Sharon Olds 'Sex Without Love'

Sex Without Love

How do they do it, the ones who make love without love? This strong opening sentence almost seems like a contradiction, but after further analysis one can see that the author has a different meaning for each word “love” in the sentence. Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds is a poem about the people who engage in sexual activities without any associated emotions. To give a better understanding of the poem the following aspects will be discussed; The authors different meanings for love, a detailed breakdown of key phrases, analogies, the people who have sex without love, and how this poem can connect to todays society. “Love” as a word can have many meanings depending on the person or situation it is applied to. In the
“Beautiful as dancers, gliding over each other like ice-skaters over the ice” this phrase is used to describe the beautiful aspect of sex and how it's art is beautiful with or without love. “Wet as the children at birth whose mothers are going to give them away” here the depressing side of loveless sex is seen, when two people in love decide to have sex it results in creating a child which they also love, however when sex is performed without love for the other person a child can be created in which neither participant has love for and is often given away. “Love the priest instead of the God” by loving the priest instead of the god you are loving physical aspect related to religion, in a much similar way this poem describes those who love the physical aspect of sex rather than the higher meaning it is intended to have. “They do not mistake the lover for their own pleasure” when sex occurs in its truest form the lover is viewed as the source of pleasure, however those who have sex without love do not view the lover as the source of their pleasure but view the pleasure as a result of the sexual action