Having or showing a strong sexual desire or craving for something intensely.
From Old English 'lust,' meaning desire or appetite, combined with the suffix '-ful' (full of). Originally referred to any strong desire, but gradually became primarily associated with sexual desire through Middle English.
Medieval literature is full of 'lustful' characters, but the word used to describe someone who lustfully desired food or power too—it just meant wanting something really badly. That's why 'wanderlust' uses the same root!
Lustful desire was morally coded as masculine virtue (virility) or feminine vice (seductiveness). Women's sexual desire was pathologized as dangerous, while male desire was naturalized.
Use descriptively without moral judgment; avoid applying the term asymmetrically to women vs. men, or treat desire as inherently gendered.
["desiring","passionate","sexually motivated"]
Feminist scholars reclaimed women's sexual autonomy and desire as ethical and healthy; the language shift from 'lustful woman' (pejorative) to 'woman's desire' (agency) reflects this.
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