Wednesday, May 31, 2006

the simulated experience of sex

"Having sex can also complicate the way you perceive a potential partner. After sex, the brain releases oxytocin, which results in the warm, companionable feeling of love and the creation of the social bonds that facilitate co-operative child-rearing. Watch out: sex on a whim can lead to feelings of love for a person who is entirely wrong for you."

~ excerpt from the article Sexual attraction: the magic formula

Sometimes having sex with a person at the wrong time can make the experience of sex a pure simulation. Having sex generates these "warm, companionable feelings of love". This biological effect of sex can simulate all the biological signs of love without any love actually being there. It can simulate something that may not exist.

Sex is a beautiful gift because it can enhance the commitment and feelings that two people have for one another in the proper circumstances. Yet sex is also incredibly dangerous, because it can create the sensation of love without the substance. It makes you think you have what is real when you really don't.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oxytocin causes milk letdown in females... so, warm fuzzy feelings aside, there are probably other things you should be concerned about...

Anonymous said...

hey, isn't oxytocin a pretty popular drug? sounds pretty good

Anonymous said...

what exactly determines "real" from "unreal"? who is to say that the feelings evoked from sex are less "real" than those we obtain from other methods of connection? is it because they are sometimes fleeting? does short mean "unreal"? and what do we then make of those people who are able to have relationships that are emotional, conversational, intellectual etc. AND sexual?