GoodGuys2GreatMen Video Podcast

Sexless Marriage Advice For Men (That Counsellors Don’t Tell You)

Dan Dore & Steve Horsmon • 5m 45s • 7 August 2023

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Sexless Marriage Advice For Men (That Counsellors Don’t Tell You)
Video overview: If you’re in a sexless marriage and feel like your wife is holding intimacy back from you, it’s easy to think counselling is the next logical step. This video helps you see what has to change in you first, so you don’t walk into marriage counselling with frustration, pressure, and fear running the show.

Being in a sexless marriage can mess with your head.

You can be a good man, a faithful man, a hard-working man, a man who loves his wife and wants the marriage to work, and still feel rejected, angry, lonely, ashamed, and completely confused.

You start wondering what happened to her.

Why doesn’t she want me?

Why does she avoid touch?

Why does she act like sex is a chore, a threat, or something she can keep away from me?

And if you’ve been stuck in that pain long enough, you may start thinking marriage counselling is the obvious answer.

That makes sense.

You want someone else in the room. You want a professional to hear both sides. You want your wife to understand how much this hurts. You want her to see that intimacy matters, sex matters, affection matters, and that you can’t just live forever as roommates who share bills and logistics.

I understand that.

But there is something we see over and over again with the men we coach.

If you walk into marriage counselling from frustration, fear, resentment, and desperation, it often doesn’t go the way you hoped.

Instead of creating closeness, it can become another place where you try to get your wife to admit she’s wrong, broken, withholding, unfair, or responsible for your pain. She feels accused. You feel unheard. The counsellor tries to slow everything down. And now the sexless marriage has become even heavier, more clinical, and more loaded.

That’s not what you want.

Before you try to fix the marriage in front of a counsellor, you have to look at the man who is walking into that room.

Are you calm?

Are you clear?

Are you able to talk about sex without making it sound like a demand, a complaint, or a court case?

Are you able to hear your wife’s experience without immediately defending yourself?

Are you able to want intimacy without needing it to prove your worth?

Those questions matter.

Because a lot of men in sexless marriages are not just missing sex. They are missing confidence. They are missing self-trust. They are missing a deep sense of being okay inside themselves, regardless of how their wife responds tonight.

That doesn’t mean the lack of sex doesn’t matter.

It absolutely matters.

A marriage without affection, intimacy, and sexual connection can become a very painful place for a man. It can make you feel unwanted, invisible, undesirable, and trapped. I’m not here to tell you to stop caring about sex or pretend you don’t have needs.

But I am telling you that if your confidence depends on your wife’s desire, you are in trouble.

Because then every “not tonight” becomes a verdict on your masculinity.

Every cold shoulder becomes proof that you’re not enough.

Every rejected advance becomes a wound you carry into the next conversation.

And over time, your desire starts to feel like pressure. Your sadness starts to feel like blame. Your attempts to connect start to feel heavy, needy, or unsafe.

That is the part most men don’t see.

They think, “She is withholding intimacy from me.”

Sometimes, there may be truth in that. Sometimes a woman does use sex, affection, or emotional closeness as a way to protect herself, punish, avoid, or stay in control.

But even then, your best response is not to become a frustrated prosecutor.

Your best response is to become a grounded man.

A man who can tell the truth without attacking.

A man who can say, “I miss being close to you,” without making her responsible for fixing his self-worth.

A man who can ask hard questions and handle hard answers.

A man who can own his desire without being ruled by it.

That is the kind of man who has a much better chance in counselling, because he is not trying to use the counsellor to win the argument. He is trying to understand reality, lead himself, and create something better.

This episode is about what needs to be addressed before marriage counselling can truly help.

It’s about the inner game.

It’s about your emotional steadiness, your ability to tolerate rejection, your relationship with your own desire, and your willingness to stop making your wife the source of your confidence.

Most men skip that part.

They want the marriage fixed. They want the sex fixed. They want her fixed. They want someone to explain to her why this matters so she finally gets it.

But if you haven’t learned how to be strong, warm, honest, and calm in the face of rejection, then even the best counselling room can become another battlefield.

I want better for you than that.

I want you to walk into any hard conversation as a man who knows who he is. A man who can say what he wants clearly. A man who can listen without collapsing. A man who can lead intimacy from confidence instead of hunger.

That does not mean you accept a sexless marriage forever.

It means you stop responding to it from the weakest, most wounded part of you.

Because when you become more grounded, everything changes. You stop chasing. You stop sulking. You stop making sex the only measure of whether you’re loved. You start creating emotional safety, self-respect, and clearer leadership.

And yes, that can begin to change the way your wife feels around you.

This video will help you see why marriage counselling may not be the first move. The first move may be learning how to become the kind of man who can handle the truth, lead the conversation, and create connection without pressure.

That’s where real change begins.

Not with forcing her into a room.

With you becoming steady enough to lead what happens next.

Get steady before the hard conversation

If you’re in a sexless marriage and feel frustrated, rejected, or desperate for answers, we can help you find your footing first. Come talk with a coach and start learning how to lead with confidence, honesty, and calm strength.

Talk to a coach →

About the Hosts

Steve Horsmon & Dan Dore | Certified Professional Men’s Coach

Steve Horsmon and Dan Dore have spent over a decade supporting good men who are confused, frustrated, and afraid that their marriages and families are falling apart with no idea what to do about it. We've both experienced the same emotions that you're going through now. We know what it feels like to try all the mainstream try harder, be nicer advice while watching things continue to get worse. And that's exactly why Goodguys2Greatmen exists. Since 2012, we've coached thousands of men through some of the hardest periods of their lives; marriage breakdown, emotional distance, sexless relationships, fears of divorce or separation. We focus on practical solutions to help you survive some of the most challenging and painful experiences that a man can go through. This podcast is for men who are done waiting for their life and relationships to improve and are ready to make some bold decisions so that you become more calm and confident and start moving toward what you really want.