Sex File: Why won't my girlfriend show me her body when we're intimate? 

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I've been in a relationship with a gorgeous woman for six months - we're in our 20s. We have a good sex life, but she has been very shy in showing her body. She prefers the room to be completely dark and she is always hiding under the duvet. What can I do to make her more comfortable being naked?

Your girlfriend is not at all unusual. It is a depressing truth that many women are unhappy about their size or shape. In a study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, psychologist Diann Ackard asked 3,627 women whether they were happy with their bodies. A paltry 39.8% were found to have positive body image. The rest, like your girlfriend, were dissatisfied with one or more aspects of their body. Like your girlfriend, they didn't like getting undressed in front of their sexual partners and they preferred having sex with the lights off.