Sex terrifies because it reminds humans they are mortal animals
Evidence
According to Ernest Becker, it is because “sex is of the body, and the body is of death.” That is, sex is a potent signification of our creaturely, corporeal, and ephemeral condition. Sex is first and foremost a glaring reminder that we are animals; next to urination and defecation, it is the closest human beings come to acting like beasts. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 583
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes Becker’s Denial of Death framework, the theoretical spine of this whole book. — connects to: Virginity myths encode male ambivalence between fear and desire of the feminine — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 342
- DEEPTHINKING: The visceral claim that copulation is the nearest act to beastliness — urination and defecation aside — reframes sexual ambivalence as existential rather than moral.
Related
- Thinking about death and about physical sex each activate the other (similarity 0.82)