Ask Doctor Betty

Dear Dr. Dodson,

I need your view on something. I am thinking about holding back my 15 yr old daughter, I'll call Sarah, from attending a 2 week summer camp because of something that recently happened between a friend and her. I recently walked into my daughters room while she was masturbating. Sarah was quite ashamed about it and started to unload. She confessed that an older girlfriend of 17 had just introduced her to her 1st real orgasm during several recent sleepovers.

Dr. Betty,

I don't believe much in any "diagnosis" but the vaginismus that developed, probably after sexual abuse, just does not seem to clear. In spite of "practicing" with vibrators etc. Clitoral orgasm is fine. I have the feeling that the condition is both physical and has an emotional companion :fear.

Dr. Betty,

My wife and I are newly married. Although we enjoy intercourse a few times a week, she LOVES to masturbate. It gives her a different kind of orgasm she says and it is very strong. She needs to orgasm often and masturbation enables this. She started doing it very young with a girlfriend and it just grew on her. Although she has tried, we both agreed that there's no changing her now and so she should just enjoy life's simple pleasures.

She got used to masturbating around lunchtime everyday with her roomate while she was in college and so later continued while working from home for the past two years.

Hello Betty,

Thank you for being you. You have influenced me so much. I want to ask you about genital shaving. I probably have an average amount of hair in the pelvic region. I do have some hair that grows around the outer parts of my lips in between my legs. I enjoy being natural but guys seem to want me to shave. I will trim and take care of any wildness but I hate shaving. I have really sensitive skin. I always get terrible razor burn and uncomfortable itching.

My husband & I both have genital herpes. He is asymptomatic (that is why I contracted it because he was unaware of even having it!) & I have a break out once a yr.the size of my pinky nail. This has never hindered our lives and we have 2 beautiful children.

We entered the swing lifestyle about 6 months ago. As moral people, we both agreed before any sexual penetration we would tell the couple what we have & let them decide for themselves. We are not into "booty calls;" but rather want an ongoing friendship AND a sexual relationship with another couple. People we can converse with & go out to dinner with, etc. We have articulated this in our profiles on the 2 swing websites we belong to. People have responded to us and have genuinely liked us upon meeting but when we told them that we have herpes it was a deal breaker (the men didn't care but the women did).

Dear Betty,

Last time I had sex, I realised something - or rather, I noticed it the day after. My inner thighs were bruised (most likely from staying too long in the missionary position), which was quite painful, as I'm a curvy girl, my thighs touch when I walk. It's not the first time I've been bruised this way - in fact, it happens almost every time I've had sex.

Betty,

After two hernia operations I have a "dead spot" with no, or diminished sensation in my pubic area. It is in that triangular pubic area above my penis and most of the sensation loss is on my right side. Everything else functions normally, but the sensation just isn't the same during intercourse. It's not too big a deal, but after 4 years will the sensation ever get back to normal?

Hi Betty!

I am surfing around and searching if there still is any help for me. I am 52, bipolar, and taking Effexor(375mg) and Lamotrigine(200mg) since over 4 years. My condition has really improved and I am living a normal life now. Except ... for what has become such an obsessive subject for me ... the loss of orgasm. If I did'nt have any desire, it would be OK. Regularly I go through phases where this desire for orgasm drives me litteraly crazy!!!

My lover says that her husband can tell if she has had sex with a different man because she does not feel the same when having intercourse. That she is rather loose according to husband. My lover states that I'm much larger so would this have made a difference?

Dear Betty

I think your advice & comments are wonderful! It's great to hear your straight-forward (pardon the pun!) thoughts & opinions on the subjects of sex and masturbation. I wish you were on the home page to ever newspaper in the country... and I'm hoping you can help me with my problem.