The use of symbols may change or destroy their meaning. By the time the dictator Idi Amin had given himself a chestful of medals, the symbolic power of bestowing a medal had been greatly attenuated in Uganda. Sexual intercourse can symbolize love and commitment, or it can symbolize exploitation, domination and submission, dependence or self-aggrandizement. What it symbolizes and its power as a symbol are determined by the reality that is present, not primarily by the intention of the persons involved. This can lead to anger because of perceived dishonesty when what purports to be a symbol of love in fact, because of the context, is experienced as the presence of something else.69 When sexual intercourse habitually takes place outside of the context of love, it doesn't merely fail to symbolize love. Much worse, it loses its ability to symbolize love, just as the repeated giving of medals for valour outside of the context of true accomplishment destroys the symbolic power of the bestowal of the medal.
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This seems to be the dynamic discussed in an article by Herbert Hendin, "The revolt against love: sexual warfare on campus" in Harper's, August, 1975, reproduced in The Changing Family, edited by J. Savells and L. Cross, New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975.
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