Sexual Relationships 
Sexual Health 
I recently watched a candid one-on-one interview with the late great Gene Wilder. The interview, conducted by Alec Baldwin (who I don't particularly like, but he was great for this), touched on Wilder's personal life and his relationships. At one point, Baldwin asked Wilder if he'd ever fallen in love with somebody he worked with. Wilder replied- "Fallen in love or fallen in lust? Because there's a difference."
And he's right. Despite the standard stereotype that men don't "feel," or at least don't have as much sentiment as women, intelligent, civilized men are well aware of the difference between love and lust. The problem is, I think the general emotional IQ of both girls and guys has fallen precipitously in the past decade or so (thank you, internet), resulting in young individuals supposedly in the primes of their lives, who are unfortunately terrified of their own shadows. Social anxiety has skyrocketed and trust me, the reason is entirely environmental. Get the hell outside and interact with people and I guarantee you'll fix yourself.
But I'm off on a bit of a tangent here. The point, though I've taken too long to reach it, is that young guys and girls are frequently confusing love and lust. Teens and those in their 20s have always confused it to some extent, of course (these are complex experiences, after all) but now it's worse than ever. Confusing sex for love is a big mistake everybody, not merely one gender, appears to be making at every turn. In the movie "Roxanne" (Steven Martin, Daryl Hannah), Roxanne asks her friend if she ever confused sex for love. The response was, "I did that once...it was great." Of course, the friend in question was kinda the type who'd sleep with anything that moves, which is sort of my point.
You can confuse lust for love, and very easily if the sex is fantastic. But even if the lust magically sticks around for a while (and it usually doesn't), time will inevitably kill it. Okay, not kill it, but there's no chance your desire for each other will be the same at 65 as it is at 25. You just have to accept that time will have its unfortunate consequences and at some point, sex will not become the most important thing in your life, and not even the most important aspect of your relationship. One could argue that this advice only counts for people seeking long-term commitments, but don't forget one other important fact:
While love can lead to intimate, wonderfully fulfilling relationships, lust can't result in the same connection and hence, isn't capable of being as emotionally fulfilling.
I've seen people get married because the attraction to each other was just overpowering. They even admitted their relationship was based on lust as opposed to love. Unsurprisingly, these relationships ultimately failed because...well, for obvious reasons. Why they didn't see it, I'll never know. Well, I sort of know because I know how powerful lust and desire can be, especially when you're young and insanely horny every second of the day. At that point, if you find someone who you really click with in the bedroom, your silly immature brain is screaming at you to stick with that person forever. Doesn't matter if s/he's a drug using psychopath; you still want that great sex. It makes everything foggy.
Yes, I'm well aware. But eventually, the fog will clear and you'll be left wondering why you're alone. Again. Obviously, the key is to find someone that satisfies both parameters here - love and lust - but the real tragedy occurs when you mistake one for the other. Honestly, you can waste a big portion of your life if you fall into this trap, so I'm just sending out this friendly PSA. :)
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