Sex Quotes in A Confederacy of Dunces

It's not entirely clear whether Myrna even likes sex, or whether she just likes the idea of it. She uses it almost like a tool—which means that, like virtually everyone else in the novel, she doesn't seem to see sex as a pleasure.

Myrna also uses sex as a kind of verbal aggression—it's her way of bickering. She tells Ignatius she wants him to have satisfying orgasms in the same way that Mrs. Levy tells Mr. Levy that he's ruined his father's legacy, or that Jones tells Lana Lee he's going to report her to the police.

Myrna suggests here that Ignatius's mental ineptitude is linked to physical impotence. The thing is, given his pride in his intellect and his relative disinterest in sex, it seems likely that Ignatius would actually be more insulted by a charge of mental impotence than by one of physical incapacity. Tell him he's not sexy and he'd probably just thank you; tell him he's stupid, though, and he'll really get upset.