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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Women’s Sexual Pleasure: How The Female OrgasmWorks

Women’s Sexual Pleasure: How The Female OrgasmWorks




 

 

Want it, need it, have to have it — but what precisely is happening when you're climaxing


It's the only thing that feels better than diving into a cool lake on a sweltering day, biting into a juicy cheeseburger when you're starving, or even getting your wallet back after losing it on vacation abroad. An orgasm is that good. Which is why it bites that it doesn't happen more often. According to several major surveys, only 25 percent of women always climax during sex with a partner. The rest of us either hit — or miss — depending on the night, or never orgasm during intercourse at all. Compared to the male version (more than 90 percent of men get their cookies off 100 percent of the time), the female "O" is a fleeting phenomenon. The question is: Why? What the hell was Mother Nature thinking?

That's what evolutionary biologists have been trying to figure out — with little success. The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution by Elisabeth Lloyd, Ph.D., a biology professor at Indiana University, shoots holes in virtually every theory that has ever attempted to pinpoint an evolutionary purpose to the female climax. "The clitoris has the indispensable function of promoting sexual excitement, which induces the female to have intercourse and become pregnant," Dr. Lloyd says. "But the actual incidence of the reflex of orgasm has never been tied to successful reproduction." Translation: Because women can and do get pregnant without climaxing, scientists can't figure out why we orgasm at all.

The good news is that most scientists do agree on the how. Here's what they know, so far — and how that knowledge can help the average girl hit her peak more often. Because even if the female orgasm does turn out to be pointless in terms of sustaining the species, it still feels pretty damn good.


While You Were Blissing Out...

When in the throes of an orgasm, you wouldn't notice if your dog, your cat, and your cockatiel started rearranging the furniture. Which makes it unlikely that you could track all the subtle changes that are happening in your body. Luckily, famous sex researchers William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson have done it for you in their seminal work, Human Sexuality. Here's what they found:

That warm, sexy rush you feel during foreplay is the result of blood heading straight to your vagina and clitoris. Around this time, the walls of the vagina start to secrete beads of lubrication that eventually get bigger and flow together.


As you become more turned on, blood continues to flood the pelvic area, breathing speeds up, heart rate increases, nipples become erect, and the lower part of the vagina narrows in order to grip the penis while the upper part expands to give it someplace to go. If all goes well (i.e., the phone doesn't ring and your partner knows what he's doing), an incredible amount of nerve and muscle tension builds up in the genitals, pelvis, buttocks, and thighs — until your body involuntarily releases it all at once in a series of intensely pleasurable waves, aka your orgasm.

The big bang is the moment when the uterus, vagina, and anus contract simultaneously at 0.8-second intervals. A small orgasm may consist of three to five contractions; a biggie, 10 to 15. Many women report feeling different kinds of orgasms — clitoral, vaginal, and many combinations of the two. According to Beverly Whipple, Ph.D., coauthor of The G-Spot and Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality, the reason may simply be that different parts of the vagina were stimulated more than others, and so have more tension to release. Also, muscles in other parts of the body may contract involuntarily — hence the clenched toes and goofy faces. As for the brain, a recent small-scale study at the Netherlands' University of Groningen found that areas involving fear and emotion are actually deactivated during orgasm (not so if you fake it).

After the peak of pleasure, the body usually slides into a state of satisfied relaxation — but not always. "Like their male counterparts, women can experience pelvic heaviness and aching if they do not reach orgasm," says Ian Kerner, Ph.D., a certified sex therapist and author of She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman. In fact, Dr. Kerner says, "many women complain that a single orgasm isn't enough to relieve the buildup of sexual tension," which can leave us with our own "blue balls." Don't worry: Like the male version, it's harmless.

Big "O" Blockers

So what goes wrong on those nights when the fuse gets lit but the bomb never explodes? "Nine times out of 10 it's because [the woman isn't] getting enough continuous clitoral stimulation," Dr. Kerner says. Often, "A woman will get close to orgasm, her partner picks up on it, and [then he either] orgasms immediately or changes what he was doing."

That's why Dr. Kerner frequently recommends the woman-on-top position. Because you control the angle and speed of the thrusts (try a back-and-forth motion so that your clitoris rubs against your partner's abdomen), it allows for the most constant clitoral stimulation. Another solution is to find a position that mimics how you masturbate. If you have solo sex by lying on your belly and rubbing your clitoris with your hands tucked beneath you, then your man can enter you from behind in that position. By watching you he'll also get a better sense of the stimulation you need.


"Spectatoring" is another problem that can trip women up. "It's when a woman is too concerned with her appearance and/or performance to actually enjoy herself," Dr. Kerner says. There's no way you're going to have an orgasm if you're fretting about your cellulite or stressing over whether your newest as-seen-on-late-night-cable moves feel good for him. Instead, you have to let the erotic sensations register in your mind. Focus. Breathe. Let go. "It may seem counterintuitive," he says, "but you need to relax to build sexual tension."

The best preparation for a big orgasm is probably a long, steamy shower, full-body massages by and for your man — or 10 minutes of steady oral sex, if you can get it. It's not so much your body that needs the R&R as your mind. "Many women need a transition period between dealing with the stress of everyday life and feeling sexual," Dr. Kerner says. "A few minutes of foreplay usually isn't enough." Doing something ritualistic and soothing that will clear your head of to-do lists, work issues, family problems, and whatever else might be distracting you from connecting with your body is essential to feeling ecstatic.

A Hormone Worth Getting Excited About

The most fascinating orgasmic side effect of all happens in the brain. During the big moment, the hypothalamus releases extra oxytocin into your system. Called the "cuddle hormone," oxytocin has been correlated with the urge to bond, be affectionate, and protect (new moms are drunk on the stuff). Since an increase in oxytocin has been shown to strengthen the uterine contractions that transport sperm to the egg, those findings are giving evolutionary biologists new hope. According to Dr. Lloyd, it's conceivable that the additional oxytocin gives enough of a boost to contractions that orgasm could play a part in conception after all. "Of all the avenues of orgasm research, I think the oxytocin avenue is the most promising," she says. It's even been hypothesized that having an orgasm and releasing that tide of oxytocin is a woman's subconscious way of approving of her partner as a potential dad.

The latest news is that this cuddle hormone might also be linked to our ability to trust. In a recent study at the University of Zurich, scientists asked 178 male college students to play an investment game with a partner they'd never met. Half of the students used an oxytocin nasal spray (not yet available in the United States) beforehand; half used a placebo. Those with the spray containing oxytocin were more than twice as likely to feel comfortable giving all of their money to their anonymous (but legitimate) partner. If oxytocin can help women feel more at ease about letting go and intensify orgasmic contractions, we might all want a bottle of the stuff stashed in our bedside drawers someday soon.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Kama Sutra: Holy Human Sexuality







The Kama Sutra (also spelled Kamasutra or Kamasutra; Sanskrit: कामसूत्र) is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Mallanāga Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses. "Kāma" means sensual or sexual pleasure, and "sūtra" literally means a thread or line that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual.
The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra (Sanskrit: Kāma Śāstra). Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind.
Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the second century CE.
The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. According to both the Burton and Doniger translations, the contents of the book are structured into 7 parts like the following:
1. Introductory
Chapters on contents of the book, three aims and priorities of life, the acquisition of knowledge, conduct of the well-bred townsman, reflections on intermediaries who assist the lover in his enterprises (5 chapters).
2. On sexual union
Chapters on stimulation of desire, types of embraces, caressing and kisses, marking with nails, biting and marking with teeth, on copulation (positions), slapping by hand and corresponding moaning, virile behavior in women, superior coition and oral sex, preludes and conclusions to the game of love. It describes 64 types of sexual acts (10 chapters).
Artistic depiction of a sex position. Although Kama Sutra did not originally have illustrative images, part 2 of the work describes different sex positions.
3. About the acquisition of a wife
Chapters on forms of marriage, relaxing the girl, obtaining the girl, managing alone, union by marriage (5 chapters).
4. About a wife
Chapters on conduct of the only wife and conduct of the chief wife and other wives (2 chapters).
5. About others' wives
Chapters on behavior of woman and man, how to get acquainted, examination of sentiments, the task of go-between, the king's pleasures, behavior in the women's quarters (6 chapters).
6. About courtesans
Chapters on advice of the assistants on the choice of lovers, looking for a steady lover, ways of making money, renewing friendship with a former lover, occasional profits, profits and losses (6 chapters).
7. On the means of attracting others to one's self
Chapters on improving physical attractions, arousing a weakened sexual power (2 chapters)
Pleasure and spirituality

Some Indian philosophies follow the "four main goals of life", known as the purusharthas:
  1. Dharma: Virtuous living.
  2. Artha: Material prosperity.
  3. Kama: Aesthetic and erotic pleasure.
  4. Moksha: Liberation.
Dharma, Artha and Kama are aims of everyday life, while Moksha is release from the cycle of death and rebirth. The Kama Sutra (Burton translation) says:
"Dharma is better than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. But Artha should always be first practised by the king for the livelihood of men is to be obtained from it only. Again, Kama being the occupation of public women, they should prefer it to the other two, and these are exceptions to the general rule." (Kama Sutra 1.2.14)
Of the first three, virtue is the highest goal, a secure life the second and pleasure the least important. When motives conflict, the higher ideal is to be followed. Thus, in making money virtue must not be compromised, but earning a living should take precedence over pleasure, but there are exceptions.

In childhood, Vātsyāyana says, a person should learn how to make a living; youth is the time for pleasure, and as years pass one should concentrate on living virtuously and hope to escape the cycle of rebirth. Also the Buddha preached a Kama Sutra, which is located in the Atthakavagga (sutra number 1). This Kama Sutra, however, is of a very different nature as it warns against the dangers that come with the search for pleasures of the senses.
Many in the Western world wrongly consider the Kama Sutra to be a manual for tantric sex. While sexual practices do exist within the very wide tradition of Hindu Tantra, the Kama Sutra is not a Tantric text, and does not touch upon any of the sexual rites associated with some forms of Tantric practice.
Translations
The most widely known English translation of the Kama Sutra was privately printed in 1883. It is usually attributed to renowned orientalist and author Sir Richard Francis Burton, but the chief work was done by the pioneering Indian archaeologist, Bhagvanlal Indraji, under the guidance of Burton's friend, the Indian civil servant Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot, and with the assistance of a student, Shivaram Parshuram Bhide. Burton acted as publisher, while also furnishing the edition with footnotes whose tone ranges from the jocular to the scholarly. Burton says the following in its introduction:
It may be interesting to some persons to learn how it came about that Vatsyayana was first brought to light and translated into the English language. It happened thus. While translating with the pundits the 'Anunga Runga, or the stage of love', reference was frequently found to be made to one Vatsya. The sage Vatsya was of this opinion, or of that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this, and so on. Naturally questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits replied that Vatsya was the author of the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature, that no Sanscrit library was complete without his work, and that it was most difficult now to obtain in its entire state. The copy of the manuscript obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jaipur for copies of the manuscript from Sanskrit libraries in those places. Copies having been obtained, they were then compared with each other, and with the aid of a Commentary called 'Jayamanglia' a revised copy of the entire manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English translation was made. The following is the certificate of the chief pundit:
'The accompanying manuscript is corrected by me after comparing four different copies of the work. I had the assistance of a Commentary called "Jayamangla" for correcting the portion in the first five parts, but found great difficulty in correcting the remaining portion, because, with the exception of one copy thereof which was tolerably correct, all the other copies I had were far too incorrect. However, I took that portion as correct in which the majority of the copies agreed with each other.'
In the introduction to her own translation, Wendy Doniger, professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, writes that Burton "managed to get a rough approximation of the text published in English in 1883, nasty bits and all". The philologist and Sanskritist Professor Chlodwig Werba, of the Institute of Indology at the University of Vienna, regards the 1883 translation as being second only in accuracy to the academic German-Latin text published by Richard Schmidt in 1897.
A noteworthy translation by Indra Sinha was published in 1980. In the early 1990s its chapter on sexual positions began circulating on the internet as an independent text and today is often assumed to be the whole of the Kama Sutra.

Alain Daniélou contributed a noteworthy translation called The Complete Kama Sutra[ in 1994. This translation, originally into French, and thence into English, featured the original text attributed to Vatsyayana, along with a medieval and a modern commentary. Unlike the 1883 version, Alain Daniélou's new translation preserves the numbered verse divisions of the original, and does not incorporate notes in the text. He includes English translations of two important commentaries:
  • The Jayamangala commentary, written in Sanskrit by Yashodhara during the Middle Ages, as page footnotes.
  • A modern commentary in Hindi by Devadatta Shastri, as endnotes.
Daniélou translated all Sanskrit words into English (but uses the word "brahmin"). He leaves references to the sexual organs as in the original: persistent usage of the words "lingam" and "yoni" to refer to them in older translations of the Kama Sutra is not the usage in the original Sanskrit; he argues that "to a modern Hindu "lingam" and "yoni" mean specifically the sexual organs of the god Shiva and his wife, and using those words to refer to humans' sexual organs would seem irreligious." The view that lingam means only "sexual organs" is disputed by academics like S.N.Balagangadhara.
An English translation by Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, an Indian psychoanalyst and senior fellow at Center for Study of World Religions at Harvard University, was published by Oxford University Press in 2002. Doniger contributed the Sanskrit expertise while Kakar provided a psychoanalytic interpretation of the text.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Sex and the Cinema

Sex and the Cinema







Romantic intimacies. The supple ripple of satin lingerie. A sculpted bare torso. A hand brushing a naked thigh. Furtive sex in a seedy hotel room. Passion in the embrace of nature. From the sanctioned to the forbidden, the suggestive to the blatant, evocations of the sexual have saturated cinema with a heady distillation of fleshly passions. Whether laced in the rapturous rhetorics of romance or seeking to pack a harder erotic punch, sex has provided cinema with one of its major attractions. Sex and sexuality in the cinema are shaped by a wide of variety of factors, some formal or generic, some relating to the institutions that regulate what is allowed to be seen and not seen, and others grounded in the more general configurations of the socio-historical context in which a film is produced and consumed. Sex can be used to spice up a weak storyline or build characterisation. It may provide an important aspect of a narrative, a subtext, undercurrent, or motivational force. Some aspect of sexual desire and sexuality has a presence across the entire range of cinema. Mostly obviously in films that focus on sex itself, such as Secrets of a Chambermaid (1997, US), a soft-core film expressly designed to titillate. But the presence of sex is also found in more mainstream films where it is not so overtly central, as with the melodramatic and adulterous kiss in the wave-surge in From Here to Eternity (1953, US) set against the backdrop of the events of Pearl Harbour, the 'will-they-or-wont-they' relationship between the central protagonists in the high fantasy PG rated anime Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime, 1997, Japan), in the way that Brad Pitt's is body shot to express the desires of one of the protagonists, functioning as an articulation of the male body as erotic object of the gaze, in the female buddy movie Thelma and Louise (1991, US), and the more subtly portrayed submissive sexual desire of the male protagonist in the film noir Out of the Past (1947, US). Despite differences in form, uses and intent, whether sold directly as a sex film or couched in the generic trappings of romance, art cinema, comedy, crime, tragedy, high fantasy or melodrama, sex has proved a primary means to sell films to potential audiences throughout cinema history.
Sex and cinema have a very intimate, special and sometimes stormy relationship. Subject to regulation and censorship, yet often articulating diverse fantasies, the portrayal of sex and sexuality in cinema runs the gamut between raw transgressive acts and idealistic notions of sex as an expression of romantic love. Sex has perhaps caused more controversy than any other aspect of cinema and is subject to competing claims that range between the extremes of libertarianism and conservativism. Cinema is intended mainly for a mass audience and it therefore operates in full view of the public sphere. Sexual acts are meant conventionally to be closeted in the private domain so their public presence has tended to solicit intense debate hinging on what constitutes public morality. Unlike radio or the written word, cinema shows rather than tells. This has an impact on the way that sex and sexuality are mediated by film, tailored to fit with the particular contours of the medium, as well as the capacity of the camera to manufacture that which might, ordinarily, be—or perhaps imagined to be—hidden from view. Many films from across the range trade precisely on such a seductive promise. Robert Kolker claims that 'film and the erotic are linked in some of the earliest images we have'. Evidence for his assertion is found with Edison Company's The Kiss (1896, US). The allure of the sexual has been integral to the appeal of cinema ever since.



The spectacle of cinematic sex is often intended to produce strong reactions, with controversy proving to be an excellent marketing tool. Many films, from The Kiss to 9 Songs (2004, UK), have traded on the conflicts that inevitably arise when entertainment and moral values clash. It is clear from the ubiquitous presence of sex in cinema that it has a strong seductive power and it may well provide images and ideas that affect our own expectations and fantasies about sex, sexuality and desire. Representations of sex and sexuality in cinema have therefore been regarded as having the potential to destabilise dominant mores about sex and desire. As such, cinematic sex is subject to the scrutiny of vested interests, beyond the average cinema-goer. At times these are able to influence what is considered acceptable for public consumption. However, throughout cinema's existence stakeholders have disagreed over what they consider the role and impact of cinema to be in society and what should be sanctioned against. The history of sex in the cinema is therefore informed in often dynamic ways by struggles between competing investments.
Sex in cinema is framed and contextualised by a dizzying number of factors. Some of these are formal and media specific while others are institutional and conceptual. All of these are related in some way to the broader socio-cultural arena, which in itself is composed of competing trends with concomitant pressures and contentions. These ebb and flow in time in accord with the rhythms of dominant and emergent forces, narrative trends and social concerns. Sex and sexuality in the cinema are tightly bound to these ever-shifting contours. In looking across the history of sex and sexuality in the cinema the definition and understanding of concepts as varied as good taste, civilisation, perversion, pleasure, morality, shame, love and obscenity, are subject to reinterpretation and change. Some concepts and the issues appended to them fade from view while others arise. Others have acquired radically different meanings; some moving away from the margins, their places taken by other incarnations. In exploring the factors that shape the cinematic representation of sex and sexuality it is possible to build a picture of the way that the various facets of such representations are keyed into and fashioned by broader contexts.
Existing works on this much-discussed subject tend to focus on particular aspects of sex in the cinema. Censorship, gender, sexuality, issues of sexual identity and definitions of pornography are common topics. Others focus in on a particular era, genre or methodological approach to the topic. By contrast, Sex and the Cinema takes a broader approach and addresses the ways in which sex and sexuality - the one does not come without the other - are mediated by the particularities of cinema.







In order to examine the factors that contribute to representations of sex and desire, Sex and the Cinema is divided into two parts. Defining Sex in Cinema maps out the various institutional and industrial forces that play their hand in the way that sex appears in cinema. An analysis of the relationships between form, context and knowledge frameworks provides a basis from which to move to an examination of common conventions used in the representation of sex and sexuality. A range of commonly used narrative types are also examined. This is followed by an account of the impact of censorship and regulation on the way that sex appears in both 'legitimate' and 'illegitimate' cinema. Themes of Transgression focuses in on a select number of themes that are encoded as in some way transgressive: adultery, bestiality, incest, bondage, domination, sado-masochism and real sex. Each of the sections draw on films from various genres and cinematic traditions. The conditions that permit the exhibition of such transgressive themes are linked to what is culturally sanctioned at any given juncture; often 'art' values are employed as a means of rendering the unconscionable suitable for consumption as entertainment. The practice of couching sex in transgressive rhetoric works for the industry, acting as something of a strange attractor for prospective audiences, yet, the rhetorics of transgression employed in the representation of sex take many different forms and have a range of implications and intentions.








Sex and the Cinemais organised around a number of frameworks, trends, issues, themes and approaches that present themselves as significant in the representation of sex in cinema and which typify the influence of certain ideas about sexuality that have emerged in a broader context. Cinematic sex is intricately interwoven into a matrix of industrial, economic, social and cultural factors. Within and between these, various competing claims are often in evidence. The amalgam of perspectives on the representation of sex in cinema taken by this study is designed to acknowledge and analyse the diverse range of forces, frameworks and factors that shape those representations.

The Evolution of Love, Sex and Desire

The Evolution of Love, Sex and Desire

Earlier, we touched on the allure of the illicit. Here, we will explore the desire for sexual variety a little further.

The Rooster, the Hen and the Coolidge Effect
Let's explore the evolutionary roots of desire, especially within the context of the illicit affair. The ancestral man would have most likely been motivated to have casual sex to increase his offspring, for him a huge benefit of casual sex. This ancestral drive instilled a powerful desire for sexual access to a variety of women: When Jimmy Carter said that he had "lust in his heart", he openly expressed a universal male desire for sexual variety. Women are traditionally less interested in a variety of partners. This is sometimes referred to as the Coolidge Effect. The story goes that President Calvin Coolidge and his wife were given separate tours of new government farms. When Mrs Coolidge passed the chicken coups where a rooster was vigorously copulating with a hen, she asked the tour guide how often the rooster performed this duty. The guide answered: "Dozens of times a day". "Make sure you mention this to the President", replied Mrs. Coolidge. When the President passed by the coops and was told about the rooster's performance, he asked the guide: "Always with the same hen?" "Oh, no", the guide replied. "Always a different hen". "Make sure you mention that to Mrs. Coolidge" said the President.
Our Promiscuous Ancestors
In the second article on sexuality and desire in this series, we also discussed the double standards in the rules applied to women and men. Robert Smith notes in Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Mating Systems: "The biological irony of the double standard is that males could not have been selected for promiscuity if historically females had always denied them opportunity for expression of the trait."
Promiscuous Ancestral Sisters
And he's right of course. There must have been some at least some promiscuous ancestral sisters. If all our ancestral sisters had mated for life with one single man, with no premarital sex, the opportunities for casual sex would have simply vanished! What would have been her motivation? It is unlikely that the need for more offspring was what motivated her. Having multiple partners would not have increased her reproductive capacities, and a minimum amount of sex is all she would have needed, and there is rarely a shortage of men willing to oblige. Perhaps sex would have given her a back-up protector. Or it may have gained her access to more food or other resources. David Buss notes that in many traditional communities, such as the native people of the Trobriand Islands, men bring food or jewelry to their mistresses. No gifts spell no good. First off, there will be no sex, but furthermore, failure to bring gifts will ruin his reputation among the women in the community, and he'll have a tough time attracting mistresses in the future. Studies on contemporary mating shows that modern women are much like their ancestral sisters- the one quality they particularly value in lovers is generosity. Interestingly, women's desires in a short-term sex partner are very similar to her desires in a husband. In both cases, Buss notes, women look for someone who is kind, romantic, exciting, stable, healthy, humorous and generous. In both contexts, women prefer men who are tall, athletic and attractive. Men on the other hand, tend to be easy going as far as standards go-, which of course makes their pool for potential sex partners bigger.
An Ancestral Past Filled With Affairs
Our ancestral past is filled with affairs. Alarming? Perhaps. Women might find the ease with which men hit the sack with other women disturbing, and men might be shocked to see their wives encourage other men or be unfaithful. But social traditions concerning sexuality and desire are being revised, redefined and negotiated both in Western as well as in non-Western countries. Modern technology and urban living conditions allow many of us to escape the potential risks, costs and consequences of casual affairs. Reducing these negative consequences and acknowledging the complexity and paradox of desire and sexuality may offend our socially constructed idea of matrimonial bliss, but it also empowers us to more fully express our desire and sexuality.

Friday, November 5, 2010

LOVE, SEX AND DESIRE

LOVE

Definitions of LOVE:
  • a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; "his love for his work"; "children need a lot of love"
  • any object of warm affection or devotion; "the theater was her first love"; "he has a passion for cock fighting";
  • have a great affection or liking for; "I love French food"; "She loves her boss and works hard for him"
  • beloved: a beloved person; used as terms of endearment
  • get pleasure from; "I love cooking"
  • a deep feeling of sexual desire and attraction; "their love left them indifferent to their surroundings"; "she was his first love"
  • be enamored or in love with; "She loves her husband deeply"
  • a score of zero in tennis or squash; "it was 40 love"
  • sleep together: have sexual intercourse with; "This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve"; "Were you ever intimate with this man?"
  • sexual love: sexual activities (often including sexual intercourse) between two people; "his lovemaking disgusted her"; "he hadn't had any love in months"; "he has a very complicated love life"
Definitions of SEX

  • sexual activity: activities associated with sexual intercourse; "they had sex in the back seat"

  • either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided; "the war between the sexes"

  • arouse: stimulate sexually; "This movie usually arouses the male audience"

  • all of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses; "he wanted a better sex life"; "the film contained no sex or violence"

  • tell the sex (of young chickens)

  • the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles; "she didn't want to know the sex of the foetus"

    Definitions of DESIRE:
    • feel or have a desire for; want strongly; "I want to go home now"; "I want my own room"
    • the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state
    • hope: expect and wish; "I trust you will behave better from now on"; "I hope she understands that she cannot expect a raise"
    • an inclination to want things; "a man of many desires"
    • express a desire for
    • something that is desired