Two lovers minus one

Painting showing spasms in a patient suffering from tetanus by Sir Charles Bell (1809).
Painting by Sir Charles Bell (1809).

“The two lovers are able to experience a feeling of unrestrained and untamed abandonment to one another. It is not necessary for them to pay attention either to what the self is doing or what the partner is doing. All the movements take care of themselves, as if reflexively. The sensations greedily absorbed by the vulva, externally and through deep interior pressure, tell the vaginal cavity how to selfishly pulsate, ripple, quiver, and contract on the penis, in order to release itself in orgasm. Reciprocally, the penis selfishly probes and presses, twists a little, withdraws and tantalizes at the portals, and sinks deeply again, it too greedily building up its own orgasmic pleasure. The two bodies writhe, unheedingly. The two minds drift into the oblivion of attending only to their own feeling, so perfectly synchronized that the ecstasy of the one is preordained to be the reciprocal ecstacy of the other. Two minds, mindlessly lost in one another. This is the perfect orgasmic experience. This is how an orgasm sighs, moans, exclaims, expires, exhausts itself into exultant repose.” —John Money, Love and Love Sickness: The Science of Sex, Gender Difference and Pair-bonding, pp. 118-119. John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, London) 1980.

3 thoughts on “Two lovers minus one

  1. Kaitlin H.

    You know, that the photo you display is actually a sign and symptom of an aortic aneurysm rupturing. Extreme neural pressure from the sudden rush of blood on the spinal cord reflexes the bodies muscles in the opisthotonic position as seen above. Extremely painful with a near 100% mortality rate. I curious why you chose that photo for the entry below it. 🙂

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