Love and Sex
There are probably as many notions and views on love and sex as
there are men and women. Each one of us thinks of these two in our
own unique way. There are however some common features and stereotypes
that are easy to observe and categorize at certain ages.
Take for instance how adolescents view sex. For some it is surrounded
with such feelings as body pleasure combined with fear. For others
it is something of a scandal – what adults do with their private
parts. Still others see it as something macho and fun. Any of these
attitudes are quite natural and each has its own negative aspect.
A grown up adult can't ignore the issue of sex and how to relate
to this activity which plays a major part in his or her health,
happiness, and well being. It takes some time before a young adult
gets to face the issue of sex on its full face. Given that many
of our attitudes on sex come from our friends and peers –
jokes, casual comments, and other such sources, it is quite an effort
to face this topic and form our own independent outlook.
A common adult view is to associate sex with pleasure. There is
pleasure in sex. Doing it for pleasure alone does not do full justice
to the act, so it seems. The profanities confuse us even further
– they make it sound like an act of aggression and violence
against an individual – ‘doing it to someone'. If there
is one truth about sex, it is that it is done by two people to each
other, although one may appear more active than the other.
Here is what I believe is one healthy way to understand sex. That
is to see it as a part of love. Love in its entirety comprises a
physical part as well. In fact, the very beginning of love contains
a sort of physical attraction. The young mind feels it. But does
not know its destination, its culmination. Is it sex, or love? The
physical basis of love is touch. Without touch, love remains unfounded;
it remains in the air. The sexual act is just an extension of touching.
It is touch taken to its conclusion when instincts overpower both
the partners. Then both of them want to interact with each other
as nature would have them. To understand only sex and not love is
to see only one side of the coin.
To be fair, the above views are yet to take full root in me. I
am still grappling with them. As an adult it is inescapable. It
is better to have an erroneous notion on this topic than to just
let it be.
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