I think sex with the right person can be an exalting, emotional, spiritual experience.

We have given religion a monopoly on terms like spiritual, a word which, to me, means "of the mind." to quote Ayn Rand, "Religion's monopoly in the field of ethics has made it extremely difficult to communicate the emotional meaning and connotations of a rational view of life. Just as religion has preempted the field of ethics, turning morality against man, so it has usurped the highest moral concepts of our language, placing them outside this earth and beyond man's reach. "Exaltation" is usually taken to mean an emotional state evoked by contemplating the supernatural. "Worship" means the emotional experience of loyalty and dedication to something higher than man. "Reverence" means the emotion of a sacred respect, to be experienced on one's knees. "Sacred" means superior to and not-to-be-touched-by any concerns of man or of this earth. Etc.

But such concept do name actual emotions, even though no supernatural dimension exists; and these emotions are experienced as uplifting or ennobling, without the self-abasement required by religious definitions. What, then, is their source or referent in reality? It is the entire emotional realm of man's dedication to a moral ideal. Yet apart from the man-degrading aspects introduced by religion, that emotional realm is left unidentified, without concepts, words or recognition.

It is this highest level of man's emotions that has to be redeemed from the murk of mysticism and redirected at its proper object: man." ( [e-reading.club] )

As long as sex is between two consenting adults there really are no rules. If others are bound by religious codes of practice that is their business and as long as they don’t impose these rules on the rest of us they can think and do what they like. I think though that men and women quite often view sex quite differently, women are more interested in an emotional attachment before engaging in sexual intercourse whereas men seem to be able to perform without such a need. There are always exceptions of course and I will just add that caveat in case someone wishes to challenge me on this.

I believe I have been extraordinarily lucky in this respect. Religion has never
interfered with, or otherwise disrupted my sex life.
Then again, I've been an atheist for my entire adult life, and I've never really been
one to allow society to dictate how I'd run my sex life.

If the sex is practiced safely then I agree completely

I see no reason to throw out the sacredness of sex with the absence of a deity.

I've always thought it was strange that people want to do something to get others to stop having sex. Church people were always good at wanting this, but how do they think we got here? The idea of procreation has to be strong in a species. Most of us want to practice once in the while.

There is a responsibility factor n sex that is the generation of children, so it is natural that early societies tried to control it, and religion is a very efficient way to control something.
BUT
We have birth control now with varied levels of safety, so... Fuck at will but take care of yourselves against undesired babies and diseases.

Wow..you seem to be under the impression that women, like most cis hetero men-who want to have sex with most women-also want to have sex with most men, and are starving for random sex..only being held back by fear of hell.

Actually most cis hetero women only want to have sex with a few men in their lifetimes..men who will love them, give them top priority, be faithful, take care of them, and help raise their children.

Why would they want to risk getting STDs, pregnancy, etc. when just about any man wants to have sex with them and they have their pick of mates.

But if you're into random hook ups, there are plenty of promiscuous women with high levels of male hormones. They are willing to take risks for brief pleasure, and are often found in the sex trade.