What's the difference between sex drive and libido?

[AsexualMemeTrash]

I looked it up but I don't understand the difference.

[Philip027]

Most of the time, there is no real difference, and to most they would mean the same thing.  However, some people who really don't want sex are reluctant to describe what they experience as a "sex drive" because it implies they want something that they actually don't, so these people might insist on phrasing it as libido instead.

[Flygunn]

Sex drive is a colloquial term for libido.  Essentially, they are the same concept, however people have colloquially given them different meanings.  Under that unofficial model, humans can have a desire for sexual activity (a basic output of a "want") while libido would be a feeling that must be sated by activities perceived as sexual by the individual.  You will often encounter the uses where the two are identical or different concepts often with little indication as to which is being used.

[Guest]

Yeah, they are the same thing but nowadays but libido is usually described as a feeling of just being turned on and like the frequency of how much that happens and sex drive is usually used to describe the desire to act on libido.

[binary suns]

4 hours ago, AsexualMemeTrash said:

I looked it up but I don't understand the difference.

they are the same thing. aces use the terms differently however, to specify libido for an ace - which does not seem to be associated with either a pursuit of sexual contact with others, nor an interest in another person sexually. 

 

but fundamentally, except for the connotations of "why" the experience occurs, the experience is generally the same. specifically the individual might for example feel more anxious for action while another feels more sluggishly bored. one individual may need to orgasm, another may need to just wear their libido out regardless of orgasm, and another may not have any definitive end to their libido except that eventually it wanes on its own. there is no "one way" to have libido, but generally speaking it is the drive for sexual activity - and for an ace, that means masturbation prettymuch I guess idk. 

 

(I am grey so it is hard to speak to the asexual's experience with clarity, only assumption.)