She remembers giving in gently and silently. That evening, Céline (who did not want her real name published) felt her partner's hands brush against her. The couple, together for eight years, had, in her words, "frequent and normal" sex and were the parents of two children, including a baby. Exhausted by family life, the young mother, then 27, did not want to respond to her partner's advances. She wished only for a few hours of sleep.

"He insisted nicely, tried a few moves, thinking he could spark some excitement in me," said Céline, now in her 40s. "I repeated that I was exhausted, that I didn't have the energy for sex. He didn't say anything and left our bedroom sulking. We never talked about it, and from that point on, I started giving in."

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