Withholding Sex - Not all intimacy anorexics withhold sex, but most intimacy anorexics withhold intimacy during sex when they do have it.

By far, of all the behaviors that are characteristics of intimacy anorexia, withholding of sex is probably the easiest to measure, and at the very least, most obvious. Withholding sex from your spouse is avoiding having sex, sabotaging sexual encounters, or not connecting emotionally during sex.

You can tell whether you are the spouse or the anorexic by observing the last time you had sex.

Example: “Sometimes weeks, sometimes months, would go by without sex and my spouse was mostly blaming me for us not having sex. I was always ready because I figured I had to take what I could get.“