There isn't one meaning of sex. It's going to differ based on your culture, environment, upbringing, etc.

I have some friends who are waiting until they get married.

I have some who do it casually.

Some who prefer to only sleep with someone they're dating.

Each have their own attributed meaning to it, but no meaning is inherently better than the next or last.

I'm not sure sex ever had any inherent meaning other than procreation. Culture and society superimpose their own meanings I guess. I bought into the fairly standard-issue (in the 1960s and before anyway) romantic superimposed meaning. I was going to meet someone who would fall madly in love with me, and I with her, and we'd live happily ever after with relatively modest effort. We'd make love once or twice a day, she'd always come, and we'd somehow know how to do it despite having zero understanding going in, and probably zero willingness to talk openly about it.

Meanwhile, back here in reality, relationships that are relatively conflict-free and the greatest joy of both partners (not just regarding sex, but the relationship as a whole) are exceedingly rare. Half of all marriages end in divorce, and that doesn't mean the other 50% are "happy". Realistically, work and children are both tremendous buzz kills even if the relationship remains good.

At the end of the day, then, it's my view that sex is highly overrated and a source of 83.4% of the disappointment people experience in life. Not a great track record. I think if we had more realistic expectations about it, and less obsession about frequency and perfection, it'd at least be okay. I don't get all excited if I manage to drive my car someplace without an accident, or take a decent shit. It's just part of life. I think maybe we should look at sex more in that way. Which is not to say I don't have certain Fond Memories. There were times we couldn't keep our hands off each other, when we came at exactly the same instant, or did it in a cornfield, etc. But if you start demanding primal full-on gorilla trampoline sex every single time, you're not going to be happy about it.

The mistake is that somewhere along the line someone (religion) put a meaning to sex. Is there a meaning to peeing? Taking a shit? Eating? If you can have satisfying sex with a rubber shaft or a hole in a pumpkin then there is no meaning to it other than its own reward.

The meaning of sex is instant gratification. The various "meanings" we attach to it are different for various cultures and especially religions. It it common to attach expectations to sexual practice. These range from the most overt forms such as prostitution, to more covert colorations like love. The attachment of conditions and prerequisites to sex are a powerful way to control people. The acceptance of sexual qualifications is one way that has allowed women to be so successfully dominated by men. I constantly find myself at odds trying to act on a level field with women only to be stimmied by their belief that they are somehow inferior and should not have the right to their own initiative.

Sex in a man's world is basically a fantasy. When men tell you they were "making love" it means they took out the "F" word because they care for the person they were having sex with. As a man I've had various sexual fantasies. I've never met anyone I could act them out with. As for other people and their sexual fantasies, I don't understands them at all. Doctor and patient is for kids and I don't give a damn who your daddy is. I don't want to punish you and I don't want to whip your ass. Fantasy really is not my thing as I'm more in to gratification and pleasing, and doing that in ways that give us both a release.

Unfortunately sex for men is most of the time just sex but for women sex and love is intertwined. We look at it differently. Of course there are women who are just like men when it comes to sex but on an average they equate sex with love, that is why women have a head ache sometimes when men want sex.

The "meaning" of sex has always meant different things to different people.

It's always going to mean different things to different people.

This came up at work last weekend. There is amongst our workforce an age divide. The 18-40s & 45+ crowds.
For the younger section, there isn't 'chatting-up' and dating going on. Find a nice picture on the phone, 'swipe right for a mediocre night'! Sex, it would seem is expected within the Peterhead community on the first meeting, and if after a dozen or so sessions, you may get asked for a date or child support in about eight months!
Now I will say, when I met my wife, we were in bed with each other inside of 20 mins, married in four months (didn't have to)! She stayed with me for the rest of her life, just over 24 years.

Don't think so ... uh, the male of the species puts his thingy in the proper slot of the female of the species, and if the little swimmers are robust, and do their job, in the alotted time for that particular species, more of whatever they are, are made !

Did I pass ?

it's still the same as it ever was. the parts fit together in certain ways. perhaps you're talking about love?

g

I've got a pretty firm grasp on the meaning of sex, m'self.

When have we ever known the meaning of sex?!?