You can have intimacy with or without sex and you can have sex with or without intimacy. Emotional intimacy: a deep feeling of closeness and trust.
Physical intimacy: includes touching in a way that enhances feelings of closeness and desire.
Sexual intimacy: combines the physical act of sex with emotional closeness and trust.
Typicaly one night stands, flings, friends with benefits don't include intimacy. If a friends with benefits includes intimacy it is usually because one person wants a relationship where most times the other person doesn't. You can pay a therapist and will be intimate with them because they are there to try and help you help yourself to better your life. You normal donxt have sexual relations with them because it would be unethical and they could lose their license.
There are people who are the wham bam thank you mam, blow and go, fuck and buck, hump and dump, lick it stick it and kick it etc type when it comes to sex. You most likely won't be intimate if having sexy during a gangbang or an orgy. You can pay a prostitute ( street or a brothel of so. e kind) but there is a 99.99% chance if not 100% of not getting intimate with them.
Take away the therapist and prostitute. Usually a couple who has way more sex than intimacy don't last long because they don't get to know each other on a deeper level. If there is an imbalance between intimacy and sex a couple that is together along time and is truly happy togther has more intimacy than sex. More times I have heard peoe say they need intimacy to have sex than they need sex to have intimacy. What it means is that they have to know the person on a deeper level before having sex with them versus only being intimate during sex.
I do love both intimacy and sex but for me the win goes to intimacy.
Agreed
I voted A, “Sex is more important”, but I need to qualify this by saying that, for me (and I believe for most guys), sex IS intimacy, and you can’t separate the two. When a man receives regular, consistent and positive sexual interaction with the woman he loves, he feels loved by her. He feels closevto her. He feels intimacy with her. Men are not like women, we don’t experience touch nearly as much as females do. It’s not even close. Females are physically affectionate and touchy-feely with each other in ways that males just aren’t. For many guys, one of the only times we experience affectionate touching is during sexual relations. That sexual touching is highly intimate for a man, which is why I say that, in a very significant way, sex equals intimacy for most men, myself included.
This is what I thought most men would say, but SO FAR, you are the minority. Still I thank you for making this VERY valid point that I believe many people miss!
@guardian45 Thanks! I do find it telling that most of the female respondents here chose ‘Intimacy’, and seem to feel that, for them, it can be separated from sex. Even a lot of the guys here who chose Intimacy said that sex was tied together with it. Very interesting.
You're welcome
Intimacy.
Can't have "sex" or at least GOOD SEX when you're having Erectile Dysfunction issues due to stress, trauma, or a physical ailment, etc.! Even aging can do that.
However, with being Emotionally Intimate, that's something you can NEVER take away from a couple! It's beautiful and wonderful to feel loved and to love someone back. It's like Heaven. And it lasts longer than an orgasm too!
Plus, what if your wife just gave birth and is still bleeding from below? I'd rather think about her health and comfort than just getting some! That would be very selfish of me to do.
Good points. Well-said.
I can't have sex without feelings for a person, so obviously intimacy over sex.
It baffles me how some people can just sleep with others with little to no emotion or feelings towards someone and not feel guilty about it, especially if the other person develops feelings for you (hence why flings and fwbs/f buddies rarely work). But more power to you! I prefer having a connection with a guy before doing anything as intimate as that with him.
Agreed. But there are some here who believe sex fulfills a need that intimacy alone cannot!
i vote to ur opinion🌹❤️
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What's Your Opinion? Sign Up Now!As a physical and spiritual being intimacy is the aim. Sex is animalistic and pro creative..
And if you could have ONLY one for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
intimacy for sure...
Intimacy in a relationship consists of physical, emotional, spiritual and mental. Without this, we'd most definitely be screwed.
Or screwing? 🤣
Hahahahahaha I fell into that one didn't I! LOL
Sorry. I couldn't resist. I didn't mean to be rude.
Intimacy for sure, for me. I can go a long time not having sex and feel ok, but intimacy is really important to me. If you get turned on you can bring yourself to orgasm and get some satisfaction (albeit temporary) that way, but intimacy really requires another person, and the sharing of each other. And that applies to both definitions of the term "intimacy" - physical and emotional.
I like this answer!
Just sex makes me feel used... And i dont like to feel that way.. I need emotional connection for some good mental health
Agree. I hate anyone who thinks sex is just sex. A woman won't have sex with a guy just because she's horny. If that was the case then our species would have been destroyed probably. Women need to know that the one they sleep with can be trusted and is a reliable partner that can keep you and your possible off-spring save. If men in the past would sleep with women and then just bolt away as soon as possible then those women would be doomed if they ended up pregnant.
I think so too
@RiseofArtemis Then explain one night stands, gangbangs with the woman as the focus, orgies that women are apart o especially if the women were not drugged or drunk but willingly participated.
Isn't it according to what DAY it is? What time in your life it is? How you're feeling in general?
A combination of the two seems the best outcome. But sometimes you just want worry-free sex, don't you?
Other times intimacy is more important. At the best times, it's the best of both.
Hookup culture and casual sex needs to be destroyed as its the root of many peoples problems, rising mental illness and trust issues in women.
Interesting point
@RiseofArtemis Though hooking up might cause temporary trauma because a person expected more than sex, or someone might be abused, that's not the cause of MOST mental illness. Most mental illness is inherited or initiated by a stressful event. Some comes out of nowhere from a bad combo of genes...
Sex is certainly enjoyable, but as I have aged intimacy that preclude sexual activity is become very important. And I think it generally makes sexual intimacy more enjoyable when the mental and non-sexual intimacy comes first. Hope that makes sense.
I love this answer.
Thank you for your kind words!
You're welcome
I’m not big in hugs and cuddling but i like kisses, hickeys and being fingered. So ig if that counts as intimacy i’ll take that
Hmmm. Down the middle?
More like “up the middle” I think 😉
@Andres77. LOL! Rudeboy!😂
I can't give up either, both have to be good in my relationship (and luckily it is.),
There are times when sex with my boyfriend is empowering and amazing, and there's times we have sex thats loving and beautiful, and then there's times where I just want to cuddle with him, stroke his hair and watch a movie.
I personally don't value either one above the other one. They're both equally important to me, and I love both, it all depends on my mood, my boyfriends mood etc.
Okay. Thank you.
Cuddling and sharing personal stories are more important than sex.
I love cuddling!
I think I could give up sex for that.
I can't decide since I can't compare both and I've never been in a relationship.
Understandable
Thanks for understanding.
You're welcome
I think sex is pretty darn intimate.
You're right, so what's you're choice.
Maybe you should define intimate. On one hand, I don't care for sex without intimacy. And intimacy without any sex would be messed up.
Imagine your longtime spouse develops a debilitating lifetime illness that prevents them from ever having sex again. Would intimacy with them be enough to sustain you or would you need to get sex somewhere else?
Intimacy, because you need it for actual sex (as in sex that isn't just awkwardly shoving genitals into one another). It's like asking me if I prefer oranges or fruit.
Gotcha!
I think intimacy is more important as without intimacy, sex is just a brief bit of fun. Sex without intimacy is basically building and releasing really. During the 23 hours or so that you aren’t having sex during the day, intimacy can make your relationship with a special someone more fulfilling than it would otherwise be. Friends are good but an intimate relationship can be a lot more personal and interesting.
You just described how empty hookup culture really is.
Intimacy builds closeness, making sex more intense and satisfying.
@RiseofArtemis I do hope that the hookup culture period transitions to someone more fulfilling for everyone sometime in the future. Maybe something like the 50s but with less pressure.
I'm not sure that actual penetration which Im classifying as sex , is as big a deal , generally the two do cross over , and it depends on intimacy classification I guess , based on the above intimacy for me is far more important than actually pinning the tail on the donkey , but intimacy may cross over , oral sex for example.
Do you think that intimacy and sex can be separated and could you choose only one?
I think its possible , but its grey area , difficult.
Between the 2, intimacy is most important. Sex is great, but intimacy as a whole is more important. Involves more heart, soul and passion
Yessss!!!
Sex sounds pretty intimate to me? I don’t understand the question…
Well, if I was told that I could choose ONLY ONE: either sex or intimacy for the rest of my life, then I would choose intimacy with one person and NEVER have sex again. And sex is NOT something I give up lightly!
Intimacy without hesitation.
I can go without sex completely no problem.
Agreed
intimacy, andI didn't know what that was for the longest time.
My testosterone isn't what it used to be, but it never work with a real person without my heart involved.
Trudat!
Intimacy >>>>> cuddling >> sex
If you can have ONLY one: Intimacy OR sex for the rest of your life, which do you choose?
Both. My love is greedy.
HAHAHA! I hear you!
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