From later context it's clear that they had sex and she was an active participant.

>“Good night,” she murmured.

>He did not answer, except to continue to caress her. He did not say good night until she had become supple to his gentle, seductive entreaties.

-Kate Chopin, The Awakening

This passage is a sex scene. Later in the book she describes a woman in labor, and does so in such a circumspect way that I didn't realize she was talking about childbirth until almost an entire chapter later, at which point I had to go back and reread the section.

Unlike Joyce, Chopin otherwise wrote plain and straightforward prose. This is just the standards of the time for discussing taboo topics.

> check out his letters to Nora

Or don't if you want to save yourself the trauma.