Look at the world around you. What do you see?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But mostly, it’s not. Why are we so driven by sex?
Has it always been this way? What if we weren’t?
The idea of a sexless society goes back to the Victorian Era, roughly 150 years ago. People still had sex back then, but it was almost exclusively for procreation.
In fact, many believed sex was dangerous, capable of causing anything from blindness to cancer. But if Victorian-style sexual repression bred misinformation, it also bred some really strong friendships.
Sexual repression and rigid gender division meant that people of Victorian times came to rely on close friends of the same sex for their emotional intimacy needs.
And, while, friends are great and all, a lot has happened since Victoria. Would friendship be enough in a sexless tomorrow? How many tomorrows would humans have left if everyone lost their sex drive?
Let’s make one thing clear right away. Even if everyone lost their sex drive, people would still have sex. You might not enjoy the act itself, but even those who don’t like sex might like the idea of having kids. But even then, reproductive technologies like artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization have made it possible to have kids without having sex.
Nonetheless, the global population would start to decline almost immediately. Right now, the ratio of births to deaths is about 2 to 1 every second. So initially, less libido could help us bring population growth under control. Not only would we curb any threat of overpopulation, but we could raise more infants from poverty by adopting from developing countries.
This, in turn, would relieve pressure on those countries with fewer resources, allowing them to offer their current citizens a better quality of life.
But what if people still wanted to have children with their own genes. Well, they still could! The in vitro fertilization industry is projected to be worth $36 billion by 2026, and that’s just one method of reproductive technology. No doubt more tech would emerge to make it easier for humanity to continue; with or without sex.
But how would our society change? Well, as Victorian-era life shows, sexual repression doesn’t repress our emotional needs.
So how would our relationships change? I guess you could say goodbye to awkward dates.
Would we just become one big community of friends? Would children be raised by groups of like-minded people instead of the conventional family unit?
Two things are certain. Slower population growth would be better for the natural environment, but, dare I say that, without sex drive, the world would be less fun? We’ll leave that up to you.
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Sources
- “What Would Happen If Everyone in the World Lost Their Sex Drive?” Kolitz, Daniel, 2017. gizmodo.com. Accessed April 2 2019.
- “The Real Reasons Why We Have Sex”. Cumming, Vivien. 2019. bbc.com. Accessed April 2 2019.
- “Victorian Era”. 2019. en.wikipedia.org. Accessed April 2 2019.
- “Sex Secrets Of The Victorian Age – EXPOSED“. Lee, Adrian. 2016. express.co.uk. Accessed April 2 2019.
- “Learning To Love Your Friends: Sexuality Within Victorian Friendships » Find Myself: A Deep Dive Into The History Of Sexuality”. 2019. blogs.lt.vt.edu. Accessed April 2 2019.
- “Birth & Death Rates | Ecology Global Network”. 2019. Ecology Global Network. Accessed April 2 2019.
