The Fundamentals of Sex

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The sleep disorder that can lead to sexual assault allegations is "sexsomnia."

"Sexsomnia" is a sexual unconscious behavior ranging from sexual vocalization to masturbation to rape.

There have been lawsuits with cases involving minors, intra-conjugal rape, and assault of family members.

Risk factors for sexsomnia: sleep deprivation, shift work, stress, alcohol consumption, sexual frustration.

Mary has been dating Matthew for a few weeks, but they haven’t had sex yet. She would like to save herself for marriage. Mary and Matthew have decided to spend a weekend together at the ocean, so they have reserved a room with two separate beds at a hotel with a beautiful ocean view. After a romantic dinner, they cuddle a little, say goodnight, and then go to their separate beds.

In the middle of the night, Mary wakes up with Matthew fully aroused on top of her, trying to force himself on her. Stunned, Mary is paralyzed. After a few seconds, she whispers, “No, honey, no, please stop, don’t do that”, but Matthew doesn’t seem to hear anything. He is much stronger than she and forces her legs open. Horrified, she gathers all her strength, screams, and strongly pushes him away. Matthew groans, goes back to his bed, moans as he seems to masturbate, then starts snoring.

Mary cannot sleep the rest of the night, worrying that Matthew will try to rape her again.

In the morning, when Matthew wakes up and looks over at Mary’s bed, he sees that Mary is awake. With a big smile, he gets out of his bed, comes to Mary’s bed to kiss her, saying, “Good morning, sweetheart.” Mary, still in shock, doesn’t allow Matthew to come near her.

When Matthew asks her what's going on, Mary tells him how angry and disappointed she is with him because she thought she could trust him, she thought he would respect her, but he didn’t. Matthew doesn’t understand.

Mary explains that he tried to rape her........

© Psychology Today