Nicole McNichols

And what newer research is showing also feeds into what's known as your sexual style, which is going to impact your partner's experience as well.

Okay, so there are three different sexual styles.

One, the first that we can talk about is sexual inhibition, right?

So that's kind of what I'm talking about with people who have body image issues and kind of feel like they're not comfortable really showing their bodies, being present in their bodies.

Obviously that's going to lead to a partner who feels apprehensive and it's going to pick up on those cues that the person is anxious about their bodies.

And that's going to compromise the quality of their sex life.

Then you have people who are what we call a sexually harmonious style.

That's kind of what it sounds like.

They are

more kind of comfortable in their skin.

They are not shy during sex, showing different body parts.

These are the people that don't really have any trouble having sex with the lights on, enjoy their bodies, are not really being dragged under the ocean waves of this guilt and shame about their body.

And then we have the third one, which is called sexual obsession, right?

So you have a sexually obsessive style.

And this one's a little interesting because it can kind of go both ways.

So the name is what it suggests, right?

You're either, you know, essentially you're really into your body, right?

You are like especially kind of like into what your body looks like and what your genitals look like.

in terms of the impact that this can have on your sex life sometimes it can lead to sort of a very it can have a negative effect because it's leading to sort of a very performative approach to sex right and so you're having sex like a ton because it's just you know making you kind of feel like it's all about that performance

But sometimes it can have absolutely no negative effect at all.