The taming of the screw: Reflections on "a new view of women's sexual problems"

The DSM IV's medical classification of women's sexual dysfunction pathologizes women who fail to perform according to a genital, orgasmic norm. The "New View of Women's Sexual Problems" provides a more complex instrument for assessing sexual problems women experience. It includes a broad enough sexual framework to allow for multi-level clinical evaluation, an outline of cultural factors that contribute to women's sexual problems, an emphasis on sex education, and relationship-friendly descriptors. The New View's assumption is that women's sexual problems manifest as defense and withdrawal; it would be strengthened by also addressing problems caused by socio-cultural, political, economic, relational, psychological, or medical discounting of women's positive sexual energy.