It’s always amusing
to read about
new studies that come out with “findings” that are incredibly obvious.
Like
just last year when the newspapers and periodicals were a flurry with the
report
from a team of sex therapists. The exciting new report in the
Journal of Sexual Medicine
concluded that the optimum time for intercourse was three to thirteen
minutes.
This, apparently, was groundbreaking news for the researchers. They
gathered
1,500 couples, armed the women with stopwatches, and asked them to gauge
how
long it took to have mutually satisfying sex. The study concluded that
the
median time was 7.3 minutes, dispelling the belief that “if you really
want to
satisfy your partner, you should last
forever.”
Last forever ...
are they kidding? First off, that’s a myth of male proportions
promulgated in
men’s locker rooms. Second, who has that kind of time? My girlfriends
and I are
busy, busy women; we don’t want to have a man who’s not interested in
getting
things going on. If indeed we did—wait around for the perfect,
longest-lasting
moment the sex therapist team seems to be thinking that we want to
have—our
dear husbands simply wouldn’t get any at
all.
For goodness’ sake, when my
kids were
toddlers, by the time they were tucked into bed and right before my head
hit
the pillow, there were truly only a few viable moments when sex sounded
even
vaguely appealing. I was so wiped out that if my husband thought about
making
things
last
forever,
I would have politely
refused, opting for sleep instead. Then fast-forward a few, and we’ve
got a
houseful of teenagers—we both just wish for a time when we can outlast
their
night-owl tendencies. Or hope they’ll stay in the shower long enough for
us to
catch a quickie before they get out of the
bathroom.
Whatever happened to
the quickie, by the way? You’d think that the researchers would have
heard of
that one. I know all my girlfriends have. They’re those tiny moments
that
married couples regard as golden opportunities. Little snippets of time
devoted
to reconnecting sexually. Women know that it takes some serious
creativity to
manage not only setting at least a semi-sizzling mood but securing some
privacy
as well. Whether an afternoon quickie in bed (and making it up in time
so that
the kids aren’t suspicious), in the closet (I have one girlfriend who
says her
walk-in is the default location), or in the shower (lock that bathroom
door)—the wives I know are masters of what I call speed
sex.
Step-by-Step Speed Sex
Let me
start by telling you what
speed sex is not. It’s not just “servicing” a man. And it’s not about
settling
for unsatisfying sex. And it’s not about checking sex off a long to-do
list.
It’s not about that at all. It is, however, a pragmatic approach to
marital
sex. It’s about being creative and thoughtful. It’s about being
available and
responsive. It’s about understanding the truth about sex: that sex is a
really
big deal in marriage ... and it should be. It’s about realizing
that if you intend to have a healthy physical relationship with your
husband,
then you might need to find creative, spontaneous, and yes, sometimes
even
speedy ways to approach the thing. I have to be honest here: I think
understanding and utilizing speed sex
could revolutionize your marriage. But I’m
certainly not going to
make any promises that you aren’t willing to
keep.
Sex Is a Big Deal Because God Made It That
Way
The first step in
getting friendly with the speed sex approach is to realize the
importance of
sex in marriage. It’s not just about baby making and it’s not just for
pleasure
either. In
Intimate Issues
by
Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus, the authors outline six key reasons
sex is
truly a gift from God. I really like their list and wholeheartedly agree
with
them. So, are you ready? Here we go:
God made sex to
create
life.
God made sex for intimate
oneness.
God made sex for personal,
physical knowledge of one another.
God made sex for
pleasure.
God made sex as a defense
against temptation.
And finally, God made sex for
comfort.
To me, that list
goes back and forth like waves hitting the beach. Life. Oneness.
Knowledge.
Pleasure. Defense. Comfort. The amazing love expression spoken between a
husband and wife. You’ve got to admit, God did a fabulous thing in
creating sex,
and he was pure genius to keep it within the framework of the covenant
of
marriage. There’s no place better to appreciate the vulnerability, the
nakedness—physically, emotionally, and
spiritually.
Now, maybe you
understand the importance of sex, but you just don’t feel it. And you
don’t
feel like doing anything about it. Well, you’re not alone. Many women
are the
same way. As a matter of fact, psychiatrist Anita Clayton says that
while men
regard dissatisfaction in the bedroom as a crisis, women simply settle
for
less. Maybe you’ve been there, done that—after a long day’s work, you
succumb
to the overtures from your husband without feeling any connection at
all. And
then you end up feeling as though you simply settled for less. It’s a
common
occurrence, but one that, given some needed perspective, doesn’t have to
be.
Perhaps settling for
less is a result of women failing to understand the aforementioned list.
Just
maybe, we’ve fallen prey to thinking of sex as just physical—like what
we see
portrayed in the media—and we’ve failed to remember that sex is much
more than
physical. It’s emotional and spiritual
too.
Excerpt from
Uncovered, by Suzie Davis.
Copyright © 2010 by Suzie Davis, Published by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Used by permission. All rights to this material are reserved. Material is not to be reproduced, scanned, copied, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without written permission from Baker Publishing Group.
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