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Being Intimate w/o Having Sex
by terpfan101, November 10, 2005 10:41 PM
Intimacy is defined as the basis of friendship and one of the bases of love. It may take several forms. The two main forms of intimacy: emotional intimacy and physical intimacy. In some ways the two overlap, in that by being intimate physically, you are intimate emotionally. 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.
On the other hand physical intimacy arises when two people are physically close to each other. Examples include being physically near somebody so that you are in their personal space, holding hands, hugging, kissing, caressing, and sexual activity. While sexual activity is a part of physical intimacy, it is not absolutely necessary to engage in sexual intercourse or even any sexual touching to be intimate. I will be using the term sexual activity to encompass sexual intercourse, oral sex, anal sex, mutual masturbation, and touching of a woman’s breasts. Whether or not you want to include individual forms of sexual activity in your definition is up to you.
Two people can be intimate without engaging in sexual activity. One of the best ways to be intimate without sexual touching is through the use of asexual touching. Examples of asexual touching include:
- Holding hands
- Hugging
- Sitting on/next to or lying against each other
- Caressing such as one's hair
- Cuddling
- Massaging a part of the body or even the entire body.
- Kissing
All of the above activities can be done often and are a great way to be intimate with somebody you care deeply about. Once again, whether or not you want to include certain parts of sexual touching is up to you. But as you can see there are several other ways you can be physically intimate with another person.
As I mentioned above, being intimate does not require touching. Intimate can be doing something to show your closeness to another person. Here are some more ideas to be close to another:
- Watch a movie
- Email, text message, IM, or better yet talk on the phone.
- Take a walk together
- Go for a bike ride
- Go out to dinner
- Make dinner together
- Watch a movie together
- Go for a picnic
- Cuddle in front of a fire
- Exercise together
- Go to the bookstore together
- Compliment each other
- Leave a rose on their car
- Go dancing together
- Do art together
- Stargaze together
- Look at pictures
- Run in the rain
- Go to the zoo, mall, or a museum together.
- Watch the sunset together
- Give a piggyback ride
- Feed each other chocolate covered fruits
The list could go on forever, but the key thing is that being intimate is doing something together to show how close you are. Have fun with each other and remember it is never necessary to have sex to be intimate.
References: Definitions from Wikipedia
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