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So what exactly is a libido?


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Is it the ability to get turned on, or is it a turned-on feeling that persists (or is it neither of these things)? Can you have the ability to get turned on, but have no libido (as in 'I only get turned on when I want to')? I have many questions.

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Winter-Cattle

I may be wrong, but I thought it is the desire to engage in any sexual activity, solo or otherwise. Be it partnered sex, masturbation, pornography, fetishes, etc. I don't think it is connected with the ability to be "turned on", only the desire to be turned on.

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gemrisingbitch

Libido is more of a drive, but not towards others. Sexual attraction is when it is actually directed towards somebody. I have a libido from time to time, but I don't experience attraction to anyone.

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it might be helpful to think of it as you body's [ability or tendancy] to engage in arousal.

Edited by gisiebob
edited for clarity
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Winter-Cattle
8 hours ago, gisiebob said:

body's ability

I disagree with that. Ability to be aroused is different to desire to be aroused...

 

9 hours ago, gisiebob said:

tendancy to engage

...which are both different to actions taken,

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10 minutes ago, Winter-Cattle said:

I disagree with that. Ability to be aroused is different to desire to be aroused...

 

...which are both different to actions taken,

I certainly have plenty of room to be mistaken, but I think you misunderstood my wording, which was vague in how the ideas were conjoined.

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Winter-Cattle
3 minutes ago, gisiebob said:

I certainly have plenty of room to be mistaken, but I think you misunderstood my wording, which was vague in how the ideas were conjoined.

Would you also describe sexual attraction as "you body's [ability or tendancy] to engage in" sex?

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maybe? the reason why I refer to a body  is because the more subconscious changes that happen with arousal, mostly still within the brain but kinda below the curtain of personhood.

I would say there is probably a much more conscious aspect to sexual attraction...though I ain't the most experienced in that department!

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Janus the Fox

It isn’t so much the ability to get ‘turned on’ though the ability to physically get aroused.  Other sources indicate a libido as somebody’s desire for partnered sexual activity.  Always check your sources, libido definitions over time has been watered down in a few places against what’s scientifically defined.

 

This means I could be non-libidoist and asexual in one definition and a libidoist asexual in another.

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Simplicly, Libido can be considered the frequency of wanting to do something, sexuality can be considered with whom peeps want to do stuff, but with the proviso that many who identify as something other than asexual enjoy a bit of DIY as well as partnered activities. 

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deletingthisaccount

Honestly, I was recently starting to wonder the same thing. Are libido and desire considered the same thing? I had thought of libido as more of the body's physical sex drive, yet many online definitions seem to describe it more generally as desire for sex. I know some asexuals have libidos but are sex-repulsed, but describing libido as "desire for sex" in that context wouldn't seem quite right (although please correct me if I'm wrong!). 

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On 2/20/2020 at 8:24 AM, Janus DarkFox said:

the ability to physically get aroused.

So, according to this particular definition, the ability to be mentally and not physically aroused wouldn't count?

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Janus the Fox
3 hours ago, cAROlyn said:

So, according to this particular definition, the ability to be mentally and not physically aroused wouldn't count?

Personal definitions all vary on arousal and libido despite any professional formal description.

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