c/o Olivia Berger

Socks or no socks during sex? Sex to music or television? Sex in silence? Public or private sex? Rough or slow? With strangers or partners? Nearly everyone has an opinion on how sex should or shouldn’t be done, even if that opinion is that everyone should do what they want in the bedroom. Should everyone do what they want or follow certain sexual etiquette? 

I keep my socks on during sex, which I am more than willing to defend in an anonymous column. The same cannot be said if I were speaking outside of this forum. Sure, this is a silly example, but some things are just too embarrassing to admit about our sexual practices, especially if there’s fear it could make people view us differently. There is a certain etiquette that people feel comfortable with regarding sex and admitting about their sex lives. Principles of social acceptability govern sex. Most rules (that don’t pertain to issues of consent) are absurd. Why does it matter if I like to keep my socks on? 

Looking up “socks or no socks during sex?” on Google will lead you to many articles about how having sex with socks on will prompt better, deeper orgasms. Still, some articles think otherwise, detailing the absurdity of being fully naked with only socks on and how socks can cause us to be less in touch with our primal, animalistic instincts. 

Most everything that has to do with sex is up for debate. We have the classic debates about specific sexual preferences and the search for what is most pleasurable, but there are also moralistic debates around who is allowed to have sex with whom, under what conditions, and when. For example, some people may be bothered on a moral level when I add that it turns me on to have sex in places I shouldn’t. 

Depending on who you ask, which internet site you consult, or what decade you live in, the answer to “What is acceptable?” will dramatically differ. No matter where you look, you’ll find loads of sexual practices, customs, and preferences. There is no one right way. Everyone has something to say about sex…so what do you have to say about it? 

Xoxo,

Dill & Doe