Studying for my Gender and Society final (which is largely about sex and sex-related topics) got me thinking: there is a natural cycle of sex vs. relationships that everyone seems to go through.
At first, you want something. Anything will do, though having the stable, long-term relationship before the sex is generally considered a good idea.
When you’re in a stable, long term relationship, novelty can wear off and sometimes you get left just wanting sex. Then you get dumped and all you want is the comfort of the relationship, you don’t even care about the sex.
For a while after that, you just say “fuck this whole relationship thing, I’m fine!” but you’re so depressed about the breakup that you don’t want either sex or another relationship. And then, slowly but surely, you start to want sex again. Not a relationship, because dear god, you just saw what that can do.
Maybe you have a couple of unfulfilling flings, or more likely you just kind of sit around like a blob, doing your homework and having Liz Phair on a continuous loop in your head singing “I can feel it in my bones, I’m gonna spend another year alone.”
And after a couple of months of that, you are prepared to heartily lust after anyone that even gives the most minor indication that they might possibly like you. This generally leads to falling flat on your face, which in turn leads to swearing off both lust and relationships “forever.”
And then, just when you’ve finally moved on with your life, you meet somebody fantastic, and the whole ridiculous cycle starts all over again.