Thursday 1 January 2009

Why do people have sex?


Research at The University of Texas at Austin reveals hundreds of varied and complex motivations why people have sex, that range from the spiritual to the vengeful.

People's motivations ranged from the mundane "I was bored", to the spiritual "I wanted to feel closer to God"
and from the altruistic "I wanted the person to feel good about himself/herself" to the manipulative "I wanted to get a promotion".

Some said they had sex to feel powerful, others to debase themselves. Some wanted to impress their friends, others to harm their enemies "I wanted to break up a rival's relationship".

Buss and Meston conducted two studies. In the first, they asked more than 400 men and women to identify reasons people have sex. In the second, the researchers asked more than 1,500 undergraduate students about their experiences and attitudes.
The Texas psychologists identified four major factors and 13 sub-factors for why people have sex:

Physical reasons
such as to reduce stress "It seemed like good exercise", feel pleasure "It's exciting", improve or expand experiences "I was curious about sex", and the physical desirability of their partner "The person was a good dancer".
Goal-based reasons,
including utilitarian or practical considerations "I wanted to have a baby", social status "I wanted to be popular" and revenge "I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease".
Emotional reasons
such as love and commitment "I wanted to feel connected" and expression "I wanted to say 'thank you'". Insecurity-based reasons, including self-esteem "I wanted the attention", a feeling of duty or pressure "My partner kept insisting" and to guard a mate "I wanted to keep my partner from straying".

So here's the golden question, what motivates YOU ?
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18 comments:

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

I'm usually pissed..

QUASAR9 said...

shrink wrap,
that's about as frank as one can be
So you must like your wine, to have had four kids - lol!

Acquaintance said...

UT Austin did this study? I'm surprised I didn't hear about it in the local news here in San Antonio yet.

I'm the commitment type and to tell you the truth I love being this way, exactly as they described I feel connected to my lover, I'm just a caring guy for women. But I don't want to have kids, no thanks.

QUASAR9 said...

Hi Mavin, yep I've added the link to utexasresearch
So you are not driven by some more base or primal instinct to procreate & multiply, but a more sophisticate impulse to interact for mutual pleasure.

I'm sure most of the ladies will be glad to hear you are the committed caring sort of guy.

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

(Smile)

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

I've lost the comment section to your most recent post, so I'll use this one instead. It's wonderful news to think there may be an iminent breakthrough in treating, preventing or curing these diseases. I've always been all for stem cell research!

QUASAR9 said...

The human mind and the human body are certainly complex things, it is not easy to please both, or to keep them healthy.
Many miracle cures are promised everyday, but the hard reality is a little like sex, much talk.

QUASAR9 said...

the expectations are always high, but the treatment and the cures fall far short of the promises of miracles to cure all ills

Acquaintance said...

I have to comment here as well.

Yes, this is very interesting and although we (America) might not and doesn't agree to do stem cell research here, it's going on in other countries because they don't have the laws and opinions like it is here. This is the first time I've heard of stem cells research in long while, I hardly hear about it anymore.

You know this something I've heard many times from professors, doctors, and just people, is that one reason why "they" (the government, FDA, or whoever) doesn't want to do this type of research is because of over population of the planet, but so be it, I understand that point but let people live if we can actually reform limbs and organs for the human body. But that's the reason why , and again I quote, "they" don't want to do this type of research because of how powerful this research can be and really is.
It's things I've heard from everybody anymore about subjects like this and that's why other countries are doing this because they can get away with this type of research and not have to deal with American laws and policies for this research. So if scientists are doing more of this research in other countries I say "Keep doing it" as long as it's not hurting anyone then I see no problem with it at all. Because this is what we need.

Just the thing about it though is, human life and life in general is so hard to maintain when we get older.

This brings to my attention also, I've heard this story/theory and wondering if it could be true? When a woman is pregnant there's tons of stem cells during the pregnancy. I've heard that in China, for stem cell research, they take a special syringe and suck out what is not needed during the pregnancy for stem cell research, it's completely harmless and doesn't affect the baby, mother, or anything, I was wondering if maybe you knew anything more about this? You seem like a person who would know.

I hope you don't think this is a bunch of rambles, lol :D, but this is what I hear from all sorts of poeple. I try not to believe everything I listen to (especially most things with the media and politics) but there are some things I hear from a lot of people that sound very convincing. Like I say I'm very openminded.

Later, take care, and regards, Mavin.

Acquaintance said...

This sparked me to go and do some research of my own on this subject, here is a link to go to about this topic I found.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/07/11/stem.cell.fact/

QUASAR9 said...

Hi Mavin,
Stem Cell research is going on in the US and in Europe.
The 'political & religious' debate was over the use of embryos for stem cell research.
The ethical debate was whether we have the right to create 'human' life and farm embryos, like if we were farming chickens.

The scientific argument was if we don't do it here, they'll just do it somewhere else like in Korea, where the culture (and scruples) are different. I mean if science told you that 'eating' human embryos would give you superpowers whether in the classroom or in the bed - you can see that there would be a ready market for embryo burgers in a bun.

But on a more serious note, yes the placenta is a rich source - and I think to some extent it has been shown that there is no real advantage to embryo stem cells.

Mind you for some reason we are a long way away from 'growing' internal organs or other body parts

And though much hope is placed in regenerating or replacing damaged nerves & neurons, no real evidence has as yet been delivered. It is still all experimental results from mice in labs, but mice cannot tell us how they feel, or what the real effects on humans and the human brain would be.

Acquaintance said...

Thanks for all the information, I haven't heard anything new about this til I read this post and went to do some my own research and yeah I found out exactly what you said back to me, I take all that back now. I was honestly just going on what I've been hearing and told recently by others about that topic but that's why I love poeple like you so I can get the facts. It reshapes my mind in a better way. Sometimes I think I'm too openminded sometimes.

Oh and also that's an old link btw, I didn't realized.

Thanks, and take care. :)

Unknown said...

I never thought the 'why' of it...
it's the only time when the herd instinct seems to point in the right direction :)

QUASAR9 said...

lol Random, the herd instinct?
Well I don't know about the rest of the herd, but it's something that's never far from My Mind, cos it's fun and feels soooo good.
And being a male of the species, I guess the reason it's never far from My Mind and feels soooo good is because it's a primal instinct - go forth and ... have fun.

The birds do it, the bees do it ...

ANNA-LYS said...

Honestly, You could as well asked me why I eat *lol*

I need it to survive and
to reach higher dimensions
to give, take and share
and sense emotions I never sensed

....

could go on forever ;-)

(both my talking and ... hmmm ... eating)

FANCY said...

*LOL*...One of the reason most be that One moment of sex do elongate our life,So if it take about 6 minute to do the act you have elongate your life with 14 minutes. Think about it... Who want to live forever.:P
:-))))It most be like strawberries and chocolate no one want to be without it...*LOL*...

Unknown said...

I meant that there are things we all do because everyone does them. And they feel good so we don't stop to think as to why we do it!!!

ANNA-LYS said...

Why do people make love?

Would be much more interesting and might be easier to comment upon!?!

But, maybe sex and making love is the same for males? Meaning, they don't care about the "love-factor" only the animal ... ani-Male?

Can You develop this subject into an understanding?

(( hugs ))