"Sex for Pleasure" versus "Sex for Procreation"

I was having a debate with a good friend of mine over the weekend regarding "Sex for Pleasure" versus "Sex for Procreation"

He was very insistent that humans have sex for pleasure and the idea of procreation didn't come into it.

I agreed that humans, do indeed, have sex for pleasure but the underlying reason for having sex was procreation. Whether humans thought about the reasons for having sex was of no relevance as our natural sexual instinct drove us to have sex, and it was this instinct that ensured population growth and the success of the human race.

Although I believed I gave good reasoning for my argument, he still disagreed. :bnghd:

So I would like to hear your views on the matter, and maybe you guys have a better way of explaining it, or not...!!


[Edited on 7-6-2004 by Koka]

Evolution ensures the survival of a species.....pleasure is the best way to make us do somthing.

hence why fatty food is so tasty, we naturally find food with high fat content and sugar pleasing, its the easiest way for nature to fatten us up incase of a famine

[edit on 7-6-2004 by Azza]

If we were created to have sex for pleasure only and not procreation then there would have been no need for women to have the built in instincts to nurture and protect her young. We wouldn't fight off a mountain lion to protect our children....we could end up dead and couldn't have sex for pleasure anymore.
Sex is not pleasurable when you have sex with just anyone...it's uncomfortable and embarassing. If you care for the person it is more satisfying (for women)
Read the post on 'stress response in women' and you can see how we were created to tend children.

Sex has turned into a pleasure act. Its no longer for reproduction only.

What's being missed here is intimacy. Pleasurable sex between a couple, as opposed to say a 1 night stand, helps develope a bond between them. So it isn't one or the other really, it's both. Mind you, if you're having sex for pleasure and don't wrap it up, you're may be doing both anyway.

I think that sex IS pleasurable because we need it for procreation, so there isn't any contradiction between those two opinions.

Noone would agree to have sex just because of the idea that we need it for procreation, but people would agree to have sex if it is something pleasurable.

So making sex pleasurable is like nature's way causing procreation.

[edit on 7-6-2004 by Transc3ndent]

.....I have never had sex with the intention to procreate!

Although I believe you are right....I tend to think more like your friend

[Edited on 6/7/2004 by Venus]

Here, here spittincobra!

If sex is mainly done on the intentions of procreation, then why are there homosexuals?

I don't think the point is...why do YOU have sex...but rather what is the underlying reason for our desire to have sex. We were not designed to have fun, but to survive as a speicies. Therefore procreation is a must. To make sure we do that, we were given natural drugs to encorage us to do it more often....Oh and beer for when your first choice goes home with your mate, and your left with her friend.
Beer is gods gift to ugly men and women......and I thank him/her/it for that. Right up until the morning after.......oooooooohhhhh..I'll just sneak out the back.

Evolution ensures the survival of a species.....pleasure is the best way to make us do somthing.

I think you've hit the nail on the head....

Similar behaviours.....

Sucking a wound....(the saliva aids in the clotting process, but you don't do it because of that....)

The feeling of relief when you...well....relieve yourself....(you need to expel waste, but it's hardly the impetus to do so)....

in the long run paid sex is cheaper then getting it for free

Originally posted by bigal66
in the long run paid sex is cheaper then getting it for free

There is no such thing as "free sex." You can pay for it in whatever manner you wish. Buy a drink, out and out pay for it, or the most expensive way, be in a relationship. The amount you are willing to go is also the benefit you will get from it.

I think god made possible the act of sex with procreation purposes, but he made it fun to be sure we would do it.

I thought that was pretty simple.

Fun fact: Only humans, shrimps and dolphins have sex for fun, apparently.

I'm guessing that only humans can accomplish that alone though. Toys as needed.

You cant say we have sex just for fun or just for procreation... we do it for one, the other or both... i for one am yet to have sex for procreation purposes, but one day i hope to make mini-me's. Then there are people who feel having sex for fun is sinful... its up to each individual which of the two they have sex for but you cant really say its always for one or the other...

and just an interesting fact in relation to this... did you know dolphins are the only other animal who have sex for pleasure.

Well you guys pretty much covered the ground that me a my friend did.

Morbid: I was unaware that Shrimps had sex for fun, in fact, I find it a little hard to believe.

specialasianX: I don't say that you either have sex for pleasure or procreation, I actually say that the underlying reason we have sex is to procreate. Conciously, you want the fun, and nature gets what it wants 9 months later.

Originally posted by Koka
Morbid: I was unaware that Shrimps had sex for fun, in fact, I find it a little hard to believe.

Why is it so hard to believe?

Haven't you ever seen shrimp f*cking?

Originally posted by Ocelot
Why is it so hard to believe?

Haven't you ever seen shrimp f*cking?

Well actually no..!!

What you do in the privacy of your own attic, is your concern.

Originally posted by Koka
Well actually no..!!

What you do in the privacy of your own attic, is your concern.

LMAO!!!

I haven't seem them either but I bet they enjoy it.