"The physical act in most beings is to promote reproduction." We would have to start from this quote here, and ask ourselves who were the ones who decided that? It does not mean that when nothing interferes with the physical act of sex and that the natural end result is reproduction - it always has to be that way.

It has been said in certain religions that sex was designed by "God" as a tool to encourage living animals to reproduce because it provides the highest amount of pleasure that one would be able to get in life. But if one believes in this "God", then he would also have to believe that the physical act of sex is a tool for us to make use of to experience the pleasure and joy in life, without having to face the consequences of reproduction, which is why birth contraception pills, condoms, sterilization were invented.

As for taboos, it's just social conditioning like everything else - before birth control methods were introduced, of course people had to find ways to instil fear into people to prevent reproduction and the stigma is still there. But people are beginning to be more and more open about it , for instance sometimes you hear of people having group sex with their best friend's wives, etc. Or that visiting prostitutes have become something more common nowadays and not something that would be as frowned as 10-20 years ago.

Well, I guess I have not really answered your question because I am as curious about this act just as much as you, but I guess how I feel can be summarized into one sentence: The physical act of sex has been designed as a tool for humans to feel the greatest amount of enjoyment and pleasure in life, but usually that is only the case when it is done with someone they really love. Having sex with a prostitute for instance, probably does not give one the same amount of pleasure as if he would have done it with someone he really loved.

@Dollar Bill- Oh, yes, I laughed when I read that book title! And then...I pondered your question more deeply. I have learned from college to research, research, research, so I did. One line from this article from the Huffington post caught my eye: "The brain during [the release at end of you-know-what] looks much like the brain of a person taking heroin; 95% of it is the same." [Writer's note: I think this embedded editor is totally idiotic. I am not saying words that are offensive! The end of having physical relations is what it is! How can we have a discussion about making love without using the words of making love? Good grief!] [I just realized that I even have to worry about our Moderator- she just might take out my comments...Can anyone say Free Speech in America? One additional note- Be sure you check the asterisks- they trigger the "bold" creator while you are typing an answer- I had to edit and edit- which is ridiculous...)]

Soooo...If it is true that the brain is as "high" at the summit of making love as when we are on heroin, then perhaps that feeling is about as addictive (or whatever you choose to call it) as heroin, and as able to suspend our normal reality. I have had to take a very, very strong pain medicine as a result of that flesh-eating bacterial infection I had back in 2010. I can tell you that, although the medicine was not heroin, it was designed to replace heroin when people are addicted to it and trying to get off of it. I really did not feel like I was in a constant state of "aroused completion" [the pinnacle of "love-making", edited again], but I can tell you this: I often went into states where I felt that I could create great things- writing, music, art. But in actuality, I would just sit at my table, ready to write the Great American Novel, and I would just sit there, stoned. I kept anticipating great and masterful art to come out of the end of my fingers. Time would go by, and suddenly, I would realize that I had been "elsewhere", as if I was someplace really great, but I was just in my head, doing absolutely nothing. Needless to say, I told the doctor he had to try something else powerful, because that stuff was sending me out of this world. (I think that is precisely what I told him.) The Post info made me think about that med, and realize that perhaps it is true that we can feel like we are gone-gone, but perhaps we are not. But other drugs can take us "out of this world". That perhaps, is the goal of trying to achieve altered states during "making whopee" (from the Dating Game- maybe this will fly. Jeez.). But if I took that stuff to try to leave to another world, I think all that would happen is that I would be stoned and nod off. No "Whopee".

I am a shaman, trained by a Native American Medicine Man to journey out of my body as a part of healing or channeling or casting out negative energy (evil). I achieve this state with drumming. In the actual culture, often peyote is used to travel. I personally will not do that, although it is an accepted practice of some Native Americans all over. I seem to get to that "other world" just fine without anything mood-altering. I have heard of some people using peyote during the "proscribed activity", but I am not sure that anything good came of it. But I can imagine that people have done this, in recent times, and in the far past. [The proscribed activity which is perfectly legal when married] was and is a powerful human urge, and it must have seemed pretty magical when we did not have all this science to explain it.

So,@Dollar Bill, I would have to say that something like that could be achieved during [you know]- but I think the author of that terribly strange-titled book used his imagination and went one step farther with the idea.

I wish I had thought of it!

Blessings,

Jaianniah ♥♥♥