Irvy said:Thanks Sorcerer, for putting how I view it so well! And Yhtang, I don't so much view it as segregating sex from love, it's more that I have come to see that without love, sex is really over rated. As someone very wise once said to me in msn, sex with a stranger is just masturbating inside someone.
I'm monogamous for spiritual and physical reasons. Maybe it's something to do with my upbringing, but I don't view sex as a purely physical act. To my mind, giving some stranger the same access to me sexually as I do to my boyfriend cheapens what he and I share. Also, physically, as Sorcerer said, it means never having to worry about STI's either.
I respect your views on monogamy. I agree with Sorceror that promiscuity could lead to STD. I concur that without love, sex is overrated because ideally, sex should not be a purely physical act. However, two different point arise from the above comments, and I shall cover the second comment first.
While sex without love is overrated, this is dependant on the fact that those who are in love are having (ideally, hot, torrid) sex. What if someone is in love but for whatever reasons, is not able to attain sexual fulfilment from the lover/partner? Does this mean that the person is not quite/sufficiently in love? If obtaining sexual satisfaction from a source other than one's partner means adultery, should masturbation be disallowed for those who are in love or married?
The topic of adultery then brings me to the first comment. Yes, promiscuity could lead to STD. However, what if all parties involved are only involved with themselves? If I have a principal wife and a secondary wife, and I have sex with both (threesome or not is immaterial), is that considered promiscuous? In certain cultures, polygamy is quite common - or rather, it was, until monogamy was legislated.
Speaking (or rather, writing) as a single man, there are times when sex is a need; it is akin to an itch that needs to be scratched. Loveless though it may be, I feel much better after a release. Heaven forbid if I should be in a loving but sexually unfulfilling relationship. I sincerely hope I can maintain a monogamous relationship under those circumstances.