Machel Hunt

Bedroom Death: Experts Say Trauma, Shame Often Behind Libido Gaps for Black Gay Couples

Spring is known as the season for love for good reason. Everything around us is thawing out and firing up, including our moods thanks to a springtime burst of dopamine scientists say often sets the stage for romance. But for every couple that begins a five-alarm love affair in the spring, experts say there are many more that find themselves in dry dock.

Call it libido gap, a dead bedroom, or the more clinical term “sexual desire discrepancy.” By any name, the shortfall between how much physical intimacy two partners want is one of the biggest sources of tension in relationships.

“It’s a lot more common than most people will discuss,” says Machel Hunt, an Atlanta psychosexual therapist and one of two experts who spoke to The Reckoning about getting back that lovin’ feelin’.

The cause of a libido gap can be physical, such as hormone imbalances or other conditions that lower desire. Other times the cause is mental, including stress and a history of subtle sexual trauma experts say can be particularly common among gay men.

Bedroom Death: Experts Say Trauma, Shame Often Behind Libido Gaps for Black Gay Couples

Atlanta Therapist Machel Hunt Is On A Mission To Get Black Gay Men Into Therapy

Black gay relationship counselor and psychosexual therapist Machel Hunt tells The Reckoning that he is “on a mission to have every Black gay man in Atlanta in therapy.”

Atlanta Therapist Machel Hunt Is On A Mission To Get Black Gay Men Into Therapy