In a recent column in Psychology Today, author and journalist George Michelsen Foy asks a rhetorical question, and that is, is sex dying? Meaning, the real kind that goes on between people that don’t write for magazines or appear in the tabloids. Is the physical act of sex between men and women disappearing due to the convergence to two wholly separate phenomena? Porn and women working outside the home?
Foy cites a recent article in New York Magazine, where real live men tell stories about how they are increasingly finding sexual relationships with porn (and themselves) to be preferable to having to ask for it from a tired spouse. He suggests that this might be something that is growing more prevalent as statistics from porn sites show more hits every day.
Foy also cites an article in the Guardian highlighting how bad the situation is growing in Japan where polls show more men now prefer relationships with virtual girlfriends than the real thing.
And women, well, if the men aren’t asking, then they’re not offering, leaving couples having less and less sex than ever before. In the New York article, for example, women are increasingly reporting less and less enjoyment in their sexual relationships because all the men they have sex with expect them to be like the women they see on porn sites, i.e. hot, perfectly shaved, and willing to do whatever is asked of them. And, of course, to act like they like it. A lot.
So, does this mean we as a society, are heading for a physically sexless future? That’s difficult to say of course, but based on current trends it seems possible. After all, as technology gets better, so do virtual partners. It won’t be long before robots become available that do look as hot as porn stars, that will do whatever is asked and will act like they really like it. Plus, they’ll have infinite patience, and listen to whatever we say and nod with deep meaning, all things we all seem to want in a real partner but find difficult to get. As to whether people and such robots will ever achieve the intimacy that thus far only two humans can find, that too is up for speculation. After all, what is intimacy anyway but a bunch of chemicals in our brains, mixing with other parts of our brains. Who’s to say we couldn’t conjure them up just as easily with a machine.