I like where you're going with the metaphor. Here's another. Men are coffee grinds and women are the water. Without the water, there can be no delicious coffee. However, once that water goes through us, we're forever changed and rendered bitter.
Paramour. That's a word that feels like from a different time. I'd be willing to bet there are hundreds of bars in the U.S. with that word in the name, lol.