As women strive for equality, they are exercising their freedom of sexual expression more and more, which for many might mean a choice to have casual .

However, with that freedom and choice comes great responsibility and the important task of taking care of your emotional self and well-being. That is possible only once you know what you want and can tolerate and, when it comes right down to it, whether you can handle sex without love. Not everyone can.

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Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg spoke about her fling with actor Richard Gere, saying it was just a "f**k,” which is how she wanted it to be. While it has been historically more common for men to have sex and keep it just about the physical connection, with few or no feelings of involved, women may struggle with separating the two.

Often, despite one's best intentions, emotions come into play, since women often feel most vulnerable when they are in intimate situations and often literally and symbolically feel naked. So how to know whether you can handle a fling with no strings attached?

By challenging the stereotypes that have confined and limited women for so long, you can consider your sexual and what it means to you in terms of your and your sexual esteem, and what might give you the most pleasure and fulfillment.

Sometimes that might mean indulging in a purely physical romp with someone. That can happen if, for example, you want to sleep with someone you just met, because you are on vacation and want a brief romantic escapade, or you are at a wedding and want a one-night stand. Or you may have just gotten out of a long relationship and aren’t ready to jump back into a serious commitment. Under those circumstances, casual sex might seem appealing.

If you find yourself facing any of these scenarios, ask yourself whether you will be OK if you never hear from this person again. Or if you begin to feel connected, but the other person is not interested in anything more than the sex, will you be able to disengage without experiencing a great loss?

The most important thing to consider is how you will feel when it’s over. The key is to be able to enjoy the experience and have it enhance your .

Sometimes the only way to know whether it is going to work for you is to take a chance, jump in, and see where you land. You know best what your Achilles’ heel might be, and if there is a chance you could come out of it with a big emotional ouch, because you may find it hard to let go, this might not be the right move for you.

With that in mind, if you are in the driver’s seat, you can give yourself the permission to say yes to your desires and feel empowered by them when it comes to your sex life decisions.

The essential point is that whatever your action might be, you are doing it by choice, one that you are making for yourself with full awareness of the consequences, and thereby can feel confident about. In this way, you will be a woman who takes charge, is in control, knows what she wants as well as what she doesn't want, and will be better able to build inner security, which will be reflected in general well-being.

To keep an experience simply about getting physical requires clarity like von Furstenburg had—knowing from the start that you’ll be fine if nothing more develops from your sexual encounter. Taking a personal inventory and determining where your tender spots are can help you avoid heartbreak and keep your experience light and fun.

Knowing what you can handle is the best determinant of whether or not a sexual rendezvous without a commitment will be a positive or negative in your life. If you tend to get attached quickly and are very sensitive to rejection, a just-sex encounter might not be for you. You need to be your best protector.