Sometimes a couple faces difficulty in performing a penile-vaginal penetrative sexual intercourse just after their marriage.
The causes could be both male and female.
In males it could be mainly due to performance pressure leading to weak or no erection or may be because of lack of sexual knowledge.
In females fear of pain following penetration of penis or any foreign object is the main reason; it is also seen that there is sometimes shyness out of which they might not enjoy genital exposure to their partner, tighten their thigh muscles, show low tolerance to touch.
Non-consummation causes great feelings of failure which may present after many years of unsuccessful attempts that have then been abandoned as repeated failure causes more suffering.
Non-consummation is one of the causes of infertility. Many ignorant couple suffering from this difficulty, who do not seek medical advice on time land up in having an IVF procedure even when there is no valid reason for doing so.