*Nods in Tyler's direction* Good point. But hardly incisive enough, as you're talking about a more intimate act than social rituals. Actually, you're talking about the polar opposite and a undermining of the social ritual, but I'm babbling. I'm thinking of the way chimpanzee societies are set up. They use sex as a ritual of dominence. Is it a leap to say that humans do as well? I think not. Cris, I don't think you've read Foucault, but you know of the Greeks? The dominence/submission thing was codified in their approach to the relationship of the man and the youth. Even the expression "Fuck you" is a ritual of dominence, when you think about it.