Is sex necessary?

[il Padrino Ute]

Other than for procreation for the continuity of the species, is sex necessary?

I was helping my 7th grader with some of her homework and came across a very simple explanation of Maslow's heirarchy of needs. (This term, in her health class, they've been studying a bit of psycology.) It reminded me of Psych 101 and the instructor spending quite a bit of time on Maslow's triangle.

I remember having a rather heated argument - on my fellow student's part that is - about the necessity of sex. He felt that it was necessary for one's mental and physical health, while I pointed out that nobody has ever died from never having experienced it. The instructor felt the same as my fellow student and he used my thoughts to take shots at the LDS Church - it was well known on campus that I was LDS; being involved in athletics kind of causes more folks to find reasons to not like you or suck up to you - and mocked my beliefs. I countered by calling him a closed-minded and bigoted simpleton which could be an entirely different thread...

I tend to believe while we all need love and affection directed our way, there really is no need for a sexual relationship other than to have kids. Those that like to point to the scriptures to prove that having a sexual relationship (with one's spouse) is something that God directs us to do, tend to either not know, forget or perhaps ignore that the purpose of it is to not be tempted to break the 7th commandment - not to commit adultry.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm prudish, as my wife and I have participated in this activity for purposes other than impregnating her, but I just thought I'd put up my thoughts about this for discussion's sake.

Any thoughts?