Katayoun Daneshvarian and Waheeda Khan**

*Research Scholar, Professor, Deptt of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

National Seminar on Aggression and Violence: challenges for Social Well- being , March 17 – 18, 2010

Background Marriage is concerned with moving from a dependency relationship with one’s parents to a peer relationship with one’s spouse, this is the major focus of the marital relationship in large, dynamic terms. Sexuality and its manifestation constitute some of the most complex of human behavior Sexual dysfunction is more prevalent in women than in men but our knowledge of female sexuality is less developed than male sexuality. However, several researches have been carried out in this field in Iran e.g. Mirtaki (2004) reported that only 8.5% of women had experienced orgasm in their entire lives, according to Sadeghi (1997) 82% of women filed for divorce due to dissatisfied sexual relations and 61.4% of women were divorced because of their unhappy sexual relations. Therefore, the aim of this research was to study the issue of marital satisfaction and sexual dysfunction among Iranian married women. Materials and Methods: 100 married Iranian women in the age range of 25-50 years (mean age 36 years) were administered 47 item Persian version of Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale (Olson, ). The Scale has 12-categories i.e., idealistic distortion, marital satisfaction, personality issues, communication, conflict resolution, financial management, leisure activities, sexual relationship, children and parenting, family and friends. 19 item Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI) developed by Rosen and Brown (2000) was also administrated to find the sexually healthy and dysfunctional women groups in the sample. Results and Discussion: The two groups of sexually dysfunctional and healthy women compared on 12 dimensions of marital satisfaction, the t-test results showed that mean scores of healthy women were significantly greater as compared to sexually dysfunctional women on overall marital satisfaction as well its 12 dimensions, indicating that marital satisfaction is dependent on healthier sexual functioning in women. The present research highlights the problems in a relationship, differing sexual tastes, and unequal power dynamics, to elaborate some women may enjoy sexual activity but may fear its accompanying vulnerability. Women have been subordinated socially and economically by men for centuries and, though they now occupy a relatively more equal position in society, this lingering inequality may make it difficult for women to feel comfortable and assertive with sexual partners, even more, domestic violence and other forms of abuse within a relationship may lead to sexual problems.