Thursday, 17 September 2009
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Friends With Benefits v 2.0
I just read a post called "Friends With Benefits" and it really made me think of the way that we see sex in today's society.
To be completely honest, I like the idea of having a friend with benefits, as long as both of you know what you want and understand what's going on. For instance, I have a friend that I hook up with at parties. The rules are: only when we're drunk, and only to third base. Other than that, we're just friends. We both know that we have chemistry, but no compatibility. Outside of our hooking up, he's not my type, I'm not his. We have come to this understanding, and it makes for a good relationship.
Is this immoral? Sure, if you're only subscribing to a Christian/religious set of beliefs. Or even if you're convinced that monogamy and commitment is the only way to be. But we're not. So what should we do, start dating?
But really, romance isn't everything, and neither is dating. The fact is that sometimes you get horny. And the fact that teenagers date at all is just a way to turn those horny feelings into sexual satisfaction. If you think of it from a Christian perspective, dating is something you do until you find someone you're going to marry. So, what's the point of dating when you don't have an education, and you can't support yourself financially, and you're basically just not ready to get married? I mean, if you're not going to have sex with a person, why not just be their friend until you're ready for commitment?
It's so you can kiss the person, and touch them as much as you feel that Jesus is okay with, and then masturbate to it later. Bam. Sexual satisfaction.
This is how people are. Even non-religious people. You date, you go to prom, you screw. Which I think is a tragedy.
I think that sex, and sexual acts shouldn't be so closely tied with love. Both of these things are essential to most humans, but love is a deep need, and sex is an urgent one. It doesn't make sense that you have to 'fall in love' with everyone you fool around with. Then it stops becoming something we do for pleasure, and starts becoming a bargaining tool, something to affirm your self-worth, a contract, or something to scare people with. Imagine if it was customary to prepare a four course meal from scratch every time you ate. Every single time, you had to grind your own flour, churn your own butter and cook it all up in a wood-fire stove. For toast. That's what love is like, it's a process, a long one, that can have wonderful, beautiful, delicious results. But you have to have all the right ingredients, enough time, and the patience to do it right. Otherwise you end up with four hours of your time wasted, and nothing to show for it. Sex, though, is the food itself. Its something we need, and sometimes it has to be accessible for when you need it.
(And here, I will take a short break to discuss my feelings on relationships: Date! Get married! Do it all, monogamy and commitment can be awesome! But only if your first and single motivation for this monogamy is because you are in love with the person, or you genuinely want to be. Don't be sneaky, don't trick someone into being in a relationship because you want to have sex with them. I think people who have sex with people that they're in a committed relationship but not in love are just sad. Wait for love, but not for sex.)
You know what you should save for the person you marry? Your heart, and your commitment and your love. Not your junk. That's not romantic at all.
Agree or disagree?
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Comments (45)
Wow woman, you just don't quit do you? lol This one is better then the V1.0. I am quickly becoming addicted to your blog.
Men pretend to be intimate to have sex and woman have sex to become intimate. I don't know what else to say on this one since you mostly said it all. FANTABULOUS!!!
AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a lot of ways I agree with this. I've never prescribed to the "no sex till you're married" point of view. Sure maybe it made sense before the industrial revolution when people got married at 13 or 14 and their life expectancy was maybe 40 years. But now?
I do have to disagree with you about sex being too closely tied to love. That's fine if it is that way for you, but it's not for me. Sex is too closely tied with intimacy and love for me to do it with someone that I'm not in love with. This took me some time and experience to learn.
It's pretty hard to save your heart, commitment and love for the person you're going to marry. You need to give them all of that before you get married. And just because you give it all to them doesn't mean you'll get married.
@ChevalierSeingal - "Men pretend to be intimate to have sex and woman have sex to become intimate."
Wow...incredibly true.
Agreed. I like a 4 course meal but sometimes i can do with a quick takeout u know ;)
sex and love should be seperate things. agreed.
@ChevalierSeingal - @doLc3@xanga - yup.
In my experience, I think it is nigh impossible to separate sex from love. I hear over and over again how various friends of mine who have gone through periods in their life filled with one-night-stands and/or friends-with-benefits situations and despite "knowing what they're doing and going into it with the right outlook" they end up being either unsatisfied or downright hurt as a result. And then they start looking for the "real thing."
I'm likely to think that people who can separate sex/sexual-type-activities from love are a rarity, and even then, I'm not sure its a good thing to do so. The friends of mine who go from the above situations to pursuing a more traditional relationship have a very hard time with the adjustment! While this might not be the case for everyone, they seem to have a lot harder time dealing with jealousy and commitment than those who haven't tried the one-night-stand or friends-with-benefits types of relationships.
-So I tend to discourage them, based on my friends' and my experiences.
As a whole, compartmentalizing life never seems to work. And I fear trying to draw a line between love and sex is trying to do just that.
@ChevalierSeingal - The more I see you post, the more I cannot stand your brash, ignorant generalizations.
This ad hominem attack has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I agree with some points made in the original post.
third base is probably a good stopping point to keep it casual. with full on sex you have to be careful not to become emotionally attached, especially if it occurs often.
@godofthelost@xanga - I have no idea how I could have made you or anyone upset with my comment. You said I used an ad hominem, maybe you are referring to one of the other posts or something. Not sure. PEACE.
@ChevalierSeingal - MY ad hominem remark. Don't sweat it. I should have kept it to myself, but sometimes I just have to comment on a moron's statement.
agreed
agree or not? kinda
i really like your side note that you make. i don't know if i necessarily believe sex and love should be separate, but i definitely agree that people should stop pretending to be in love in order to get sex out of their partner. it's unfair and emotions get attached. a casual hookup without the mess of emotions is usually much cleaner.
While I agree that people are way too judgmental about sexual activity, especially religious people, I don't agree that it's unromantic to save your virginity for marriage. When it comes to sex, I'm fine with people doing whatever they want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
I understand that we all have needs but we don't want the drama and effort and time that often goes with a relationship. And if people chose one person they can get with to take care of their needs then there would be a reduction of disease. Now, I didn't say elimination of disese. Choose with caution. People shouldn't play with people's feelings in order to get what they want.
Agreeeed!
If I'm intimate with someone, I have to have a strong feeling attached to that person, either it's a budding emotion based on "love" or on its way to becoming one. I've never learned the skill to separate the idea of "love" from sex. Some people can do it and people like me, just doesn't want to venture out, I'm emotionally driven and i don't think I can successfully do it.
Now, you say you have a friend that you hook up at parties and only when you're drunk but only to third base. If you guys are both drunk, how the hell do you manage to keep sober enough to make sure it's ONLY to third base? What happens if one day, you don't think about it and you guys hit a home run? After you sleep with him, have you thought about what consequences this might bring to your 'friendship?'
Pardon me for saying, but I don't even believe this is friendship you have with your friend. It's a state of convinience that you two mutually agreed upon. What is it about parties that make both of you so horny to fool around until 3rd base while intoxicated? Don't you care who knows and observes? Wouldn't this 'successful' pattern backfire on you in the future, if and when you actually do decide to get in a serious relationship? It just seems like the whole concept of friends with benefits seem... as if you're playing with fire. Perhaps, I'm just naive about it all. *shrug*
What the FREAK! THE COUPON IS EXPIRED.
That's how the ladies snag em. Give em a taste and then uh oh... sorry please look at the expiry date... if you want to go further you'll need to purchase the whole thing. dammit
maybe.
agreed.. i've always felt that friends with benefits was completely okay. unfortunately, a lot of my friends don't share this PoV with me -.-
i totally agree with everything you said! especially coming from another girl, it means alot! because guys just want sex 24/7, so other girls are like nooo you slutt! but i dotn agree, people tell me i think more like a guy in that sense. haha i dont know..but i liked your blog!
I read friends w/ benefits 1...and thought "hmmm its not really wrong, unless you personally think its wrong"...even me thinking its "ok" isnt completely right, but since i can justify it in my own way, than that makes it completely fine;FOR ME. In otherwords to each its own. In pure actuality not everyone can deal with being friends w/ benefits..A ways back i had one and i totally started liking the girl(i know most dudes r like BRO UR WACK why would a dude feel that way)because she was just an awesome person. Sex is sex, i believe very few can fuck over and over again and not become somewhat attracted, and start pondering their feelings about that person. I say stick to one night stands...LOL
I agree with what you say.
If both parties are consenting and know what they're going into, why not?
But I guess it's up to the individual to decide if they think having 'friends with benefits' is right.
I think its fine. But the thing I would worry about is who he is having sex with when he isn't with you and is he being careful with these other women...
You have great points. I agree with most of the things that you pointed out....