While hanging out with his college roommates, Peter (not his real name) realized he felt differently about sex than other heterosexual men.
“I’ve never been somebody who was interested in pornography, but I’d laugh along with their jokes,” said Peter, now 44, who is British. “Of course I never mentioned that … as a man, you’d be kicked out of the herd.”
As he developed “proper, serious relationships” with women, Peter discovered he didn’t have the sexual drive many of his partners did.
“I would make excuses around getting tired or feeling stressed, that kind of thing,” he said. “It wasn’t an issue with attraction to my partner. It just didn’t enter my mind to initiate sex.”
In 2021, Peter saw an ad recruiting male volunteers for a new study on
hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD. Researchers planned to inject the study’s participants with kisspeptin —a naturally occurring sexual hormone — to see if it increased their sex drive. Kisspeptin plays a key role in reproduction; without adequate levels of the hormone children do not go through puberty, for example.
In a long-term, committed relationship with a woman he says has a higher sexual appetite, Peter signed up, intrigued by the thought that a biological imbalance might help explain his behavior.
In the week after the final session, Peter said, something amazing occurred.
“All of a sudden, I wanted to initiate intimacy. I can only presume it was driven not by my mind remembering something, but my body wanting something,” he said. “I did initiate sex more and it improved things with my partner incredibly.”