lazylinguist. words are everything. they are what define us. how we speak write or communicate is everything and the fact that Pornhub adopts the word "intimacy"is surely a pointer to how "evolved" our society is.
I couldn't agree more. Words are my life and my living, hence the username. Language is incredibly important to me, and our language is a large part of our heritageand identity and frames how we think.
But... using the word 'intimacy' to mean sex is essentially a euphemism. Euphemisms are a normal, age-old part of language. I don't think the fact that Pornhub (or anyone else) uses the word 'intimacy' as a softer, less blunt word for sex tells us anything much at all about our society. Well, nothing new anyway. Words have always been used in that way. The process of shifting of the meaning of words is a constant and natural part of the evolution of language (which has no doubt been accelerated by modern forms of communication).
As a linguist, I see it as an inherent and fascinating aspect of language, not something to bemoan. I mean, you can bemoan specific examples if you like, but they are tiny drops in a vast tide of constant global language change that you can do absolutely nothing about.