Is sex a need or a want?

It is both. All of our needs stem from wants. There is no need without want.

 

What does it mean to need something? I don't think we have needs in the abstract. It's a matter of what you need for what. To read something up close, I need glasses, but if I'm not looking at anything close, or if it doesn't matter whether it's blurry, I don't need them.

To stay alive, you need food and water. And sleep. And to go to the bathroom.

To stay healthy and happy, most of us need a place to live, to prepare food, to go to the bathroom, and to sleep. Most of us also need love, and physical touch, or we become lonely and unhappy.

To be in peak health, we also need a good diet and exercise.

I can live without being happy. But I do need some things to be happy, and one of those things is sex. And it's good for you. I'd put it as less of a need, for me, than food and air, but more of a need than exercise.

 

I think it's a need. Just like batheing right? You don't NEED to bathe....but apparently it's classified as a need. You don't need to pay your taxes!! but you do. You don't NEED to have sex...but your body is going to hurt without it. Just like we need sunshine and we need to be outdoors and eat right and get in some exercise. Sex is a healthy natural expression of our bodies. So whether it's a need or a want. It's part of a well balanced lifestyle.

 

Its a choice, just like everything is.

 

I agree and it should be for both.

 

I think we just became bffs

 

actually i don't know at all although i already 25 years old...i haven't try it before...My parents are very conservative....or maybe i also a conservative person...no sex before marriage....although i have boyfriend...2 year in relationship.....but nothing happen between us...

 

Its definitely a want. If it was a need, Id have died years ago! lol You can live without it, so it's not a need.

 

Like everything, including life itself, it's a want. That being said, I want it.

 

It is both. I, like most people need it, it is a proven fact that we live healthier lives if we have an active sex life. It is also a want because I want to experience the enjoyment of it all the time. Could I live with out it? Yes. Do I want to HELL NO !
The question wasn't is it necessary. It is only necessary to keep mankind from being extenct.

 

The topic of sex is so frustratingly ambiguous
That study linked by is Bonkai is interestingly but it is appalingly unspecific.

what qualifies as sex?

For the most part, I would say that masturbation and anything that results in orgasm qualifies..though it may not give you the benefits of exercise or meet certain emotional needs...

dare I say, our arms are just the right length....it must be an evolutionary advantage for us social creatures. We would probably be causing a lot more strife if we couldn't pacify ourselves with masturbation..

 

Its a want not a need i turn it down most times and im a guy for me there has to be an attraction or subatomical connection, could be a need to some ppl with a disorder

 

Back in the 1930s Wilhelm Reich reckoned that to live a happy, healthy and fulfilled life it was necessary to experience regular orgasms/climaxes.

It's actually good for you - already quoted on page one - see

http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/08/cz_af_1008health.html

Simon

 

I have never had sex, or even an orgasm, but Im also very unhappy, and unhealthy, so maybe there is some correlation there. Although I know there are other reasons why Im so unhappy. So I cant say the reason Im unhappy is because of that. It may be a contributory factor, (though even that is debateable) but its not the cause of it. Though you can certainly live and survive with no sex, or orgasms.

Also, not everybody has the same libido, or level of sex drive, so for some people, its more of a necessitiy than it is to others.

 

Is it possible for you to have an orgasm?
Have you tried?

 

can I say both?

 

Ive never tried, no. Im repulsed by that area of my body and hate touching it. Though I really wouldnt be able to feel anything even if I did. Ive never felt any kind of sexual sensation in my genital area.

 

I vaguely studied this recently. It's a need. A basic one at that; like breathing, drinking, eating, sleep etc. Look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's a clever theory and it makes sense.

 

You can live without it, so its not a basic need. Basic needs are things you literally could not survive without, and would die if you didnt have them. You can live without sex.

 

Maslow's theory isn't suggestive of human basic needs, instead a step ladder to what he considered self fulfillment. After all, we can have one of the steps without another and still be fine

but that's only as long as your basic needs are met. They are the only necessity, anything else is just adding to a persons affirmation.

I mean, self esteem? I need a sports car or I will die??

Sex is a want, a very primitive want.