當女性逐漸產生性興奮時，她的性器官就開始膨脹，也就是說性器官充血。然後，陰道在10-20秒鐘內開始潤滑。   When the female becomes sexually excited, her sex organs become tumescent, i.e. engorged with blood. The vagina then begins to lubricate within 10-20 seconds.

這種狀況表明這個女子的性反應還沒有啟動，也就是說，還沒有進入性興奮期。所以，她顯然還沒有做好性交的準備。對於這種情況，最好告訴男女雙方把性交延後和/或繼續進行其他方式的做愛活動。另一方面，如果缺乏性興奮涉及到雙方的關係障礙，或者有其他心理方面的原因，則預示著進一步的會診和需要做某種類型的性治療。然後，療程將依每一個個體的病例而定。

但是，在絕經期後的年長婦女，她們的陰道潤滑液逐漸缺乏。不管怎樣，對於一個女性來說，膨脹不足並不像其性伴一樣而需要感到擔憂。畢竟，不像陰莖疲軟的男性那樣，陰道無潤滑的女性如果決定進行性交的話，她仍然能夠容易地開始性交。有兩種改善陰道潤滑液缺乏的方法：

This shows that  the woman’s sexual response has not begun, i.e. it has not entered the excitement phase. Therefore she is obviously not ready for coitus. In this case the couple is well advised to postpone it and/or move on to other forms of lovemaking. On the other hand, if the lack of excitement is related to problems in the relationship, or if it has other psychological causes, a more thorough diagnosis and some form of sex therapy may be indicated. The course of treatment will then depend on each individual case.

However, vaginal lubrication may also become inadequate in older women after the menopause. In any case, for a woman inadequate tumescence is not necessarily as upsetting as it would be for her partner. After all, unlike a man with a limp penis, a woman with an unlubricated vagina can still easily begin coitus, if she so chooses. There are two ways of improving the condition:

1. A woman can use artificial lubricants and thus make coitus still possible. Needless to say, such lubricants should always be water-soluble.
    
2. Recently, the pharmaceutical industry has begun looking for a drug that acts on the brain and stimulates sexual desire in both females and males. If needed, and in combination with other drugs, it then could also improve tumescence.