The history of 'Female Sexual Dysfunction' as a mental disorder in the 20th century.
OBJECTIVE
To provide an overview of conceptualizations of female sexual problems, and 'Female Sexual Dysfunction' in particular, throughout the 20th century, especially in relation to psychiatry and mental illness.


RESULTS
In the past 15 years, there has been an increase in both medical and public discourse about 'Female Sexual Dysfunction'. I discuss a variety of literature sources dealing with female sexual problems, where these are understood variously as problems of developmental psychopathology, as technical phenomena to be resolved through education, or as medical problems to be addressed pharmaceutically.


CONCLUSIONS
The stigma of mental illness shapes much recent discussion of female sexual problems, as does the legacy of the postwar critique of psychodynamic psychiatry.
Angel
Katherine
K
Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. k.angel@warwick.ac.uk
D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000266:history; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000266:history; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy
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