Are compatible sex drives necessary for a healthy relationship?

I think so. I've been in relationships where sex drives did not match up and it caused major issues.

Major disparities (one having a drive and the other doesn't, like my marriage) do cause problems, there's no denying it.

I think in most cases both people in a couple should have similar sex drives. If they don't resentment on both sides builds and I can't see how lovers can get along when one is always needing sex and the other is always trying to avoid it.

The worst my husband and I have ever gotten along is when I was on a drug which basically killed my sex drive (Depo Provera) and a few other times when my drive was very low. I usually have a very high sex drive and so most of the time we are compatible, but when we had issues it was like the 600 lb gorilla in the room and negatively effected our relationship at the time. We healed with our drives were synced and we were having sex very frequently again.

Compatible sex drives are absolutely necessary for healthy relationships in my opinion. This is just my thoughts on staying in monogamous relationships because that's all I have experience with, but I can speak from experience on having mismatched drives and having it affect the relationship. I have always had a relatively low sex drive. My last boyfriend had a much higher drive than I did. It wasn't fair to me to always be pressured into having sex when I didn't want to, and we were mismatched because he wanted to have more sex than I did. It caused a lot of other problems because we would get together, he would try, I wouldn't be in the mood, and it would literally sour the entire weekend sometimes.

So I think that sex drives need to be compatible in long term relationships. Not being so can lead to a lot of resentment on both sides.

I know I have a higher sex drive then my present partner but I work things through with toys. If he sees me trying to get off, he will sometimes choose another toy for me but hopefully he will just join me.
It is over three years together and we have our rhythms........

I definitely think it is high on the list of important things. My boyfriend has more sex drive swings than I do. When he has a high sex drive we are usually much happier, get into less arguments, and such. When it goes lower I feel more clingy and we both get on each other nerves.

I think so because when one person always wants sex more then the other it makes things akward and puts strains on a relationship.