A Husband’s View: Sex and intimacy after loss of a child

by Gary

Males are different psychologically and emotionally. My wife and I lost our 17-year-old son after he died by suicide on Nov. 7, 2019. The grief is overwhelming, strangling, choking, at times.

I’ll not attempt to convey the grief. One understands, or one does not.

The intimacy of coitus with my wife is the deepest of (the many of) my connections with her, encompassing my love, my emotional and psychological attachment, reaffirmation, on every possible plane you could imagine.

Males are always subconsciously tense, on guard. The old stereotype complaint, his falling asleep after making love? Criticized, some women never understanding it’s the male basking in that rare, totally chill, beloved absolute state of inner calm. Which only his ‘she’ can induce for him; no another.

Most can never understand it but should cherish it.

So how does this loss of intimacy impact the male, after the loss of a child?

A good male can completely understand the lover’s withdrawal… yet the incessant need for a male is to connect sexually. It is critical for a male’s healthy psychological state of mind, remaining emotionally grounded to his soul mate.

Remember that he, too, is in a psychological uproar, cast adrift, cut loose, terrified of losing more than the child, but his most profound love, also: you.

What is said of men? They are ‘the forgotten grievers’?

Sex is neither right nor wrong, after the loss of a child… just different, I suspect, as it relates to women. It is absurd to go from incredible sex life to self-induced orgasm because your wife has emotionally abandoned you.

Yes, I use the word ‘abandoned’ here correctly, as the fear and uncertainty of the relationship grows in magnitude as the weeks pass without intimacy, re-connecting sex. I find myself questioning everything, suspecting everything, a perverse, negative feedback loop self-perpetuating itself to fantasy proportion. The abandonment is ‘perceived’ to be true, eventually.

Deal with it, as that’s how your spouse is going to see it in the long term, even if his perception is wrong… it will become his new reality and belief.

The woman who mentioned that she would down some alcohol in order to ‘get through’ the ordeal of sex with her husband? A very intelligent woman and I’m glad they remained married. She was neither right, nor wrong to engage in coitus while not in the mood: it was what he needed to stay connected, grounded, loved, not silently grieving both the loss of his child and then the emotional loss of his true love.

Most women in society today are, I believe, unlikely to understand

We are different, we ‘flawed’ males: young and ignorant women are quick to judge, jumping to degrade the male simply because of the differing ‘right brain, left brain’.

It is much easier, at times, to ridicule, than to attempt to understand, or simply ‘accept’. Everyone I know has seemingly mentioned their concern, citing the high level of divorce among married couples when a child completes suicide. If a detailed study were ever completed as to the underlying issues of the high divorce rate, and assuming enough introspective males would be honest, I believe (generally speaking, of course) the ‘surface’ cause is lack of intimacy over a prolonged time span.

Most female society (and lying males) would likely be quick to condemn the man as a sub-human beast, rather than undertake, or attempt to undertake, the acceptance of the deep emotional complexity resulting in psychological chaos among males. Said males eventually fall into the realm of false thinking and, if allowed to continue for ‘X’ length of time, near psychotic thought processes regarding the partner and the continuation of the marriage.

If the male feels that he is losing the woman he loves because she ‘refuses’ (as he comes to wrongfully believe it) to see to his emotional needs, connection via coitus (and yes, our emotional needs ARE at times driven by sexual contact) eventually that woman who continues to remain disengaged from her husband has a high chance of living alone, likely with several cats, until such time as she decides she wants to start looking for a ‘new & improved’ model.

Yes, you have, through no fault of yours, validated his wrongful perceptions which will become his new reality. I know I express myself poorly, but what I have said here could be coined as ‘male truth’ yet be completely ignored by so many viewers who would rather hold disdain for the male viewpoint, or question the love of the male for his partner, or assume a low I.Q. of the male.

In point of fact, who gives a rat’s *ss if the partner understands it or not? If he needs it, give it! My God, that’s what a good person does for his love throughout his life: whatever pleases his wife.

Whether male or female, how utterly pompous to disregard their needs, simply because ‘disdain’ of it. I believe the woman/mother, lost in the loss of her child, fails to see the male isolated, now grieving through loss of child AND loss of life love. And the emotional safety doors and pain gates slowly start closing, sliding into place, slowly blocking her out.

A man feels blocked out.

And the doors grow stronger, the walls higher.

We are males. We are different. Accept us for who and what we are, not what you would wish us to be.

Note from Anne Moss: I think it’s important to understand the father’s and mother’s needs after loss of a child to any cause of death. My grief facilitator told our group that men and women actually do grieve the same. The only difference studies showed was sexual interest after the loss. Below, a story mostly from women on the subject.

Sex and intimacy after loss of a child