defining terminology
posted November 14, 2005 at 05:27 pm
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about sex, love and relationships lately, primarily with an eye toward firming up my own beliefs and boundaries in those areas. I thought it might be helpful to start by looking up definitions for some words and phrases related to the subject. I'm fairly certain that men and women probably have different interpretations on some of these; maybe I'm not the only one who will find them interesting.
If I am the only one who finds them interesting, well hey, at least I posted something on this damn site.
(All definitions are taken from the Wikipedia.)
Casual sex refers to promiscuous sexual activity, consisting of a range of informal sexual encounters.
A hookup (colloquial American English) is casual sex activity that could consist of kissing, oral sex, and full sexual intercourse.
An extended hookup oftentimes refers to prolonged instances of casual sex interactions. This is a situation in which the involved parties occasionally meet for casual sex multiple times; always without any sort of monogamous commitment.
A booty call is a telephone call, other communication or visitation made with the sole intent of achieving sex with the person being contacted. Such a call is usually made later in the evening and often after consuming alcohol.
Intimacy is the basis of friendship and one of the bases of love. It may take several forms. The main ones are emotional intimacy and physical intimacy.
Emotional intimacy is a dimension of interpersonal intimacy which varies in degree, much like Physical intimacy. In an emotional context, intimacy can be observed in terms of communication pertaining to emotional states as subjective experiences. The degree of comfort and effectiveness of the communicative process can be seen as an indicator of the emotional intimacy between two individuals. Relative emotional intimacy depends primarily on trust, as well as the nature of the relationship. Emotional intimacy frequently involves individuals discussing their feelings and emotions with each other in order to gain understanding and offer mutual support. It is necessary for human beings to have this form of intimacy on a regular basis for them to develop and maintain good mental health.
Physical intimacy is informal proximity and/or touching, usually between two persons, where their positioning and/or touching is an expression or result of intimate feelings (such as close friendship, love, and/or sexual attraction) which they have for each other. Examples of physical intimacy include being inside someone's personal space, holding hands, hugging, kissing, caressing, and sexual activity.
An intimate relationship is a interpersonal relationship where there is a great deal of physical or emotional intimacy. It is usually characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment. Sexuality may or may not be involved.
In monogamy (Greek: monos = single/only and gamos = marriage) a person has only one spouse at a time (as opposed to polygamy). Monogamy is also usually used to mean having only one sexual partner during an entire lifetime.
Serial monogamy is a form of monogamy in which participants have only one sexual partner at any one time, but have more than one sexual partner in their lifetime. Partners can be married or unmarried, but there are never more than one at a time. Within Western culture, this form of monogamy is more prevalent than 'true' monogamy, which is having only one partner in an entire life.
Polyamory is the practice of having more than one loving relationship at the same time, with the full knowledge and consent of all partners involved. The relationships are long-term, intimate, and usually (but not necessarily) sexual. Persons who consider themselves emotionally suited to such relationships may define themselves as polyamorous, often abbreviated to poly.
Swinging, sometimes referred to in North America as the swinging lifestyle or simply the lifestyle (although this simplified term is also used by people into Leather and BDSM), includes a wide range of sexual activities conducted between three or more people. Swinging activities can include having sex with your partner while being watched; watching others have sex (perhaps with your partner); kissing, stroking, or having oral sex with a third or fourth person (called soft swinging); or having penetrative sex with someone other than your partner (Full Swap), which is the commonly understood definition of swinging.
Typically, swinging activities occur when a married (or otherwise committed) couple engages with a similar couple or a single individual. These acts may or may not occur in the same room. Sex on these occasions is often referred to as play. The phenomenon (or at least its wider discussion and practice) may be seen as part of the sexual revolution of recent decades.
Comments
Nice list. ;) Seriously though, it's always good to have definitions and boundaries so you know what you will accept from a relationship in the future.