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When I first read into this, I immediately associated fear with death (i.e. the fear of death). I believe that this specific fear is a factor in our sex drives. Sex is a generative act, it is how we procreate and pass on our genetic material. Death is the "game over" of the game of life.
Subconsciously and often consciously, we know that one day we are going to die. The unknown experience of death is something that most of us fear. This fear is an ongoing feeling at some level of our psyche. For this reason, I believe our sex drives are tied to this fear. We hope to connect, to have generative experiences before we die. This fear drives us to be sexual beings.
I don't think that fear and sex are felt equally at all times. I agree that it would be hard to maintain an erection if I felt my life was at risk. However, I've often contemplated whether my sexual urges were random or somehow linked to my awareness of life and death.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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