Emerald

I actually really like the Scooby Doo metaphor, and I don't see it as a negative thing when I say it. I like that quality about men's sexuality. It's just a really straightforward earnest excitement and enjoyment for sex.

I disagree with you that women don't masturbate as often or seek as much quantity of sex because of our sexual abundance... and that men masturbate and seek sex more because of their lack of sexual abundance. Sure, it is easier for women to find a man to sleep with. And this could have some subtle psychological effects on sex drive to know this. But there are deeper biological factors at play that make men more interested in the physicality of sex and sexual sensation compared to women. And this biology makes men feel more of a charge towards the physical experience of sex and orgasm. Most men feel the urge to orgasm at least several times per week... and commonly every day. For women, we don't tend to have that charge towards sexual sensation and orgasm come up as often. Rather, the emotional factors have to be in place first before we can open up to the desire for sexual sensation (whether in sex or self-pleasuring). Like, I probably feel the urge towards orgasm once per month or even less than that. And this is probably 90% biological. That's why you see tons of guys developing an unhealthy relationship with porn but very few women struggling with porn in the same way.

??? To be clear, Leo was the one that brought up the glory holes thing as an example of "Scooby Doo sex". But I was thinking very differently about my Scooby Doo metaphor. The metaphor is just that Scooby Doo and Shaggy are in love with food and eating itself. And this is what seems evident to me about men's relationship with sex and sexual pleasure. And there is a desire for a lot of "food." For women, there is an equal appreciation of food. But quantity isn't the main factor that comes into play. The emotional flavors and textures are far more compelling than the process of eating lots of food in itself.

I do know that most men do want more than Scooby Doo sex. It wouldn't be interesting to sleep with a man if that's all there was. Men are still living, breathing, emotional human beings that long to love and be loved. And even if some men may deny it, the desire for sex is directly linked to the desire for connection and love. But I have witnessed that men tend to be highly compelled to seek out sex and sexual pleasure for its own sake.... mostly because of the enjoyment of the physical sensations. If we take away sex itself and we just think about self-pleasuring, you'll find that most men will frequently masturbate because they are compelled by the physical sensation and to seek orgasm. And this is where the Scooby Doo analogy comes in because Scooby Doo just enjoys the process of eating itself without much complex discrimination. And as long as there is physical attraction to the image of the woman, then it will suffice to scratch the physical itch... even if he does crave for more emotionally oriented sexual experiences. And his desire for more emotional sexual experiences won't deter his drive towards orgasm. For women, they usually won't masturbate or seek sex as frequently because it doesn't really scratch the emotional itch that compels her more towards sex. And she doesn't feel as strong of a drive towards climax and the physical sensations associated with sex like a man does. And this is why people often think that women are less lustful than men. We are not. It's just that there are other angles we are focused on that take precedence over the raw physical element. And we don't generally get very excited by things like seeking variety either.

That's definitely true. You can't really win a guy over. He's just into it or he isn't. But you could even repel a guy who is into it by over-functioning.

I don't really think this factors in that much because we're really talking about two different modes of operating. And I can operate in both modes. Like, I can have sex in the Masculine way or the Feminine way. With the Masculine way, sex is an a to b journey to orgasm. And I can get this through watching porn or even having sex with random guys I feel nothing for if I wanted to. And it's just very physically oriented and the stimulation feels pretty good... but not good enough to want very often. With the Feminine way, sex is a non-linear soak in subtle erotic emotions. And I can't get this in any other format than fantasizing about or having sex with a man that I feel a deep sense of intimacy with. And it's mostly an emotional whole body somatic experience. And it's the latter that feels really gratifying and motivating with tons of libidinal energy.... bordering on obsession. And it is the one that I fantasize more about. The former is one of those, once a month kind of things where it's like "sure why not, I'm feeling squirrelly enough."

That's true. To use my metaphor, I'd say I have a 25% itch towards Scooby Doo sex... and a 75% itch towards Gordon Ramsey sex. Either way, it may come across that women aren't as lustful. But it's just that we're pickier because it's more complicated for us to scratch the itch in a way that's really gratifying.

Another straw man. I didn't say women are above it either. I told you that I've had my fair share of that kind of sex and that it's fine enough. What I'm saying is that that usually doesn't scratch the itch.

That's a straw man of what I'm saying, and you know it. I never said many men are compelled by glory holes. I'd imagine that less than half would be willing to go to a glory hole. I said, that men are compelled towards sex the way that Shaggy and Scooby are compelled towards food.... but that that orientation towards sex doesn't usually scratch the itch for women.

Yes, that's true. Erotica tends to be a lot more stimulating than porn from my pov as well because the story evokes emotions and mimics in the imagination the real life experience of being with a living breathing person. And I can watch porn and be turned on by it, and it enhances the self-pleasuring. But it's a different mode of arousal altogether that's far less compelling. Like, there's so much heart-centered and mind-centered arousal that gets missed with porn. And I tend to feel drained afterwards. But I feel energized, if I've just used my imagination or read some kind of erotica (which I rarely do. I prefer my imagination.)

Sure, women can enjoy that from time to time. And I've certainly had my fair share "Scooby Doo sex" with some one night stands or even just routine sex with a partner. And there wasn't anything very complex about it, and it's enjoyable enough. Though, I don't think many women would enjoy a glory hole specifically as most women don't want to suck random dicks through the wall. I'm sure that some do. But I don't think that's very many women's fantasy. What I'm saying is that, women tend to be far less compelled by this type of sexual interaction... while men are highly compelled by it. Women are more compelled by all the emotional subtleties associated with the sexual experience. And we're HIGHLY compelled by it. But this makes us generally pickier with sex and less motivated towards it, because Scooby Doo sex usually doesn't scratch the actual itch. Scooby Doo sex is a bit like eating food that has no flavor. And that's fine for morning oatmeal. But if you're a woman, you're going to need a little more than that to get really excited. And because of this pickiness, the conclusion is often drawn that women aren't as lustful. But that's because there's a whole kaleidoscope of feelings that has to be in play for us to really want sex. And we're super obsessed with that kaleidoscope. But in most sexual encounters, you're probably not going to feel the kaleidoscope.

Thank you. I find that sex is super intriguing to me on so many levels, and I think about it a lot. But I don't need it in large quantities. It's a different mode that's less about the a to b pursuit of orgasm. And I'm not very motivated towards climax most of the time. It's very non-linear and non-directional. And it's more like bathing in a soup of very intriguing pleasant emotions and meanings. It's like a wine-taster who enjoys picking up on all these different subtle notes, but rarely drinks wine for the purpose of getting drunk. And without these complex subtle emotional flavors, sex and orgasm is somewhat boring because the physical sexual sensation by itself is only mildly compelling. It's taking something subtle and multi-dimensional and collapsing it down to something overt and uni-dimensional, which can feel draining. And this is what often leads men to the conclusion that women aren't as interested in sex. But that's not true. It's just that sex without emotions is like eating bland food with no spice. And Gordon Ramsey would probably go hungry rather than eat bland food with no spice.

Some can overlook taste in exchange for money. It's probably not the case that very many women would work a glory hole for her own gratification.

Yes, I would be fine with engaging with the content of his argument if he were treating me with respect. I'm happy to have a debate. But I have a non-negotiable boundary that I will not read or respond to arguments that are peppered with insults and personal attacks. So, I haven't dismissed his perspective as pure ad hominem, as I don't know what his perspective is beyond what I can take in at a cursory glance. But I refuse to read/engage with his perspective because of the screed of ad hominem attacks and the lack of a basic level of respect.

Spicy cats is a good way to put it. If you go on a Red Pill or Incel forum or read any post from anywhere by a guy who is resistant to the Feminine, the main things that sticks out to me is that it feels very catty... like Mean Girls vibes. And I know that that's like the opposite of the image that these guys are wanting to portray. Also, thank you for the support. <3 I'm glad those times are over. But these experiences have made me who I am.

Thank you. I appreciate the support.

I was thinking it might be something like that. I'm very close with someone that can get triggered into some patterns like this where he feels responsible for keeping women from losing their minds, because his mom and sister had/have alcoholism and Schizophrenia which caused episodes where they'd be hallucinating and thinking delusionally. And as a very young child, the adults around him were like "take care of your mother" because his dad wasn't around and his older sister wasn't capable of helping because she was also a child and had her own mental health issues. So, he's got all this feeling of responsibility at the age of 6 for his mother's well-being, and he also feels responsible for his sister now. And even now, if I get too excited... or if I get a little angry... or sad... or show strong emotion at all, he can start getting freaked out and over-functioning... though he's much better about it now if I tell him to cool his jets. But it used to cause a real strain on our relationship back when we were romantic partners. And he would constantly be criticizing me and trying to control me and teach me how everything I'm doing is wrong. And our relationship became like a controlling dad who was constantly reprimanding their recalcitrant rebellious teenage daughter who just won't listen to 'reason'. And the 12 year age gap didn't help matters on this front. And when I finally ended the romantic part of our relationship, he admitted to me that he saw himself as my teacher that needed to train me and fix me so that I could start operating normally. And it was only then that it occurred to him that that wasn't the right way to operate and he apologized and has made a lot of progress on this front. But that's what the poster who keeps talking about me reminds me a little of. And it makes me wonder if he's got some similar trauma patterns in his background to where he was made to be responsible for his mom or other female family members' mental health issues at a young age. He seems to be over-functioning and trying to get me to listen to him and to 'dispossess me of my delusions'. So, it's very familiar.

Thank you! It's been 15 years since all that craziness from back then. But it was a chaotic and painful but important time in my life. I have a 13 yo daughter and a 9 yo son. And in them approaching the age when things became chaotic for me (early teens to 20), it really drives home how vulnerable I was at the time and how much I was having to navigate dangerous and difficult waters while building my identity and preparing for adult life. In one of my medicine journeys, it showed me that these experiences and the more stifling pains from age 13 and before were given to me as a gift (a sampler platter of many experiences and traumas on many scales of intensity) to learn how the really world is... and to learn about trauma, coping, human motivation, etc. so that I can gain the perspective and wisdom to help people in many situations from a place of lived experience. So, this perspective has been helpful to see. And I see my negative experiences as some of the most prized treasures of my life.

Yes, that's exactly how it is. You become fixated on that one particular guy, and every other guy is whatever... even guys who are kinder, better, more attractive, etc. etc. etc. And to your point from the previous message, this can also repel a guy because guys tend to fall in love through trying to earn a woman's appreciation and affection. And feeling these feelings too openly or intensely can 'spoil the game' for a guy, and he won't really appreciate the affection without the sense that he earned it through this that or the other action or quality. So, it's a delicate needle to thread... as this Feminine way of becoming attracted to a man without boundaries and temperance can backfire and can cause a woman to step into the lover role, which is a Masculine archetype that's all about giving love. And she can start over-functioning and treating him like the beloved, and trying to woo the guy and give and give and give, which he may enjoy but doesn't fall in love with. And it creates an imbalance of investment that is repellant. She may try to woo him by giving him sex, a pretty face/body, affection, love, cooking, cleaning, low-maintenance girlfriend treatment with low commitment, etc. in hopes of winning his affection. And this is her projecting her own sexuality onto him, because she would like him to invest in her and give and believes that he responds to the same thing. But men usually don't respond with love to receiving. He's more likely to respond with love to giving and being appreciated for what he gives. So, it requires the ability to temper those feelings and to maintain quite a bit of restraint and opacity... and to create more space when every fiber of your being says "Get closer!!!!" And thank you for the compliment! Before I became a mom at 22, my life was a lot more chaotic. But I learned a lot about people during that time. And it's all very helpful to me now because it gives me some different points of perspective.

Yuck it up if you want. It wasn't obvious to me as a teenager because most people around me had their own special brand of crazy, and low standards of moral behavior was just the way half or more of the people operated in my hometown as a folkway. Such is the way of growing up in the trashier areas in a small Florida redneck town. And I was unconsciously judgmental of the people with low standards of moral behavior, and I sought to differentiate myself. And I became identified with hyper-specific moral standards including self-sacrificing... which put me in a state of tolerating a lot of things I shouldn't have and priding myself on being (supposedly) non-judgmental of others as a cornerstone of my identity. And I knew plenty of peers and adults who had been in and out of jail/prison that were otherwise okay people, but didn't understand the extent to which that would invite chaos and pain into my life to be romantically involved with someone who the local cops know personally. But in general, when you're in these types of settings and it's super common for people to have low standards of behavior, you lose a certain degree of disgust and discernment. It's like going nose-blind to a bad smell... or getting used to cockroaches crawling all over you at night because you're living in an infestation. So, I didn't have the firewalls to be adequately picky. As a contrast, it was really quite a culture shock going to a liberal arts college with tons of upper middle class people with Stage Green values. For the first few months that I was there, I was trying to bond over conspiracy theories like I would with people in my hometown. And that didn't play very well in that culture and had the opposite effect of connection.

That's definitely Rule #1!

Then plug another chef with a love for food but selective tastes into the metaphor.

I don't see it as a form of unconditional love. It's definitely SUPER conditional. But it's not conditioned primarily upon specific objective qualities. It's conditioned on him being precisely who he is. It's more about an appreciation of the whole gestalt of his personality and who he is as a unique living breathing feeling human being. I would call it hyper-subjectificaton where that one guy becomes like a demi-god in a woman's eyes. And that's true even if he doesn't possess objectively attractive or positive qualities. And yes, that can be a huge issue. This tendency has a pretty self-destructive side to it if a woman doesn't get ruthlessly picky about who she allows to get close to her. Once a woman has her heart set on a particular man and she gets attached, boundaries can be difficult. This is why it's important to integrate the Masculine side, which is to set clear boundaries and standards for the men she spends time with... lest she be struck by Cupid's arrow for a man who will drag down the quality of her life. So, it's SO important to have solid deal breakers and to be able to protect your boundaries as a woman because these feelings put you in a vulnerable position. And that's especially true if you're young and inexperienced. Like back when I was between age 16 and 20, I had no boundaries because I thought boundaries were wrong to have. I thought that I would be a bitch if I had any boundaries, and that was a huge fear for me at the time. When I was 16, I fell in love with my first boyfriend who was 17. And we were together for 4 years. And he had some redeeming qualities. But he was mostly a mess of a guy who was going nowhere in his life. And I lived with him, his mom, and his sister in my junior and senior year of high school before I went to college. And he was very chaotic and would frequently threaten to commit suicide... often as a means to control me or evoke certain reactions from me. And he was also in and out of jail for petty crimes. And life was very stressful with him because he was super unreliable and irresponsible. But I had this deeply held belief that "If I love him, I should be willing to support him and stick with him through anything." And he didn't have much of anything going for him, but I had this deep value of loyalty where I would sacrifice myself for him again and again and again. And I kept trying to act as an almost motherly figure to him because his life had been very traumatic and neither of his parents had ever given him any nurturing. His mom was an alcoholic and was a decent person but very rough and tough. He also witnessed his older brother having hung himself when he was 12. And his dad even tried to shoot him at the request of a hooker he had brought home when my ex-bf we was 14. (Side note: His dad also enlisted the help of a drug dealer to try to steal our van by pretending like he was being held for ransom unless my ex-bf would sign the title over. And a few months before he and I got together, my ex-bf was seeing a girl who was also 17 like he was. And he took her to Tampa with him for a week to stay with his dad. And his dad started giving her (a 17yo) crack in exchange for sex. I could go on and on about his dad and how terrible he is.) So, when he and I got together, I was trying EXTRA hard to compensate for all of his pain by being as loving and nurturing as possible. And I was endlessly enabling. But one night, when I was 20, he went full-blown homicidal with me and started threatening to kill me and himself. And he was leading me around by the pedestrian walking area downtown at 3am and holding a broken beer bottle to my throat for about an hour as we walked and he was threatening to cut me and also to snap my neck. And he led me to the fort that's in the same area and was holding me next to a high ledge near the for with a 10-15 ft drop and threatening to push me off and asking me if I trust him or not. Funny enough, I wasn't too too scared... because he never went through with anything he ever said he was going to do. And he'd never been violent with me before. It was just sad and traumatic. Needless to say, I had to break with that value and end it. And it was a painful but important lesson to learn that I needed to grow some claws. Then when I finally severed the tie, I didn't really have a support system. And out of loneliness, I started spending time around guy who was about a decade older than me, and I had started to catch feelings for him. And he had all sorts of issues with heavy drugs. And he'd lost custody of his kid. And he was showing so many abuse red flags just in a few week's span of time. And I could sense with those hyper-subjectifying feelings that were kicking in that I was going out of the frying pan and into the fire. So because I was very alone in the world at that time, I deliberately went out and found another random guy to spend time around that I was generically attracted to that wasn't as chaotic. It was a crazy time with many lessons. And one of them is that you have to be super picky about the guys you spend time with BEFORE those feelings fully set in.

I looked up what the platforms are. I had assumed at first that they were AI interactions that mimic human interactions or a place where you pay someone to talk to you. But yes. That seems to be better than not socializing at all. That said, nothing substitutes for in-person interactions. And if those sites give the illusion of a socialization fix, that can discourage you from getting out of the comfort zone.

I'm glad it made you laugh.