{"id":19969,"date":"2020-03-17T08:35:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T07:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/?p=19969"},"modified":"2024-11-18T04:01:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T03:01:57","slug":"what-is-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/what-is-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Answering \u201cWhat Is Sex\u201d May Not Be As Straightforward As You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have been told that sex is \u2018something a man and woman do when they love each other very much,\u2019 but we\u2019re guessing that somewhere in your teens you discovered that definition definitely doesn\u2019t cover the width and breadth of sensual activity. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sex, for being such an (almost) universal experience, is something you\u2019d think we\u2019re all able to define pretty easily – yet ask someone and you\u2019d be surprised at not only how different our definitions are, but also how easily they may fall apart.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"what<\/p>\n

More than Biology<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sex has a very clear definition in biology \u2013 it\u2019s how reproduction occurs. However, clearly even not every heterosexual amorous coupling can result in pregnancy. Infertility issues aside, we know that <\/span>couples in their 60s and beyond still have sex lives<\/span><\/a> that keep going strong long after havings kids are a possibility, so we can discount that particular definition right off the bat.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yes, while <\/span>orgasms are a (great) physiological response<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 they\u2019re certainly not part of every sexual encounter \u2013 and treating them as the <\/span>end(ing) goal might not be the key<\/span><\/a> to enjoying yourself when it comes to all the other important and fun parts of intimacy, like <\/span>foreplay<\/span><\/a> or even <\/span>aftercare<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Letting Go of Labels<\/span><\/h3>\n

Most straight people would quickly agree that sex doesn\u2019t exclusively refer to a penis-in-a-vagina; after all, there\u2019s also <\/span>anal sex<\/span><\/a>. Then of course, there\u2019s oral sex<\/a>\u2015which some people don\u2019t even consider \u2018real sex,\u2019 maybe because there\u2019s no penetration. But even fewer of those same people would consider manually stimulating a vagina to be \u2018sex,\u2019 but that <\/span>does<\/span><\/i> include penetration. Entering a gray zone, are we?<\/span><\/p>\n

The fixation on penile penetration for what constitutes sex poses a real issue \u2013 not only does it exclude large swathes of the population that don\u2019t have sexual contact with penises at all, it also leads to ignorance and misinformation about safer sexual practices. <\/span>Recent research<\/span><\/a> suggests that a majority of lesbian and bisexual female teens had no idea they could get an STI from another girl.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pretty hard to get a sexually transmitted infection if you \u2018weren\u2019t <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> having sex,\u2019 right? A prime example of why language and the way we talk about sex matters, especially when it comes to our health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Sex Life, Your Definition<\/span><\/h3>\n

Obviously \u2018sex\u2019 will mean different things to different people \u2013 based on physiology, orientation, and, whether we like it or not, societal influences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now think about all the times we\u2019ve been lectured on sex, whether it be to abstain from sex, doctors asking us if we\u2019re sexually active, or researchers asking participants about their past sexual behavior. If we don\u2019t have a universal definition for sex, is this data true?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>study about what sex is and why it matters<\/span><\/a> was conducted at the University of Missouri St. Louis and found that people had diverse definitions of sex. Some mentioned that it was a \u201cloose\u201d term while others defined sex strictly but seemed motivated to bend their personal experiences to fall out of the definition. On the other hand, some participants labeled their ambiguous sexual acts as sex. Basically, personal definitions for sex are often an image of self-reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n

However the definition we choose to espouse is this: sex is erotic stimulation \u2013 be it mental or physical \u2013 that can be solo or partnered, to cause pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may have been told that sex is \u2018something a man and woman do when they love each other very much,\u2019 but we\u2019re guessing that somewhere in your teens you discovered that definition definitely doesn\u2019t cover the width and breadth of sensual activity. \u00a0 Sex, for being such an (almost) universal experience, is something you\u2019d think we\u2019re all able to define pretty easily – yet ask someone and you\u2019d be surprised at not only how different our definitions are, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":19970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[929],"tags":[525,579],"coauthors":[949],"class_list":["post-19969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sexual-wellness","tag-better-sex","tag-sex"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Sex? 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