Opinion solicitation

[handprinted]

I'm having a debate with a friend of mine, and I'd like some more opinions

Comments

[bkre8ve]

It is an instintive urge... but that urge is not unstoppable or uncontrollable. I think the instinctive part is left over from a time when it truly was survival of the fittest and it was imperative for lots of reproduction to happen to prevent extinction.

Now, while still being instinctive, I think it's more done to be enjoyable. All of the people who decide not to reproduce still have sex because it's enjoyable.

[handprinted]

For those who either choose not to reproduce, cannot, or have sex for reasons other than procreation, is it still an imperative--in that it's an integral part of being a human being?

[chalkbluesky]

Why we do it definitely has to do with our individual composition

[handprinted]

Same question to you as to Melody then -- is it still an imperative because it's part of what makes us human?

[chalkbluesky]

Well, it will always be an imperative because it's the ultimate biological purpose to reproduce. It's not an imperative mentally, or socially but it is biologically.

It could also be an imperative in those that MUST have sex because of a hormone imbalance, but that's another case entirely.

[pianobreakdown]

I think it's kind of all of the above. It's an instinctive urge, but in modern times it's less imperative to reproduce than it was hundreds of years ago. It feels good because that may have been sort of a way to get people to do it - if it hurt, no one would want to try and reproduce. Thus, more people do it because it feels good, not because they need to reproduce.

[handprinted]

This is similar to another response I got -- that it feels good because it's necessary. But can the drive for the act itself be separated from the outcomes/consequences? Do humans, in addition to having the instinct to procreate (which can be redirected if the individual doesn't want children, can't have children, is non-heterosexual, etc.) also have the instinctive drive to have sex?

[pianobreakdown]

I think if you're going to separate the need from the want, then you have to label it as wanting to feel close to someone. It's a way to feel as closely connected as possible - a visible way of expressing your love. In conjunction with that, if you love someone, you also want to make them feel good, and sex is the most emotionally charged way of doing that.

[yenesi]

I like it because it makes me feel good. It's just the touch, not even sex that I like. To be close with someone, you know?