As we were cleaning up, she thanked me repeatedly, saying that she had never felt an orgasm like that. When she was younger and used to masturbate, she experienced little orgasms, but nothing like that one. She told me that the session was very helpful and wanted so much to continue. She said, “I can’t wait to go home and explore with Andrew. You’ve really given me something to work on in our marriage. I feel like our relationship has hope.”

Although at first I felt ambivalent about the session at best, I came to understand that I was performing a sexual service for these people and that they were both grateful. The state of their relationship also appeared to be improving.

Our next session was for both members of the couple. The two of them began simultaneously, telling me how important the last sessions were for them and that they felt much closer to each other now. They had more in common as they shared in their experiences. They also said that the instructions that I provided Julie were extremely helpful, and that they spent the entire last week practicing them at home. They said that their sex life had never been better.

I asked them how they were experimenting, and Julie answered, “Just the way you showed me in your office last time. I sit on the edge of the bed with my legs spread. Then Andrew rubs my clitoris with one hand while massaging the inside of my vagina with the other. I usually have an orgasm within minutes. Then he takes out his penis and masturbates in a cup that I hold over the tip. That also takes a few minutes. It has made us so much happier together.”

I noticed that Andrew was masturbating exactly the way he had in my office, that he was replaying that experience with Julie and that she was imitating our session exactly. I thought to myself that this couple might have some kind of “sexual disability” and that their lack of creativity and paucity of experience might have given them a developmental disorder when it came to sexuality. I was experiencing a lot of transference then, as I felt that I had a tremendous power with these two, who would do what I taught them, exactly the way that I taught it. I felt a rush, thinking that I had the power to “mold” their sexuality, but I also felt burdened by the responsibility.