Sex File: My girlfriend wants to have sex in the shower 

When it comes to shower sex, the optics may be great, but the reality sucks. Picture: Stock image 

Q. My new girlfriend wants to have sex in the shower. I know it's something she did a lot with previous boyfriends, so it makes me feel as though I am on some sort of conveyor belt. Apart from that, I find the experience uncomfortable. I can't 'perform' in this way.

A. Your inability to perform in a shower is no reflection on your sexual function. Sex in the shower is uncomfortable; so uncomfortable that most people only ever try it twice — once to see what it is like and one more time to see if it was really that bad. When you are in an environment that you don't enjoy or that makes you feel uneasy, your priority is getting out of there, not having sex. In that situation, feeling under pressure to perform is psychologically stressful and this has physical implications.