—
Sex means different things to different people. For some, it’s a highly emotional experience worthy of the saying ‘making love’. For others, it’s more of a bodily activity all about physical pleasure. Sex and lack of emotions is a bit of a controversial topic as it addresses our ideals about sex and love.
But to understand what a lack of emotions connected to sex really means – you first need to understand what emotions are.
WHAT EMOTIONS ARE
Emotions are usually thought of as pleasant or unpleasant states of being, but they’re actually a whole lot more complex than that.
Emotions are systems that have several different jobs – one of them is to motivate us to do certain things. You can think of them like compasses that guide us, giving us information and informing us how to act on the information.
Depending on which emotion we’re feeling, we’re urged to act in specific ways. For example, when we’re sad we might feel like crying, when we’re angry we might want to defend ourselves, and when we’re happy we might want to celebrate it by sharing the joy with those close to us.
The same thing goes for sex – in order to feel like having sex we need to feel the emotion of sexual desire.
Without this emotion, sex doesn’t happen (at least not sex that feels good and pleasurable, which is what we should strive for).
“This means that sex and lack of emotions doesn’t actually occur, because even in sex we don’t want to have, we still feel stuff. We feel anger, fear, perhaps worry, shame and guilt. Our emotions are a part of us that we cannot shake.”
This, however, doesn’t mean we don’t try to.
Over time, we learn to favor positive emotions over negative ones. This isn’t strange – no one wants to feel negative feelings.
When we try to push negative emotions away, we end up pushing all of them away – even the positive ones like joy, interest and sexual desire.
This can lead to us feeling depressed or experiencing anxiety. Our bodies and minds are telling us something is off – in part because we haven’t been in contact with ourselves.
We need to know what we’re feeling and act on our emotions – because if we don’t, we can’t know our true needs, which means we can’t feel true desire or joy.
SEX WITHOUT STRINGS ATTACHED
When we think about sex and lack of emotions, we think about someone who can have sex without being connected to the other.
This is often portrayed as sex without strings attached. In films and tv-series men, more than women, are seen as wanting and engaging in sex without feelings.
This idea is based on gender stereotypes, where men are seen as being more logical than emotional and women as more emotional than logical.
But – as we all know by now – emotions are evolutionarily biological processes that we all possess, regardless of gender or where in the world we’ve grown up.
“And to want sex is to feel you want sex – thus, you’re not void of emotion at all. ”
However, just because sex involves the emotion of sexual desire, it doesn’t mean you necessarily feel emotional during sex. Or only have sex when you feel like you’re in love. This is because there’s a difference between emotion and being emotional.
LOVE AND SEX: DO THEY GO HAND IN HAND?
When we talk about being emotional we’re often referring to feeling strong emotions, such as happiness or sadness and openly displaying them towards other people.
When it comes to sex, being emotional, is usually thought of as feeling in love or infatuated with the other person.
In today’s society, we pair sex with love – which is one of the reasons sex without it, is still so taboo.
Sex is seen as a continuation of love – as an activity, we engage in to express how we feel about one another. To have sex is to make love.
And while this is true – sex can definitely be a loving experience – it doesn’t make sex without love something wrong.
Our ideal of monogamy affects how we look at people who have sex with multiple partners, or people who engage in casual sex.
“Especially those who “don’t settle down” or are “forever bachelors”, are seen as damaged goods because they have sex without forming a deep emotional bond.”
This isn’t true. Sex can be whatever you want it to be; an emotional experience all about connecting with your heart and soul, or a bodily activity all about carnal pleasure.
WHEN SEX AND LACK OF EMOTIONS IS A PROBLEM
Even if there is no wrong way to feel during sex or wrong way to have sex (besides non-consensual sex), there are a few instances sex and lack of emotions can turn into a problem:
1. Sexual Difficulties
Things like low libido, not being able to get an erection, or orgasm difficulties, can in part be caused by feeling low. And when you’re low, you’re not in contact with the full range of your emotions.
If you want to get past your sexual difficulties, getting in contact with your emotions is one way of doing this.
2. Pining For A Love Connection
Wanting to feel that love connection during sex – and not being able to, can be frustrating and upsetting. If this is you, sex therapy will help you reach that goal.
3. Disconnect In Relationship
Sometimes a lack of emotions leads to a relational problem. Perhaps you and your partner are experiencing a disconnect because your partner feels lots of feelings during sex and about sex, that you simply don’t.
If you want to bridge the gap it’s important to find ways to talk about it. The following questions will help you two begin to explore the topic:
- What does sex mean to you?
- When do you feel like having sex?
- How do you want to feel when we’re having sex?
- If you’re not feeling how you’d like to feel during sex – what do you think is stopping you from feeling that way?
- How can we help each other feel differently about sex or during sex?
There’s no right or wrong way to feel about sex. For some, sex is a highly emotional experience, for others, it’s more of a bodily activity. Regardless of how you feel about sex and how you feel during sex – one thing is certain – sex and lack of emotions doesn’t exist.
—
Previously published here and reprinted with the author’s permission.
◊♦◊
Sign up for our Writing Prompts email to receive writing inspiration in your inbox twice per week.
Photo: Shutterstock