 Welcome to , the series in which we give you a seven-day sneak peek into the sex life of a stranger. This week, we hear from Luna* a 25-year-old freelance writer who's heterosexual and recently split up with her boyfriend. She describes her sex life as 'somewhat tricky', and not just because she's newly single. 'I'm dealing with vaginismus,' she tells Metro.co.uk. 'That means penetration is painful.' According to the NHS, vaginismus is when the vagina suddenly tightens up when you try to insert something into it. It's thought to be psychosomatic, meaning it's a physical illness aggravated or caused by a mental factor, such as internal conflict or stress. Luna started experiencing these symptoms when she was 22, after a medical procedure, and it's left her unable to have penetrative sex. 'It was difficult trying to work through this with a long-term partner,' she explains. And, now that she's single, Luna feels she needs to 'face the problem head on' before she meets anyone new. She adds: 'My low libido makes it so easy for me to avoid dealing with my condition.' This week, we catch up with Luna as she goes on holiday solo – and she's taken her vibrator… Monday I'm on my first-ever solo trip, just under two months after my most recent relationship ended. My sex drive is pretty low anyway, and it's been difficult to feel 'in the mood' even on my own, but I slowly feel like my appetite for sex is coming back. The problem is, penetrative sex is painful for me, and I struggled to navigate that in my long-term relationship. Our sex life usually involved doing everything other than penetration, and I tried therapy a few times too. I'm worried about telling future partners. Since vaginismus is relatively unknown, people probably won't understand – but I'm not rushing to have sex with anyone new. Tuesday I decided to get out of my comfort zone today and message a guy who I know lives here to meet up for a drink. We haven't){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Welcome to How I Do It, the series in which we give you a seven-day sneak peek into the sex life of a stranger.
This week, we hear from Luna* a 25-year-old freelance writer who’s heterosexual and recently split up with her boyfriend.
She describes her sex life as ‘somewhat tricky’, and not just because she’s newly single. ‘I’m dealing with vaginismus,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘That means penetration is painful.’
According to the NHS, vaginismus is when the vagina suddenly tightens up when you try to insert something into it. It’s thought to be psychosomatic, meaning it’s a physical illness aggravated or caused by a mental factor, such as internal conflict or stress.