More Reasons to Have Casual Sex

Careers have been built on telling women that casual sex will make them miserable, and they don't truly want to have sex anyway. While society tends to accept that men will seek to obtain sex by hook or crook, women's worth lies in keeping their legs shut, as fellow Women's Rights blogger Kendall McKenzie's post article on revirginization surgery demonstrates. But the battle of the sexes and double standards can go by the wayside because, ladies, there's nothing wrong with your sexuality or deciding to have sex-for-pleasure.

Not convinced? Having trouble getting that abstinence-only education out of your ears? Monica Shores on Alternet lays down "6 Reasons to Have Casual Sex." To start with, casual sex can counteract the ill effects of sexist, gender stereotyping sex education that demonizes women's natural sexual desires. In disturbing patriarchal practices such as Purity Balls, girls undergo ceremonies where their fathers "posses" their virginity, which will later be handed off to the husband. "Notice, if you will, that these daughters never control their own virginity, their own sexuality," fellow Women's Rights blogger Roxann MtJoy writes. With an array of societal and cultural constraints telling women they do not own their sexuality, deciding to have casual sex can unlock the jail of conservative norms women find themselves in.

Casual partners, Shores writes, also have special benefits from being one-night stands or otherwise not deep, committed relationship: there's less at stake, and women have the ability to explore without getting hung up on what their partner thinks. Casual sex gives women more opportunities to experiment with their likes and dislikes without that little voice in their head asking "what does he think of me?" Plus, multiple partners can teach you their own sexual tricks, and if you end up settled into a committed relationship, you can bring to the bed mind-blowing techniques and insights about what really rocks your body that otherwise neither of you might have stumbled upon.

And if it turns out casual sex isn't really your thing? It doesn't mean it was a mistake to try. Much like going on a bad blind date or undergoing a break-up, you come out of it a little wiser about yourself and what you want, knowledge that you can take forward with you on further relationship and sexual adventures.

Finally, it's important to remember that research has shown that casual sex won't hurt your emotional well-being, so you don't need to be afraid. And another recent University of Iowa study found that casual sex doesn't even hurt your chances at a relationship, despite what fearmongering over today's "hook-up culture" claims. When you control for the people who go into the hook-up scene (whether we're talking one-night stands, friends with benefits, or casual dating) absolutely uninterested in a relationship, people who engage in casual sex have just as happy and fulfilling relationships as those who wait to have a relationship first before sex. As Tracy Clarke-Flory writes on Salon's Broadsheet, "It isn't so much the type of sexual relationship that determines its quality, but the relationship readiness of the people involved."

So make sure you have condoms at the ready, and let the sexy times commence.

Photo credit: kyz