You can only use a fraction of the features of a SQL database when you use an ORM because they don't translate to the new paradigm. When I am using a high level programming language, it is merely helping me do things like manage memory. I am not constantly wishing I could drop down and work with pointers and so on. It is a foundational paradigm that builds on the top of the one before it. ORMs just present a different, incompatible paradigm.