How closely is sexual desire associated with love for you?

I’ve been asking a series of questions about the relationship between love, sexual desire, and creativity. This question closes the loop.

Some people seem to think that sex and love are (or can be) separate things. They can “hook up” and it’s “just” a hookup. Meaning that it has little emotional significance. Other people (such as me) think that there is always a link between sex and love, and that if people think they can separate it, they are fooling themselves.

In your life, do you believe you have ever separated sex from love? If so, how do you do it? Where did this ability to separate the two come from?

In your life, have you found that you can not separate love from sex (or sex from love)? Why do you think they are inextricably linked? How strong is this link? How do you think you came to this perception of this link?