Can love exist without sex?
If you really think about it, love is a combination of subtle emotions, but the essence of love is a feeling of completeness. When we say we love someone, we are trying to describe an emotion that defies definition or description: completeness. "Completeness" is more a strong sensation than an emotion because it is different for each individual. When someone fulfills our physical and emotional needs, we feel "complete" because important human needs are being met.
According to Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs," feelings of trust, safety, intimacy, and acceptance reflect important human needs, and fulfilling needs creates feelings of well-being, especially when combined with sexual fulfillment. But sexual intimacy creates a different set of needs, including the need for safety or permanence in the relationship based on feelings of love.
Love is defined as "an intense feeling of deep affection," and because of its level of intensity, such deep affection creates a desire for emotional and physical "completeness" or sexual intimacy. But once a relationship becomes sexual, there are hormonal changes that often lead to a need for greater emotional attachment, more often for women who usually work harder to ensure their object of affection remains connected and dedicated to the relationship.
Sexual intimacy is reassuring and it creates an emotional bond, but it also can create anxiety or insecurity. Fulfilling our need for love or emotional "completeness" is a human need, but must it include sexual intimacy? Can love exist without sex?
-mhjohnson
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