frigidity, in psychology, the inability of a woman to attain orgasm during sexual intercourse. In popular, nonmedical usage the word has been used traditionally to describe a variety of behaviours, ranging from general coldness of manner or lack of interest in physical affection to aversion to the act of sexual intercourse. Because of the derogatory connotations that have become associated with the term frigidity, it has been replaced in the vocabulary of sex therapists by the general term hypogyneismus, the inability of a woman to obtain sexual satisfaction under otherwise appropriate circumstances.
The lay term frigidity encompasses three distinct problems recognized by sex therapists: inability to experience a sexual response of any kind; ability to achieve sexual arousal only with great difficulty (hyposexuality); and the inability to achieve orgasm (anorgasmia). Failure of sexual response in females—as in males—may have specific physical sources; such is the case of women who experience vaginal spasms (vaginismus) or pain (dyspareunia) during attempted intercourse. Likewise, female sexual response may be impaired by purely psychological causes, triggered by emotional conflicts outside the sexual relationship or by anxiety and other stresses within the relationship. See also sexual dysfunction.