Libido & Intimacy

Questions about desire, comfort, and intimacy can be difficult to search for when the available language feels either clinical or oversimplified. You may want a definition, background on a life transition, or a way to begin a conversation about something personal. This hub is intended to make those routes easier to find without assumptions about your relationships or priorities.

Dedicated articles on desire, dryness, and discomfort are planned rather than available here today. The background reading below covers contraception and menopause terminology. Those articles may help with context, but they do not provide a complete explanation of an individual intimacy concern.

Choose Birth Control if your question involves a contraceptive method. Menopause & Beyond offers a life-stage route, and Talking to Your Doctor focuses on organizing questions for a consultation. You can read privately, skip material that is not relevant, and use the glossary for unfamiliar words. The purpose of this overview is to help you locate information and language that fits your question, rather than suggest that there is a single normal level of desire or a universal hormonal answer.

Available guides

• Hormonal Birth Control: The Pill, IUD, Patch, and More
• Perimenopause vs. Menopause: What’s the Difference?

Explore related topics

• Birth Control
• Menopause & Beyond
• Talking to Your Doctor

Planned reading

These topics are being prepared and are not published guides yet.

• Changes in sexual desire
• Vaginal dryness: understanding the terminology
• Preparing to discuss pain or discomfort