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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

Husband wants more sex, I don’t, complains about it so much

306 replies

acrossit · 06/07/2025 18:40

We Have two young kids (4 and 1) I’m overweight, woken multiple times in the night still, have two children demanding things every second of the day and I really I am starting to resent the bit of adult time I have to myself being taken over with husband wanting sex

That makes it sound like it’s all the time. It’s generally once a week. I don’t know if there are answers here, I can’t expect him to be celibate but equally I dread it.

OP posts:
WalkingaroundJardine · 07/07/2025 20:48

Christl78 · 07/07/2025 16:54

Agree. None is obliged to have sex but it is also a torture for the party who wants it. The constant rejection and you body just craving making love while your partner doesn’t need it, is a big issue.
Don’t know what the answer is, but I ve been there. Being constantly rejected and craving sex. To top it all up it proved that he was actually getting it elsewhere.
Making love is one of the most beautiful things in the world. None should be under pressure to do it, however none should also be deprived of it.

I wouldn’t call having sex once a week being “deprived”.

The poor woman is in her forties with young children, gets woken multiple times in the night and works as well. It’s horrible for her to be made to feel guilty by “tortured” partners who crave more sex. They need to be looking after their exhausted partners and not personalising that sex isn’t available on tap like when younger.

Bridport · 07/07/2025 20:52

MyHouseInThePrairie · 07/07/2025 16:23

I suspect you’ve never had sex when you saw as a chore and didn’t really want it ….
If it was as easy as ‘just have sex’, spread your legs and it will be fine, there wouldn't be any thread on this subject.

My post was in response to Eric1964s long and imaginative suggestions for the conversation OP could have with her husband, not sex.

Nobody should have sex they don't want.

Disturbia81 · 07/07/2025 21:03

WalkingaroundJardine · 07/07/2025 20:48

I wouldn’t call having sex once a week being “deprived”.

The poor woman is in her forties with young children, gets woken multiple times in the night and works as well. It’s horrible for her to be made to feel guilty by “tortured” partners who crave more sex. They need to be looking after their exhausted partners and not personalising that sex isn’t available on tap like when younger.

Exactly, once a week is good!

Stilllifes · 07/07/2025 21:07

When I got to bed and the day was over, I was totally touched out.
I hadn't one smidgen of interest.

DiscoBob · 07/07/2025 21:12

If it's not giving orgasm or at least some sexual pleasure/enjoyment then frankly I can't blame you. Otherwise saying you dread it sounds a bit ominous?

He shouldn't be pressuring you into sex you're not enjoying. And it's hard to enjoy something you're feeling obliged to do rather than through desire.

You do need to try and talk about how you could make you both meet somewhere in the middle so you're both satisfied.

AvidJadeShaker · 07/07/2025 21:14

I think sorting out the DC’s sleep
out may help. The DH should help with sleep training, I bet at the moment he isn’t getting up multiple times per night.

Memely · 07/07/2025 21:27

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 07/07/2025 17:14

NO ONE IS OWED SEX. NO ONE!

Married or not, you have NO right to the body of someone else. That body belongs to that person, and only to that person, and that person should be 100% free to decide whether they want to have sex.

Any other mentality is treading on the slippery slope to coercive rape.

That includes marriage. If you got married with the idea that you now owned your spouse's body and would now be able to have sex whenever you wanted, you got married with a criminal mindset.

If your spouse does not want sex with you and you find that unacceptable, then you should divorce. You do NOT have the right to use emotionally, mentally, or physically coercive behaviours to guilt, confuse, exhaust, or force your spouse to have sex with you. Nor do you have the right to cheat.

A PP above who said, "Making love is one of the most beautiful things in the world." I agree. But it's only beautiful if the desire for it is MUTUAL and consent is ENTHUSIASTICALLY and joyfully given. Otherwise it is very ugly and dirty.

100%.

The flip side of that coin, however, is if you don't want to have sex with your husband, you have no right to even expect him to stay loyal (loyal to what?). If he does seek sex outside of the marriage - and I don't consider it cheating on this circumstance - you've lost the moral high ground, or even the right to feel aggrieved.

NO ONE has the right to force their husband to be celibate.

Haemagoblin · 07/07/2025 22:17

Memely · 07/07/2025 21:27

100%.

The flip side of that coin, however, is if you don't want to have sex with your husband, you have no right to even expect him to stay loyal (loyal to what?). If he does seek sex outside of the marriage - and I don't consider it cheating on this circumstance - you've lost the moral high ground, or even the right to feel aggrieved.

NO ONE has the right to force their husband to be celibate.

So the OP is currently shagging her husband once a week despite not wanting to. Obviously this isn't enough for him and he wants more. So is he entitled to"top up" elsewhere if OP doesn't raise her service to the level he seems adequate? At what level does the service preserve her right to a monogamous, or at least an honest husband? At the point he's satisfied only? What about the nature of the sex? If he wants anal but she won't do that, is he within his rights to find it outside the marriage? Does she have a right to mind then?

Memely · 07/07/2025 22:23

Haemagoblin · 07/07/2025 22:17

So the OP is currently shagging her husband once a week despite not wanting to. Obviously this isn't enough for him and he wants more. So is he entitled to"top up" elsewhere if OP doesn't raise her service to the level he seems adequate? At what level does the service preserve her right to a monogamous, or at least an honest husband? At the point he's satisfied only? What about the nature of the sex? If he wants anal but she won't do that, is he within his rights to find it outside the marriage? Does she have a right to mind then?

It's up to each couple to find what works for them. My post was a general one, that if one spouse isn't having sex, the other spouse has every right to seek it elsewhere.

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 07/07/2025 22:24

Memely · 07/07/2025 21:27

100%.

The flip side of that coin, however, is if you don't want to have sex with your husband, you have no right to even expect him to stay loyal (loyal to what?). If he does seek sex outside of the marriage - and I don't consider it cheating on this circumstance - you've lost the moral high ground, or even the right to feel aggrieved.

NO ONE has the right to force their husband to be celibate.

If sex is that important to you, divorce.

Screamingabdabz · 07/07/2025 22:25

Boomer55 · 07/07/2025 17:58

Early menopause? Might be an idea to chat to your GP.

She doesn’t need medicalising. She has two young children. She needs sleep and rest. And no sex pest guilt tripping.

Screamingabdabz · 07/07/2025 22:28

AboogaBooga · 07/07/2025 01:22

Meh. Then some of you wonder why you get cheated on.

What a base worldview you have.

Haemagoblin · 07/07/2025 22:28

Memely · 07/07/2025 22:23

It's up to each couple to find what works for them. My post was a general one, that if one spouse isn't having sex, the other spouse has every right to seek it elsewhere.

Well that's a cop out. Stand by and articulate your principles! Is it only if there is no sex at all that extra marital affairs without consent of the other partner is ok? Or any amount with which the more highly sexed partner is dissatisfied? Or is there some sort of level which is acceptable that is less than they'd like but more than their lower sexed partner wants? And who decides?

It's all well land good saying each couple needs to decide what works for them. But if what works for her is once a month and what works for him is morning glory, afternoon delight and then a two hour session at bedtime, then obviously there will have to be a compromise. But you seem to be suggesting that the higher sexed partner has the right to step out on the marriage without discussing or disclosing this?

asrl78 · 07/07/2025 22:39

Memely · 07/07/2025 21:27

100%.

The flip side of that coin, however, is if you don't want to have sex with your husband, you have no right to even expect him to stay loyal (loyal to what?). If he does seek sex outside of the marriage - and I don't consider it cheating on this circumstance - you've lost the moral high ground, or even the right to feel aggrieved.

NO ONE has the right to force their husband to be celibate.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I can accept that for a lot of people in relationships sex is important, but at the same time, there are people who cannot have sex. A dear friend of mine cannot have sex because major medical operations have made it unbearably painful, although she can still orgasm through clitoral stimulation. Surely you can enjoy cuddling, kissing, caressing, stimulating the erogenous zones to orgasm whilst stopping short of penetration? Only if one partner refused any form of intimacy at all would I question why they are in a relationship*. In the worst case you can use your hands to relieve sexual frustration, which is what those of us who have spent 30 years being sexually unattractive to women have had to do.

I have recently got involved with a woman where the relationship has developed way faster than I expected. She has a healthy sex drive and has made it abundently clear she wants to have sex with me, but despite the fact the desire is in my mind, I cannot get my penis to cooperate, so a somewhat similar situation for her if I can't resolve my anxiety.

*If they had the genuine choice of ending it i.e. were not trapped.

asrl78 · 07/07/2025 22:41

Screamingabdabz · 07/07/2025 22:25

She doesn’t need medicalising. She has two young children. She needs sleep and rest. And no sex pest guilt tripping.

If there is guilt tripping going on, that will only have the opposite effect, it will increase anxiety which will kill any chance of sexual desire.

Disturbia81 · 07/07/2025 23:04

Screamingabdabz · 07/07/2025 22:25

She doesn’t need medicalising. She has two young children. She needs sleep and rest. And no sex pest guilt tripping.

This!

mmsnet · 07/07/2025 23:13

you need to leave to your husband, sex is a chore to you

let him find someone more compatible

Memely · 08/07/2025 00:36

Haemagoblin · 07/07/2025 22:28

Well that's a cop out. Stand by and articulate your principles! Is it only if there is no sex at all that extra marital affairs without consent of the other partner is ok? Or any amount with which the more highly sexed partner is dissatisfied? Or is there some sort of level which is acceptable that is less than they'd like but more than their lower sexed partner wants? And who decides?

It's all well land good saying each couple needs to decide what works for them. But if what works for her is once a month and what works for him is morning glory, afternoon delight and then a two hour session at bedtime, then obviously there will have to be a compromise. But you seem to be suggesting that the higher sexed partner has the right to step out on the marriage without discussing or disclosing this?

Fair enough. I'll give it a go. When you enter an exclusive romantic relationship, you agree not to sleep with other people. But at the same time, there's an implicit agreement to sleep with each other - that's kind of the definition of a romantic relationship.

Even though circumstances might sometimes interfere and stop a couple from having sex, I'd liken that to a person who's missing a leg. It doesn't make them any less human, but the standard definition of a human being is still a biped.

Likewise with romantic relationships: at their core, they're sexual. That's what differentiates them from plain friendships. So when you agree to enter into a romantic relationship, you're also agreeing to enter into a sexual relationship.

How much sex you'll actually be having is very subjective, and it's impossible to put a number on it. But as with anything that's hard to pin down, just because you can't say exactly where the line is doesn't mean you can't recognize when it's been crossed.

So even though it's hard to say precisely how much is too much, most people would agree that expecting sex five times a day is definitely too much. And the same goes for too little - only having sex once every six months is clearly too little.

Personally, I think that barring illness or short periods of being really busy with work or whatever, twice a week is the minimum each partner can reasonably expect, and five times a week is the most anyone can reasonably ask for. So if you're not getting it twice a week on average, you're deprived. And if your partner doesn’t want more than five times a week, you just have to accept that with a smile. That’s what being in a relationship is about - you give some, you get some.

As for telling the husband to get divorced: The way I see it, the partner or spouse who breaks the agreement - spoken or not - is the one who's morally obligated to take action to rock the boat.

The relationship is an exclusive sexual one. If you decide to stop providing the sex, it's selfish and honestly kind of repugnant to expect your spouse to be the one to officially rock the boat and demand a divorce. Or even to expect them to carry the emotional burden of initiating the difficult conversation.

Let’s be real: nobody likes conflict, and nobody enjoys starting hard conversations. If you’re the one choosing to opt out of the sexual part of the agreement, then you should be the one with the guts to bring it up. Lay it out clearly, and either explicitly allow your spouse to find it elsewhere or advise them to get divorced.

Same goes for the partner who doesn’t want to stick to the exclusive part. You tell your partner where you’re at, and if they’re not on board with an open marriage, you move out.
But if one partner unilaterally stops having sex - or even keeps doing it minimally and reluctantly - yet refuses to initiate the hard conversation, then in my opinion, they’ve forfeited the expectation that the other partner stay exclusive.

They don’t really have the right to be upset when they find out the other person has been getting it elsewhere. And honestly, why should it even bother them? If you're not having sex with your partner, why get upset that someone else is?

Haemagoblin · 08/07/2025 06:36

Memely · 08/07/2025 00:36

Fair enough. I'll give it a go. When you enter an exclusive romantic relationship, you agree not to sleep with other people. But at the same time, there's an implicit agreement to sleep with each other - that's kind of the definition of a romantic relationship.

Even though circumstances might sometimes interfere and stop a couple from having sex, I'd liken that to a person who's missing a leg. It doesn't make them any less human, but the standard definition of a human being is still a biped.

Likewise with romantic relationships: at their core, they're sexual. That's what differentiates them from plain friendships. So when you agree to enter into a romantic relationship, you're also agreeing to enter into a sexual relationship.

How much sex you'll actually be having is very subjective, and it's impossible to put a number on it. But as with anything that's hard to pin down, just because you can't say exactly where the line is doesn't mean you can't recognize when it's been crossed.

So even though it's hard to say precisely how much is too much, most people would agree that expecting sex five times a day is definitely too much. And the same goes for too little - only having sex once every six months is clearly too little.

Personally, I think that barring illness or short periods of being really busy with work or whatever, twice a week is the minimum each partner can reasonably expect, and five times a week is the most anyone can reasonably ask for. So if you're not getting it twice a week on average, you're deprived. And if your partner doesn’t want more than five times a week, you just have to accept that with a smile. That’s what being in a relationship is about - you give some, you get some.

As for telling the husband to get divorced: The way I see it, the partner or spouse who breaks the agreement - spoken or not - is the one who's morally obligated to take action to rock the boat.

The relationship is an exclusive sexual one. If you decide to stop providing the sex, it's selfish and honestly kind of repugnant to expect your spouse to be the one to officially rock the boat and demand a divorce. Or even to expect them to carry the emotional burden of initiating the difficult conversation.

Let’s be real: nobody likes conflict, and nobody enjoys starting hard conversations. If you’re the one choosing to opt out of the sexual part of the agreement, then you should be the one with the guts to bring it up. Lay it out clearly, and either explicitly allow your spouse to find it elsewhere or advise them to get divorced.

Same goes for the partner who doesn’t want to stick to the exclusive part. You tell your partner where you’re at, and if they’re not on board with an open marriage, you move out.
But if one partner unilaterally stops having sex - or even keeps doing it minimally and reluctantly - yet refuses to initiate the hard conversation, then in my opinion, they’ve forfeited the expectation that the other partner stay exclusive.

They don’t really have the right to be upset when they find out the other person has been getting it elsewhere. And honestly, why should it even bother them? If you're not having sex with your partner, why get upset that someone else is?

I can tell from this that you are (a) male and/or (b) very very young. To have such an utterly limited view of what romantic relationships are; indeed to think that marriage is an exclusively romantic relationship, all the way through it from the starry eyed 20-somethings, through the child-bearing and child-raising years, to becoming grandparents together, to the 90-something couple supporting each other through mobility issues, illnesses and ultimately death, strikes me as having an absolutely arrested adolescent notion of what the marital agreement is and what it is FOR.

What it does do however is illustrate plainly why so many men cheat, and why so many men effectively abandon their children after marital breakdown, and then become father of the year to the next woman's kids. This view of marriage/monogamy (that it exists primarily to formalise/lock down sexual availability) makes that make perfect sense. You're not attached to the individual, the relationship isn't about forming and participating in a family; it's simply a way to guarantee regular sex. Without that there is nothing else of value there to differentiate it from a common friendship.

Women are cyclical creatures (so are men actually it's just your cycles are daily, rather than monthly or across a reproductive lifetime). If regular and consistent biweekly fucking is what you require, a monogamous long term relationship with a woman simply isn't for you.

I mean even pre kids, what about the week she's on her period? Should the allotted fucking continue that week, sore breasts, blood and all, because otherwise "the line will be crossed"? Or does she need to double up on the other three weeks to cover the missing week? Or perhaps it can be considered maintenance if she pleasures the man?

I suppose it goes without saying that biweekly sex should continue throughout pregnancy. Possible exemption for hyperemesis gravidarum.

Post natally: the NHS says 6 weeks minimum before resuming sex. Obviously you don't consider tiredness or hormonal loss of libido to be legitimate reasons to refuse sex; how about birth injuries? C section surgery?

Let's leap ahead to the 90 year old woman; her husband's libido is undimmed, meanwhile she has gone through the menopause, her sex hormones have all but vanished, she requires vaginal lubricant just to maintain a healthy vagina never mind to have sex, she's got arthritis. None of these things are susceptible to change. Still two times a week if that's what the husband desires?

And finally your idea that the person who has the issue with the situation as it develops ISN'T the one who should initiate the "difficult conversation" (which is what, exactly, from the woman's side, beyond exactly what they are already saying every night as "the hand" snakes across their belly at 11pm - "I'm tired, I'm not in the mood" - and you needn't think that is easy to feel, or to say, or that male partners make it easy to say repeatedly).

If you want to step out on your marriage, 100% it is on you to tell your partner that before you do, ESPECIALLY in a situation like this where sex is still being had in the marriage, however infrequently. Your wounded ego is not an excuse to lie by omission or to expand your partner's sexual pool without their knowledge (if they're sleeping with you, however rarely, they're sleeping with all the people you're sleeping with too). It's abusive.

Women are not robots. Marriage/monogamy is not purely about sex (at least not for women and not for the children of the marriage).

I think fundamentally women and men have very different views on this, which is why I pray to god my daughters end up being lesbians or at very least don't fall for the lies men tell about 'love'. They mean a very very different thing to what we mean by it.

Thepossibility · 08/07/2025 06:48

I find it so sad PP think OP and her husband husband should divorce her over sex?! Sex!! Marriage is so much more than fucking. They are supposed to be partners in LIFE. They BOTH chose to have these two small children. OP is in the trenches right now, being woken several times a night is actually torture. This small period of time right now is probably the hardest slog of the marriage. And instead of buckling down and getting through it together, PP actually think she deserves to be divorced for not just putting up and shutting up? She's bone tired FFS! It doesn't matter how good the sex is when you are so tired you would pay good money for one full night of sleep.
Sleep is an actual need. Sex is a want. Luckily DH didn't divorce me when I was too tired for sex when my sleep schedule was dictated by small children. He actually stuck by me (amazing huh!) and now enjoys plenty of sex now I have the energy for it.

Olive567 · 08/07/2025 06:57

BountifulPantry · 06/07/2025 22:32

Sorry to be so explicit but would a quick handjob seem more manageable for you?

I just thinking of ways you could compromise. You shouldn’t have any sex you don’t want but issues like this can really fester…

FFS

Christl78 · 08/07/2025 08:40

LouiseMadetheBestBroccoliPasta · 07/07/2025 17:38

"deprived" indicates that you feel that you have a right to sex. You don't.

Of course I have the right to enjoy sex. With someone who wants it as well.

Christl78 · 08/07/2025 08:44

WalkingaroundJardine · 07/07/2025 20:48

I wouldn’t call having sex once a week being “deprived”.

The poor woman is in her forties with young children, gets woken multiple times in the night and works as well. It’s horrible for her to be made to feel guilty by “tortured” partners who crave more sex. They need to be looking after their exhausted partners and not personalising that sex isn’t available on tap like when younger.

Agree. However, she also mentioned that she doesn’t want it and does it a chore. And he probably feel it.
Of course then a question comes up as to why she is so tired and whether the husband carries his weight re kids and house chores. If she is exhausted because of this then it will be reflected on their sex life. She needs to communicate with her husband.

Haemagoblin · 08/07/2025 08:58

Christl78 · 08/07/2025 08:44

Agree. However, she also mentioned that she doesn’t want it and does it a chore. And he probably feel it.
Of course then a question comes up as to why she is so tired and whether the husband carries his weight re kids and house chores. If she is exhausted because of this then it will be reflected on their sex life. She needs to communicate with her husband.

It's tiredness yes, but it's also hormonal and COMPLETELY NATURAL. Childbirth dramatically lowers your oestrogen levels; breastfeeding keeps them low. Oestrogen plays a crucial role in female libido and arousal. None of this is abnormal, it is nature's way of preventing you from getting pregnant again when you still have a dependant infant.

If her husband pulls his weight more, especially with night wakings, it may give her the energy to have more sex, but it isn't necessarily going to make her want it any more - that is unlikely to return until her hormone levels return to pre-pregnancy, which given her age is likely to be interfered with further by (peri)menopause hormonal changes also. Which is also COMPLETELY NATURAL. She may choose to take action on that with HRT etc if she wants to feel more desire and arousal, but there is nothing inherently wrong with a diminishing of desire, either in the wake of childbirth or during the menopause - it is part of a woman's natural cycle. We are not men, we do not have a pretty consistent daily hormonal cycle. We have seasons.

As it goes I do think it is worth meeting in the middle somewhere, for the sake of everyone's happiness. But it's a bit much to expect a woman in the hormonal fallow period not just to have sex for the sake of maintaining intimacy, but to 'want it' as she did in her hormonal high point (teens and 20s). This sort of unreasonable demand is what leads to women faking it and having deeply unsatisfying sex therefore, instead of being able to be honest with their partners and work towards a more nuanced and satisfying approach to their pleasure and to intimacy as a couple. It also explains why so many entitled men, as they age, work through a succession of increasingly inappropriate age gap relationships with 20-somethings into their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. Women change sexually significantly as they age and go through life experiences; men do not.

Dolphinnoises · 08/07/2025 09:01

Are you still breastfeeding? It can really affect things. As can being knackered and touched out, come to that…

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