# Do you consider sex to be a recreational activity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289 "2014-04-16T20:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/21 "2014-04-17T03:27:24Z")
I’ve known that I couldn’t have kids since I was 14, so all sex has been recreational for me. My husband has never procreated and who was snipped long before I met him has always acted like it is great fun as well. This does not mean that we want to recreate with anyone else, a lot of the fun involved is because we love each other. Middle-aged hetro couple. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/22 "2014-04-17T04:19:50Z")
It was a chore. “Do the dishes, vacuum the rug, blow me,…” on and on, so glad that’s over. 😉 ETA: Gay man ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/23 "2014-04-17T04:53:46Z")
Well, yes, I do consider it recreational. My sweetie and I certainly don’t do it to procreate. We are passed those days. We do it for fun, the release, intimacy, love and because we dig each other immensely in bed and otherwise. Neither he nor I like to go more than a few days without it. No “recreation” makes us cranky. 😛 I feel the same way about exercise. I always feel better after I do it. Female, hetero. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/24 "2014-04-17T04:59:20Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I had hopes to go professional when I was younger but I still do it recreationally. New this fall on Fox: Laguna Beach Pro-Am Coitus Championships. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/25 "2014-04-17T06:22:17Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > . . . Criminal; rape, child molestation, bestiality. . . . Ew… It’s recreational to the criminal…but not to the victim… ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/26 "2014-04-17T15:52:05Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I don’t have a handy cite, but apparently the Healthcare Councilor (“regional minister”) for Andalusia was furious over the amount of women, many of them teens, who are aborting repeatedly, some several times a year - the figures I’ve heard come up to “97% of abortions in Andalusia are women who treat abortion as a pregnancy-prevention measure instead of using anything else” (translating very literally, I know they’re not called that in English). Note that actual pregnancy-prevention measures are also covered by our UHC system: the Pill, implants, DIU, day-after pill… but those women are choosing to have inpatient surgery instead. That particular branch of “idiots united” is a group for which there are less deliveries but not less pregnancies. I’d really like to see some actual numbers on that, or at least a link to his statement if you can find it (I can read Spanish pretty well, but my Spanish google-fu is weak). That huge numbers of young women choose abortion as birth control sounds like a lot of scare-tactic rhetoric I’ve heard over the decades here in the US, and AFAICT it’s never actually been the case. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/27 "2014-04-17T15:58:03Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > With a toddler in the household, I consider it a recreational activity on par with scuba diving. I used to really, really enjoy it, but I haven’t done it since my honeymoon and I’m not sure I remember how now. Dammit, everything I think of a clever point, someone has already made it, and in a funnier way. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/28 "2014-04-17T16:02:03Z")
Sexual congress otherwise known as sexual intercourse. Fundamentally it is the joining of two mammals to create a baby. That is the entire point of the liaison. Curiously the mammals involved don’t think of that but babies will out. Its irreducibly simple. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/29 "2014-04-17T16:07:47Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Cis male, 40 years old, bisexual, in a stable monogamous hetero relationship. So, yanno, probably not what you’re looking for exactly. Uhh, why wouldn’t you be what the OP is looking for? Is there something unique about being a 40 year old dude in a relationship? Anyway, of course sex is for recreation. If it weren’t, nobody would use birth control and we’d all have 1,000 babies. I am old and I have literally, not even once, ever had sex for any reason other than fun. Straight woman here, zero children. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/30 "2014-04-17T16:09:40Z")
Hetero male, here. Of course it’s recreational. We like doing it, don’t we? But that’s not all it is. It’s like mathematics: It might have practical applications, but that’s not why we do it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/31 "2014-04-17T16:13:34Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I’d really like to see some actual numbers on that, or at least a link to his statement if you can find it (I can read Spanish pretty well, but my Spanish google-fu is weak). > > That huge numbers of young women choose abortion as birth control sounds like a lot of scare-tactic rhetoric I’ve heard over the decades here in the US, and AFAICT it’s never actually been the case. Nothing backed by actual studies, and each report I find gives different figures. So I guess you’re probably correct in that it was part of PP’s campaign for their recent change-back of abortion laws, as well as misreported to hell and back. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/32 "2014-04-17T16:18:40Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Uhh, why wouldn’t you be what the OP is looking for? The mention of teen pregnancy in the OP, for one ;). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/33 "2014-04-17T16:25:05Z")
Oh, I guess I didn’t realize the OP bringing that up meant he was only looking for responses from teenagers. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/34 "2014-04-17T16:42:25Z")
> [@scootergirl](#): > > Well, yes, I do consider it recreational. My sweetie and I certainly don’t do it to procreate. We are passed those days. We do it for fun, the release, intimacy, love and because we dig each other immensely in bed and otherwise. Neither he nor I like to go more than a few days without it. No “recreation” makes us cranky. 😛 > > I feel the same way about exercise. I always feel better after I do it. > > Female, hetero. This sums up my stance, more or less, though I’m not too old to procreate. I’ve had a vasectomy, so sex clearly isn’t for procreation between me and my wife. It feels good, it provides a release for a drive, and it is a wonderful connection. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/35 "2014-04-17T16:42:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hetero male, here. Of course it’s recreational. We like doing it, don’t we? But that’s not all it is. > > It’s like mathematics: It might have practical applications, but that’s not why we do it. Wait… you do math for …fun?!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/36 "2014-04-17T16:49:25Z")
I dunno when this “uptick” you’re talking about occurred, but I’m reasonably certain sex was fun long before that. As the song says, “not everybody does it but everybody should.” Male, straight, 53, near-sighted. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/37 "2014-04-17T18:28:25Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Wait… you do math for …fun?!:eek: Wait… are you admitting that you DON’T?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/38 "2014-04-17T18:30:51Z")
Unless and until I start getting paid for sex, it is recreational. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/39 "2014-04-17T19:43:46Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Oh, I guess I didn’t realize the OP bringing that up meant he was only looking for responses from teenagers. Carry on. Well, I don’t know that s/he was, precisely…but if we’re trying to discover if there is an increase among young people in viewing sex as purely recreational, thereby leading to more teen pregnancies, I would think that the views of teenagers would be most relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289/40 "2014-04-17T20:22:30Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Wait… you do math for …fun?!:eek: I’ve even had one or two mathgasms! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sex-to-be-a-recreational-activity/686289.md?page=3)