Hey brother, I love this. Answers are a dime a dozen, good questions are priceless, and this post is full of good questions :)
In my experience, intimacy with another is a state you reach where there is no BS, there's no point in lying because well one, there's just no point, because you don't want to and 2) well the other person knows you well enough to know that it's BS anyway.
The most intimate relationships I've had, have been with people that I've tripped with (particularly DMT and shrooms). It's a relationship that from the external perspective of another may seem sexual, but that would only because they don't have an understanding of the level of the intimacy involved. As such it also transcends gender (I have male friends that I am intimate with too).
Intimacy does not exclude sexual acts, but where they occur, it's never actually about sex.

So ultimately, I'm always interpreting you THROUGH me.

This is a key point, because we can only ever do this.
It's why trolls always make me laugh, because the more they have to say about you, the more they reveal about their own mind states.
I personally think that collectively, the human race is still in its infancy in understanding inimacy. There's still a lot of sexual repression from the dark ages that needs to be addressed before we can further explore intimacy.
Great post :)
Peace.