsense.

Having said all of that, it all comes down to whether you're ok with entering into a relationship like this or not. To each their own and all that...

Caffeinedetox · 24/01/2024 16:55

"I do think he has stress over the end of his marriage and the fact he is afraid of losing me (As he has said many times, despite my reassurance) which all may affect the sex drive but it has only just started to be like this."

Um what?! Nope sorry. Just a big pack of lies and excuses.

stoptryingtomakefetchhappen · 24/01/2024 17:12

I’m inclined to agree with @Caffeinedetox and some other posters up thread. It looks very much like the start of a sexless relationship. Very similar happened to me and my exP. Started amazing and very intense (early ‘I love yous’ etc..) but after less than a year sex dropped off massively and never really came back. We were together a long time and had couples therapy etc.. but ultimately unless it is a purely physical issue for which there is also treatment available, the incentive from the low libido partner is just not there, even if they think they might lose you, because they just aren’t bothered about the sex.

Some of your DP’s comments are eerily similar to what I experienced. Of course couples get tired or stressed and not feel like it, but it’s the follow up comments which frankly sound disingenuous and defensive (90 year old grandparents - what??).

If you want sex in your life - and clearly you do - then you need to pin him down and get him to be honest with you as there’s a big issue there and it won’t get better on it’s own.

HarrietStyles · 24/01/2024 17:14

There was a thread a few weeks ago from a wife of 20 years whose husband had experienced erectile disfunction for many years, she had stayed with him out of love despite an almost sexless marriage. She had just discovered he had been messaging/sexting another woman…. and he thought his erectile disfunction might magically disappear with a hot younger girlfriend! Essentially denying the problem was his issue and blamed his wife for his ED! Anyway it reminded me of your new red flag of a boyfriend.

MightyGoldBear · 24/01/2024 17:15

Ok so at the heart of any addiction that person doesn't have the skills to cope in healthy ways when life gets hard or uncomfortable. They need something to distract soothe or numb.
There is being sober from alcohol that's the start of recovery and then the full recovery is learning All the skills that the person perhaps didn't get taught growing up/modelled/ didn't learn along the way. Without doing a full recovery from addiction you will likely get cross addictions they move on to something else to soothe them when life gets hard/boring/lonely.

Addiction goes hand in hand with a victim mentality hence the blaming you. Does he ever take accountability for his first marriage ending? The role he played? Does he show true empathy? can he be truly vulnerable without manipulation or gaslighting.

I think it would be best for you op to leave before this situation damages your self esteem and becomes messier to get out of. Even people willing and that see the value in undergoing a full recovery/integrity recovery it takes years. He has 44 years of learned ingrained ways of relating and seeing the world only through his perspective.

Seesay · 24/01/2024 17:17

When you leave relationships that aren’t working, you are very vulnerable to falling head over heels very quickly without much thought. I think this is what has happened here. Everyone can keep up a pretence for 6m but then the old you kicks in and for him; it may have been the other way round. He may have been the one not interested in sex. You only have his word for what happened in his marriage.

I really think you shouldn’t have rushed straight in to another relationship.

SamW98 · 24/01/2024 17:24

bananadrama8 · 24/01/2024 16:28

@SamW98 you mean for him, or for me?

Possibly both. It’s quite common after a LTR break up to jump in very quickly then down the line realising you barely know that person and the incompatibility starts to show up.

ItsADoggieDogWorld · 24/01/2024 17:30

In my opinion he was the instigator of his sexless marriage. I think he's having just enough sex with you to hook you in. The excuses will carry on, and you will find yourself in that same sexless relationship he had with his wife. The trouble is, most women are kind and caring and think it will all work out given time and addressing his 'issues'. You're being strung along sadly. It's up to you how long you give it. But believe me it becomes a soul destroying experience. Wondering what is wrong with you, and why he doesn't want sex with you.
Remember, you're not his therapist. He shouldn't be in any relationship if he can't be honest about his low libido.
Please don't think of the sunken costs of this relationship and what it cost to get there. You owe him nothing, and he's certainly not being honest with you. He'll say whatever he can to keep you.

Mitherations · 24/01/2024 17:46

Lord no. This is on a downhill slide from here OP, save yourself.

I can smell a Madonna/Whore complex here, compounded by the fact that he felt threatened by the fact that you were still married, when he was also...still married.

Save yourself, end it. You're in the middle of your thirties which can be a fantastic time, don't spend it trying to dry hump this man and having your self esteem ground down in return.

January24 · 24/01/2024 19:01

Hmm I agree what you describe is unusual. You’re there willing and available and he is acting oblivious. With a sexless marriage behind him as well I would be very wary. In fact I would run a mile as you want the sex to be easy and fun at this stage and it’s obviously not.

occhiazzurri · 24/01/2024 19:19

A twenty year marriage without kids would give me serious food for thought if you really want kids. I think you should also think about getting fertity tests done since male fertility can also decline with age no matter what men might think. And then decide if you are prepared to wait and see if things improve in the next few months.

laclochette · 24/01/2024 19:30

A marriage that was sexless and now this...
I spot a common denominator here.

MinervatheGreat · 24/01/2024 19:47

This sounds like too much hard work and second guessing what his issues really are.
Don’t waste too much time on him unless you think you’ll enjoy living with a brother. 😳

Watchkeys · 24/01/2024 20:27

Is it odd that we have spent 4 days together cosied up and only had sex/foreplay once

Why are you trying to find out if other people find this odd? You find it odd. It's your relationship. Why do you need the opinion of strangers?

Rightly or wrongly, you don't trust this man. He's answered all your questions, but you're here asking for the real answers because you're not satisfied with what he's told you. That's not something you want to settle down with, is it? Someone you feel you have to get to know via 'Wot Mumsnet thinks'?

SwordToFlamethrower · 24/01/2024 20:30

This seems like a rebound relationship to me. Maybe it has worked its magic and now it's time to move on?

Nothing wrong with that.

You both needed this at the start and it has run its course.

KitsyWitsy · 25/01/2024 08:54

Watchkeys · 24/01/2024 20:27

Is it odd that we have spent 4 days together cosied up and only had sex/foreplay once

Why are you trying to find out if other people find this odd? You find it odd. It's your relationship. Why do you need the opinion of strangers?

Rightly or wrongly, you don't trust this man. He's answered all your questions, but you're here asking for the real answers because you're not satisfied with what he's told you. That's not something you want to settle down with, is it? Someone you feel you have to get to know via 'Wot Mumsnet thinks'?

Obviously she wants to discuss it with other women. This is a forum and the perfect place for it. Why would anybody care ‘wot mumsnet thinks’ about anything? The whole point is to talk about stuff that’s on your mind.

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