The root of sexual dissatisfaction is the capacity of man to generate symbols which can attract and trap portions of his libido. Restrictions as to time, place, mode, and partner do not simply postpone release but create an absolute deprivation, because man has the capacity to construct a memory, a concept, a fantasy. Once you have trained your dog to prefer cooked meat you can let him run around the stockyard without any qualms. Today this basic technique has become the dominant one. The setting and interpretation of a sexual act come to hold more excitement than the act itself.
Romantic love is one scarcity mechanism that deserves special comment.
Indeed, its only function and meaning is to transmute that which is plentiful into that which is in short supply. Western peoples generally and Americans in particular have shown an impressive tendency to take it seriously. To ask such a question is to answer it. We make things scarce in order to increase their value, which in turn makes people work harder for them. But if we were to make some form of it somehow rare, unattainable, and elusive, and to devalue all other forms, we might conceivably inveigle a few rubes to chase after it.