GENOPHOBIA: FEAR OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE - ARTE - 2024

The genofobia is a type of specific phobia in which the element is feared sexual practice. At first glance, it seems unlikely that an activity such as sexual practice can provide feelings of fear and states of high anxiety.

However, surely you have ever experienced nervousness or restlessness during the moments before sexual practice or even during it. Well, these nerves or fears that all people can experience, can be accentuated in some cases and cause what is known as genophobia.

The person who suffers from genophobia fears, above all, sexual relations. Therefore, you will not only be unable to enjoy them, but you will avoid them whenever you can.

It must be taken into account that genophobia, contrary to what it may seem, is not a sexual disorder in which the person rejects sex due to inability to enjoy it or lack of interest.

Genophobia is an anxiety disorder, more specifically it is a specific type of phobia. We can interpret this alteration in the same way as we do with spider phobia or claustrophobia.

While in the phobia of spiders the person experiences intense and excessive fear when one of these animals is close, the individual with genophobia experiences the same sensations when exposed to a sexual practice.

Fear or nerves?

When we talk about fear of sex, all people can see ourselves more or less identified. Sexual practice is often a relevant moment in people's lives.

In this way, experiencing feelings of fear or nervousness when you have never had sexual intercourse and you propose to do it or the first time you sleep with your partner, is something totally normal.

So, at its root, fear or nerves about sex is a natural human response. However, when we speak of genophobia we do not refer to these "mild" nervous sensations that are experienced before having sex.

Genophobia involves a much higher anxiety response and the experience of extremely intense fear. This disorder can be interpreted as the maximum accentuation of the normal sensations of nerves, which end up becoming an excessive and irrational fear.

What kind of fear is experienced in genophobia?

One of the main points that define genophobia and that allows us to differentiate it from the "normal" nerves that people can experience before having sex is the type of fear that manifests itself.

The fear of genophobia has some main characteristics that allow it to be classified as pathological and to determine the presence of a phobic response to sexual practice.

The main properties that define the fear that a person with genophobia experiences are the following:

1- It is disproportionate

The fear experienced by a person with genophobia is totally disproportionate to the demands of the situation. Obviously, a priori, having sex does not imply any kind of threat to people.

Being afraid in these situations can be interpreted as disproportionate since, in itself, there is no stimulus that could put us in danger.

However, the fear experienced in genophobia is totally disproportionate, so the person with this disorder will respond with maximum fear and with thoughts that terrible things will happen to them, when in reality it is not.

2- It cannot be explained or reasoned

This is another of the key points of genophobia, since the fear experienced in this disorder implies that the individual is able to explain or reason it.

When people suffer from simple nerves in the previous moments of having a sexual relationship, we are able to explain or reason why we are nervous.

"I don't know if my partner will enjoy it, maybe I'm doing it wrong, I want the sexual relationship to go well…" are some of the thoughts we may have at those times.

However, the person with genophobia is not capable of making these types of interpretations about the fear they experience, since this is so intense that it is far from any logic even for the individual himself.

3- It is beyond voluntary control

The ability to control is one of the main characteristics of all phobias, and therefore also of genophobia.

When we have nerves or slight sensations of fear before sexual practice, we always maintain a certain capacity of control that allows us to prevent fear from completely taking over us.

However, in genophobia this does not happen and the individual's ability to control their fear is non-existent. The person is not able to control their feelings of fear or their anxiety responses, so they automatically take over.

4- It leads to avoidance

It must be borne in mind that the fear experienced by a genophobic is so intense that it totally disables him to have sexual relations.

Before sexual practice, the person with genophobia experiences the highest sensations of discomfort that they can experience, so they will completely prevent this type of situation from occurring.

This does not mean that the individual does not have sexual urges or even desires for sexual activities. However, because of the fear that it produces, the person will avoid having sex.

5- It persists over time

If we experience this type of fear in isolation or simply on some occasions, we do not suffer from genophobia. The fear and anxiety response experienced when faced with sexual intercourse in genophobia persist over time, which is why they always appear without exception.

Likewise, fear is not specific to a certain phase or age, which is why it is experienced both in adolescence, in adulthood, and even in old age.

Symptoms

The fear that we discussed in the previous section automatically generates an anxiety response. Whenever a person with genophobia is exposed to a sexual relationship and experiences the feelings of fear, they will manifest a series of anxiety symptoms.

These symptoms are highly important since they are the ones that explain the discomfort of the individual when exposed to sexual practice and, therefore, the refusal to maintain relationships.

The main manifestations that a person with genophobia will experience when they are about to have sex are:

1- Physical symptoms of anxiety

These are probably the most important since they are the ones that cause the greatest feelings of discomfort. When a person with genophobia is exposed to sexual intercourse, they will respond with the typical physical symptoms of anxiety.

These are characterized by an increased activity of the central nervous system and include symptoms such as increased heart rate and respiratory rate, excessive sweating, muscle tension, palpitations, headaches or stomach aches, etc.

2- Thoughts about sex

The physical symptoms discussed are accompanied by a series of thoughts that feed back on them. In genophobia, a series of catastrophic thoughts appear both about sexual practice itself and about personal capacities to cope with that situation.

These thoughts can take thousands of forms, but all of them have a high component of aversion, fear and fear. These cognitions also feed back bi-directionally with physical symptoms.

This means that catastrophic thoughts increase physical symptoms and nervousness, and anxiety symptoms itself also increase these types of thoughts.

3- Avoidance

The last manifestation that a person with genophobia presents is the alteration of their behavior. The high fear that he suffers from the sexual act makes him avoid it completely, so the behavior is significantly modified.

The individual can start romantic relationships and even maintain them, however, he will avoid and reject any action that involves sexual activity.

Causes

The factors that can induce the appearance of phobias are numerous and, usually it is not usually possible to identify a single cause.

It is generally argued that direct conditioning, vicarious conditioning, the acquisition of information and, in some cases, the presence of genetic components, are usually the most relevant factors.

However, in the case of genophobia, the experience of traumatic experiences with sex is elevated as the most prevalent factor and that causes a greater number of cases of genophobia.

Likewise, the acquisition of bad sexual education and the adoption of myths or false beliefs about the sexual act are another of the most important causes of genophobia.

What Maintains Genophobia?

At present there is enough scientific evidence to affirm that regardless of the causes that originate the phobia, the main factor that maintains it is the avoidance of the phobic stimulus.

This means that, in the case of genophobia, the factor that makes it remain and does not disappear is the avoidance of sexual relations.

For a person with genophobia, avoiding their phobic stimulus can be more or less simple, since they simply must limit themselves to not having sex.

Thus, the fact of never exposing oneself to sexual practice makes the phobia persist and the person is totally incapable of having sexual relations.

Treatment

Genephobia is an anxiety disorder that must be treated for two main reasons.

In the first place, because having a phobia of sex can have a great impact on a person's life, limit their functionality and reduce both their quality of life and the quality of their relationships.

Second, it is highly recommended to treat genophobia because psychological therapy has proven to be very effective in intervening this type of disorder.

Thus, despite all the negative aspects that we have discussed so far about genophobia, the most positive of all is undoubtedly that this psychopathology can be reversed.

Therefore, trying to take anxiolytics to reduce the anxiety produced by the phobic stimulus or trying to avoid sexual practice altogether to be well is not the best solution.

The intervention that any person suffering from genophobia should carry out consists of doing psychotherapy through a clinical psychologist specialized in this type of disorder. And it is that cognitive behavioral treatment has shown to be very effective for the treatment of specific phobias.

These treatments often mix interventions of live exposure and exposure and imagination to phobic stimulus (sex) with other techniques such as relaxation training, deep breathing and cognitive therapy.

References

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4. Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychetry: Behavioral Sciences / Clinical. Psychiatry, 10th Edition (2007) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
5. Caballo VE, Salazar, IC., Carrobles JA (2011). Manual of psychopathology and psychological disorders. Madrid: Piramide.
6. DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2002). Barcelona: Masson.