Someone named M, writing in Swarthmore College’s of The Daily Gazette offers a pretty cogent list of “Things I Hate to Hear People Say About Sex”
1. Sex is healthy.
Is that really the point? Spinach is healthy, sex is fun. Yes, there are about a hundred and one studies that describe the various health benefits of an active sex life, but very few show unique advantages to having sex as opposed to, say, dancing, or anything else that gets your body moving in a way that you enjoy. I was going to make a crack about pickup lines based on this premise, but really, “hey, baby, let’s reduce our risk of heart disease” is about as sexy as anything else you’ll hear at a frat party. Note: what is medically well-established is the link between prostate stimulation and a reduced risk of prostate cancer – so probe away, gentlemen, or ask your partner to do it for you. Don’t forget lube.
Other items on the list are equally nicely stated. I could quote the whole shebang if I quoted another word so go read it for yourself.
Submitted by 1979 (not verified) on Fri, 2008-02-29 12:58.
As is my wont, I came to see the view but since the reCaptcha words are "shave" "do" I felt I had to comment: "Please" "don't" I like you the way you are :)
Submitted by 1979 (not verified) on Fri, 2008-02-29 15:13.
It's a good article and I feel like it's getting at what we so often fail to mention in discussions of sex (especially "bad sex" like that by unmarried young people, but really everywhere)--sex feels good. And discussion that tries to examine why people are so interested in sex without accounting for plain ol' pleasure is like trying to explain gourmet cooking without mentioning flavor.
That, and explanations of how sex is "good for you" come off as excuses, and sex doesn't need an excuse. It's worth doing for its own sake.
[One of my professors (the women's studies specialist, naturally) also asked, rhetorically, if women's experience wouldn't be a little different if "it's supposed to feel good" ever showed up in messages about sex. And she added with her great cynical/sardonic/Generation-X way of saying things "and... maybe that would be why... feminists and their partners have... better sex." Thanks, Holly. --fl]