YOUR MARILAL HEALTH/THE SUPER SEX RESPONSE MODEL: AFTERGLOW
The old term for this phase was resolution. One wife referred to it as “restitution.” Prior sexual perspectives saw this phase as essentially a complete reversal of the whole process of the sexual response. Masters and Johnson saw this as “phase-specific ,” a retreat of all prior physiological changes occurring only at the end of the cycle.
The thousand couples did not substantiate this phase. Sometimes the “sex flush,” the reddening of the skin in the facial cheeks and upper chest, would go away quickly and sometimes it would linger on. Instead of a feeling of settling down, some spouses reported a “glowing,” almost a “suspension in time” preceding a readiness for another experience. If we expect “resolution,” a resolving of all of this energy buildup that was talked about so much in the first perspectives, we will probably experience it. If we expect to
“I never thought of sharing too much after we came. It was a whole new thing. We would lie together and glow. It was like E.T., but the light was not just a heart light. It was all over. We learned to really enjoy this period instead of lying there waiting for it to pass so we could go to sleep,” reported one of the husbands at five-year follow-up. His comments illustrate the importance of not being “phase-specific,” of turning in instead of out for our sexual reference points. Enjoying the full-body response of our partner during intimate relationships does not have to be-preparatory; it can happen at any time.
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