Historically the enjoyment and pleasure of sexual relations were thought to be unhealthy for women. As one example, masturbation and sexual excitement were thought to lead to insanity. Suppression of sexual feelings could be achieved by removing the clitoris; clitoridectomies were performed in the Americas until the late 1930s and in many areas of Africa to the present day. Female sexuality has been critically underrated. In 1953, a report published by Michael Kinsey caused a major controversy, as it showed that many of the 5,500 women interviewed for the study actually enjoyed having a sexual life. These findings challenged the widely held belief that women's role in lovemaking was to satisfy the husband. The biological framework in which sexuality is studied, and its medicalization, dictates that the evaluation of sexuality during sexuality assessment has been restricted to physical performance, without considering factors such as love, passion, freedom from fear, emotional involvement, and cooperative contraception.
In the medical context, erectile function is considered paramount in the study of male sexuality, with many studies on impotence. It was hypothesized that the clitoris may suffer from the same vascular anomalies as the penis. However, the number of studies on female sexual dysfunction and its relationship to chronic diseases, medications, or lifestyle is dwarfed by studies on male sexual dysfunction.
