Does this culture maybe work too hard to separate feelings of "sex" and
"love"?  When anyone in my family gets hurt - even a cut finger - I'm
likely to get a rush of some hormone that I feel through my torso.  I
don't get it when *I'm* hurt, or when a stranger or acquaintance is hurt.
Only when one of "my boys" (kids or spouse) is hurt.

For years I wondered what sort of hormone rush this was, and finally
decided it had to be oxytocin.  Sex?  Hardly.  Love?  Absolutely.  But
apparently my little endocrine glands don't see much difference.  Does
anyone else get this peculiar little rush?  It's not that I love the sight
of blood or pain;  it just feels like extremely strong empathy.  But
definitely hormonal.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY