A study published early 2009 in the Journal of Sex Medicine suggests that dyspareunia (or painful intercourse) in women should be reclassified as a pain disorder and not as a sexual dysfunction.

The research focused on two groups of women – those with dyspareunia and those without. Both groups were asked to remember lists of words which were divided into four categories:

• words related to sex
• words related to pain
• pleasant words not related to sex
• unpleasant words not related to pain

The study reveals that women in both groups remember sex words more easily than pain words. However, women with dyspareunia reveals to wrongly remember pain words such as “pain” and “painful,” which were actually not on the list.

The researchers conclude that pain stimuli capture the attention of women with dyspareunia more easily, and these remain in their memory longer.

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Live Science