Clarification of women's sexual response during long-term relationships is needed. I have presented a model that more accurately depicts the responsive component of women's desire and the underlying motivational forces that trigger it. The variety of arousal/orgasm responses is also acknowledged. The purpose is both to prevent diagnosing dysfunction when the response is simply different from the traditional human sex-response cycle and to more clearly define subgroups of dysfunction. The latter would appear to be necessary before progress in newer treatment modalities, including pharmacological, can be made.