The Preparation Before The Action- Foreplay 101
Foreplay is the act of sexual play before the actual intercourse. Foreplay is like the exposition of a short story or play and penetrative sex becomes denouement within the same spectrum. Let us elaborate a little bit: just like the exposition usually occurs at the beginning of a short story or a novel and maybe short/long, foreplay usually occurs at the beginning of the sexual play.
Foreplay covers a multitude of aspects ranging from kissing, dry humping, oral sex, cuddling. The idea of foreplay differs from person to person and adds a layer of subjectivity to the entire discourse. Foreplay makes the act of penetrative discourse very inclusive in a sense because partners usually cater to each other’s preferences for utmost arousal and excitement.
Why is Foreplay crucial?
The idea of indulging in penetrative sex is glamourized with the advent of multiple ways of accessing explicit content across all platforms. However, it’s not all hunky-dory as it seems. Sex is a bodily process and involves multiple emotional factors as well. Foreplay prepares the body before indulging in intercourse or in reaching climax.
The simple acts of cuddling and kissing release happy hormones like serotonin in order to relieve stress from the body. The consequence of it is relaxed body language and more involvement between the partner(s). Foreplay especially proves beneficial for people with a vagina because it helps in arousal which leads to an increase in blood flow in the genitals.
Foreplay increases the desire between partner(s) and creates anticipation for the events to come which is very similar to the exposition scene analogy again. Foreplay literally pushes you to the ‘fore’ of your desires (sorry for the bad pun :p but I promise you that your foreplay won’t be bad ever after reading this! ).
Foreplay and Mental Health
Foreplay has been mostly linked to better sexual health but the factors contributing to mental health well-being are ignored. People experience optimum joy in sexual pleasure or the act before that only if there are in the moment with their partner(s). Hence, sexual well-being requires a certain level of mindfulness within a human being.
Foreplay releases anxiety and increases desire that may lead to curing of problems like Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder etc. The act of experiencing intimacy in a different way allows partner(s) to talk about their insecurities/vulnerabilities with each other. The presence of effective communication during the course of foreplay leads to betterment in long-term relationships. Hence, the quality of foreplay creates subsequent impact on a person’s mental health.
Conclusion
The inclusion of foreplay within the entire rubrics of sexual act is a welcome move. Foreplay provides space for conversations between people. The need to understand one’s partner(s) choices indicate a shift between relationships from patriarchal dominance to equality of expression in terms of desire/arousal.
Foreplay, therefore, should not merely be considered only for the sake of it or only because it is the new ‘buzz-word’. It should be included as a necessary requirement in one’s sexual life because it provides a lot of variety and opportunities to spice things up (maybe one might possess a fetish of spice, so try whatever you can and whenever you can :p).
Cover Illustration: SheKnows
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