Sexual Skills, Sexual Responsiveness, and Sexual Mindfulness: Components of Great Sexual Experiences

Sexual satisfaction is important to individual well-being and relationship satisfaction, making it a relevant research topic for researchers and relationship therapists. While ample research exists examining which factors affect sexual dysfunctions, there is much less research about sexual experiences circumventing functional or satisfactory sex and transcending into great and extraordinary sexual experiences; the current study adds to sexuality literature by asking participants questions about the factors involved in “great,” “good,” and “bad” sex, and the differences between those experiences. Through in-depth interviews, participants reported sexual skills (either their partner’s or combined skill), sexual responsiveness, and sexual mindfulness as characteristics of great sex. Women reported body image concerns thwarted their ability to remain present during sex. This study contributes to the scant existing literature on the components of great sex.