The Dopamine Rush (with some oxytocin)

“Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.” -Woody Allen

Love: a many-splendoured thing, perhaps. Or an aching, self-imposed torture? The Imp once thought it had fallen madly in love with a charming prince. He turned out not to be a toad, but rather a self-harming Narcissus, stabbing away at himself with shards of mirror. It took that little imp years to trust its own fine impish judgement again. Back and forth it went, to peek at the Prince, perhaps he was better, perhaps he loved the Imp more than he loved himself. But like an ouroboros gone wrong (the dragon or snake eating its own tail, symbolising infinity, unity, completeness), the Prince could only refer to himself, read the world through what others thought of him. It was a kind of hating-love as well as a self-administered poison. Greedy boy.

The imp now carries armour for herself, a fine shield, a sword and of course, her very pretty wings: but she doesn’t bother to carry an antidote for Prince Poison. If she sees it being quaffed, it’s more an anti-date thing. Get well, injured Princes all.

Let’s move sex-wards. One of the cheesiest chat-up lines the Imp ever received was also one of the best: he had to have some pretty sexy and intriguing chutzpah: (a) to dare and (b) to carry it off:

What is the most erotic part of the body?
The brain.

Absolutely right. This is the man who gate-crashed the Imp’s second date with a dull boor (you have to try everything once), and who – when the date went off, texting some girl, to the lav – asked with flattering incredulity, “You’re not going to sleep with him, are you?”, and then offered to be the Imp’s fuck-buddy. Now, the Imp already had one of those, but the kind offer was appreciated (and taken up at a later date).

Allora, the sexual alchemist in such a situation is, of course, the man who turns the verbal into the actual. A rare beast indeed. An alchemist needs dedication, determination, a sympathy with the world around him and heart-felt passion for his mission. Talk is good and can be very titillating indeed. But there’s always a point where you need to put your money where your mouth is – so to speak.

Oh, the title of this posting? Dopamine floods the brain when you orgasm, and oxytocin is the gushy-lovey chemical. It also increases your “sexual receptivity”, making sexual relationships healthy ones. Awww.