QUESTION
Dear Dragon,
Why does sex have such an emotional connotation in society?
Sincerely yours,
Why-Curious
DRAGON’S RESPONSE
Dear Why-Curious,
I got news for you: sex doesn’t just have an emotional
connotation in your society. It has an emotional connotation in all of human society. This is because sex is emotional. There are
basic ties between sex and emotion that cannot be denied. Nobre and Pinto-Gouveia have published two
articles (2006, 2008) that describe the negative emotions people with sexual
dysfunctions experience during sex, while Janice Hiller published work (2004)
on the positive emotions men and women experience during sex and sexual
arousal, and the hormones triggered during these positive emotions. Whether good or bad, people are feeling the
feelings during sex.
From my perch on high, I see all kinds of examples of people
using the positive connotations of sex to their benefit. This year alone I’ve witnessed half a dozen
young guys plotting the best way to ask a young lady to a dance. Doesn’t this involve emotion? Aren’t those fellas trying to hit just the
perfect emotional note to get those
young gals to say yes? If there’s this
much emotion going into one date, you better believe there’d be even more
emotion going into the act of sex. I’ve
also seen sex and emotions in our magazines.
There have been articles in Redbook, Men’s Health, and Newsweek, that
flaunt the fact that having a stable, emotional connection with your partner
will make one’s sex life better. And,
speaking of magazines…Wherever there are ad campaigns, there will also be sex,
because sex sells. It can sell anything
from underwear, movie tickets, books, or burgers. As I already said, Hiller found that sexual
arousal can trigger happy emotions in your head, which will make you want to
buy a product.
There are people out there, though, that can separate sex from
emotion…for scientific purposes that is.
Some researchers have made a career studying sex without looking at the
emotion behind it, and this has been described as sexology. According to Wikipedia, sexology is “the
interdisciplinary study of human sexuality
including human sexual interests, behaviors and function” (with no regards to the emotion
that goes along with sex). Alfred Kinsey
started researching sex habits of men and women in the 1930s and 1940s, and
Williams Masters and Virginia Johnson followed suit in the 1960s. Kinsey’s research was later plagued with
controversy, since he didn’t have a wide variety of subjects (lots of white
guys, several with sexually deviant behavior, like pedophilia), but Masters and
Johnson’s work has withstood the test of time and is still revered as some of
the most scientific and trustworthy in the field. They also worked on helping people overcome
sexual dysfunctions.
I could spend many more hours
trying to formulate a perfect answer for your question, but the truth is, I
don’t know that there is a definite answer.
I hope as you read my response you kept in mind that I’m just a humble
dragon, doing my best to help out the students here at Uni. Possible answers to your question can spark
controversies hotter than the flames I can spew, so know that the research I’ve
done, though substantial, is not the end all and be all of this topic. Check out the sources I have at the bottom of
my board if you want to do even more personal study on this topic.
Alfred Kinsey
Margaret Johnson & William Masters
Heidi Klum not using sex to sell Thick Burgers...oh, wait...
Magic Mike (2012) poster employing anything it can to sell tickets to a movie with no plot whatsoever.
References
Begley, Sharon. "Are The Kids Alright?." Newsweek 150.22 (2007): 52. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Beland, Nicole. "Speak Her Sex Language." Men's Health 24.1 (2009): 112. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
"human sexual behaviour". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2015
"Masters and Johnson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2015
Miller, Jennifer. "The Best Sex She's Ever Had." Men's Health 29.9 (2014): 126. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Nobre, Pedro J., and José Pinto-Gouveia. "Cognitions, Emotions, And Sexual Response: Analysis Of The Relationship Among Automatic Thoughts, Emotional Responses, And Sexual Arousal." Archives Of Sexual Behavior 37.4 (2008): 652-661. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Nobre, Pedro, and José Pinto-Gouveia. "Emotions During Sexual Activity: Differences Between Sexually Functional And Dysfunctional Men And Women." Archives Of Sexual Behavior 35.4 (2006): 491-499. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Sexology. (2015, February 10). Retrieved March 11, 2015, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexology#Sexology_as_an_academic_discipline
No comments:
Post a Comment