Quickie: What Is the Relationship Between Casual Sex and Intimacy?
Casual sex benefits are not just a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am affair
Conventional wisdom tells us that casual sex is meant to be just that — casual. We often believe that the casual sex rules are supposed to be having no strings, and definitely no emotions, attached. Although this can certainly be the case, and these types of encounters can definitely be enjoyable, a study in the Journal of Relationships Research shows that casual sex benefits don’t have to be completely divorced from intimacy.
“We have a stereotype that casual sex — hookups — are just about meaningless sex, but this research shows this is not necessarily true,” said researcher Ann Merriwether. “It shows intimacy is important and desired by many people, especially those who prefer hookups to more traditional relationships.”
To find out how important intimacy is in hookups, Merriwether and her colleagues surveyed hundreds of college students on how much affection and intimacy they enjoyed during casual sex compared to sex in a romantic relationship. These activities included behaviors such as foreplay, eye gazing, cuddling, and spending the night with a sex partner.
“We have a stereotype that casual sex — hookups — are just…
