Sex and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

We're all familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:

1. Survival (food, water, air, etc.)
2. Security (seat belts, insurance, smoke detectors, etc.)
3. Belonging (friends and family)
4. Esteem (accomplishment, popularity)
5. Self-Actualization (being your true self and in control of your life)

Maslow also suggested Self-Transcendence, which is outside the chart, because it's basically sacrificing yourself for a cause, which puts you at experiencing the pyramid in reverse order, because you're self-actualizing ahead of survival.  Maybe instead of a pyramid, it should have been a circle, but whatever.

We all look at these basic needs and ask the same question:  Where is entertainment?

A lot of people try to cram entertainment into one of the other sections, like saying that people can enjoy entertainment as a group, therefore, it's on level three; or being entertained is part of who you are, therefore, it's on level five.  I think these are copouts.  I think Maslow just forgot one.  So let's just put Entertainment in at two-and-a-half or three-and-a-half, depending on whether you think people get bored before they get lonely or vice-versa.

Now we come to an interesting item.  Where is sex on the pyramid?  Maslow put sex at the very bottom, because the way he saw it, sex is biological in nature, and therefore makes it the same as food and sleep.  I think most people would question this.  We NEED food to survive, we NEED air to survive, but we don't typically need sex for survival.  In fact, we don't really seem to need sex at all, we just sort of want it.  I would consider sex not to be a need, but as a means to GET what we need, making it an indirect need in the same way as money.  We don't need money, but we do need the things that money can get us.

Suppose a rapist holds a knife to your throat, and demands sex or else he will kill you.  Sex becomes a tool for survival.

Suppose you're a prostitute who goes out, has sex for money, and then uses that money to pay rent.  Sex becomes a tool for security.

Suppose you're in a romantic relationship, and having a good sexual experience with your partner brings you closer together.  Sex becomes a tool for belonging.

Suppose you're a frat boy who bangs a hot chick and then goes to brag to your friends, or alternatively, you're a rich old man who marries a young hot trophy wife to show off at parties and make other men jealous.  Sex becomes a tool for esteem.

Suppose you're a swinger or part of the BDSM community, and your sexual activities are integral to your chosen lifestyle and the way you perceive yourself.  Sex becomes a tool for self-actualization.

The point is that sex is not limited to any one place on the hierarchy.  In fact, if we include entertainment as a need by itself, then casual sex can be a form of entertainment.

Once again, however, self-transcendence doesn't fit, because sex wouldn't typically be a tool of self sacrifice for a greater cause, unless some asteroid is about to destroy the earth unless you have unprotected sex with a person with an untreatable deadly STD, which as far as I know, has not happened.