Exoparadapsyphobia

First of let me say that the title is kind of misleading, because physically or emotionally harming sexual situations arise purely from the addiction to the physical aspects of sex, not reproduction; since almost all who commit sexual offenses never intend to reproduce. I suppose the better question to ask is, "would life be better without plesurable sex?" But I didn't feel like using a title that anyone might find lewd and would have to look at every time they visisted the D&D section for at least a few days, so excuse my humility . So, question rephrased - "would life be safter/better without pleasurable sex?"

I was thinking about this one day while contemplating the ethical treatment of convicted sex offenders. If human reproductive strategies were not physically pleasing or enjoyfull perhaps there wouldn't be a single rape, child molestation or other sexual offense among our society, and so we could avoid all the pain and suffering it causes people. It would no doubt benefit our society to eliminate pleasurable sex, right? But this question raises several other questions which isntills some doubt in my conclusion.

For one, would the carrying on of our own existence in the form of passing on genetic material to produce offspring alone be enough motive to commit a sexual crime? I believe we have a natural and compelling instinct to do so regardless of social regulation, but I question our ability as a species to resist this if we were denied the oppurtunity for an extended amount of time.

Also, what would happen to our society if suddenly sex was no longer pleasurable? Since much of our social structure and activities are based solely on the principal of obtaining sexual favor due to the fact that we enjoy it so much. Think of it as the movie Children of Men except reversed, instead of being unable to reproduce we simply don't enjoy it anymore. It would be fascinatingly interesting to observe the reformation of our society in the case of such an event. This questioning promotes the weighing in of pros and cons in order to determine the credibility of such a proposal, instead of simply basing it on one possible benefit; the discontinuation of sexual crimes.

So what's your take on this, would it overwhelming benefit or cripple our society if sexual activities were to become no longer physically enjoyable?

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divine_punishment

Speaking as a Catholic, pleasurable sex between a man and his wife is perfectly fine. It re-enforces the bond between them, an expression of their love and unity.

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fireandice

Well you seem to of forgotten, if it wasn't pleasurable then why would there be a need to do it at all. Even for reproduction sake, if it wasn't fun then why do it at all? The reproduction process would have to be done completely in the labs, along with the growth and birth. I mean you wonder about the rapes, won't it be equally unkind to force a women to give birth as well. If she had no benifits with it at all? I think that the idea in theory is good but not in reality. But just haveing sex to have childen would plunge the population down. Now whether that is a good thing or not is for another debate.

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Exoparadapsyphobia

That's an awfully specious assumption you've made there. But no, I haven't forgotten. As I said we have a compelling instinct to reproduce simply to carry on our own existence in the form of offspring, physical pleasures are only a side benefit/motive; sex is not pleasurable or enjoyable to every life form on our planet, but they still do it. Why? Simply for the sake of the continuation of their species, that's it. They're born, they feed, they mate and die. Rinse and repeat, that's your life. It's the life of all things, why should we be exempt from this cycle simply because of a theoretical situation in which we no longer enjoyed sex? The fact is, we wouldn't be; humans will invariably mate no matter what the circumstances, even if sex was painful or lethal.

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divine_punishment

"Sex crimes" like rape and molestation are not about sex; they are about power. Ask any policeman, detective, etc. Sexual offenders get off on the power.

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fireandice

That drive to reproduce isn't that strong in us if you take away all the feelings that go along with the pleasures of the action. And of those creatures that do live that way they aren't that plentyful. We are one of the largest on the planet because it is pleasureable for us. But I still think if you were to run that scenario then you would find that we would die out due to other reasons besides of our nature to distroy ourselves. Again I will say that it is a good idea in theory but not on practice.

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Exoparadapsyphobia

Oh, really? So, Mr. Psychologist sir, if rape has absolutely nothing to do with the physical apsects of sex then why don't sex offenders simply go around assaulting people instead of rapping them? After all, it has nothing to do with physical pleasure, just power. But simply assualting a weaker opponent and proving your physical prowess over them completely exempting sex from the incident is excercising plenty of power. So why don't they just do that? Answer this question for yourself and you'll see how stupid you just made yourself look by stating rape has nothing to do with physical pleasure.

To quote one of the most famous Starwars characters - "so much ignorance I sense in you". Yes, we are one of the most plentiful and common species that exist on this planet but it has nothing to do with sexual practices! Either you absolutely refuse to put any thought into your answer at all or you really do possess such a grossly acute level of stupidity. It is because of our superior intelect over other creatures on this planet that we are so plentiful. Every other mamal out there is just as horny as we are but the only reason there are more of us than them is because we are smarter . Apparetnly that's not the case with you, but simply drawing from one example of such a level of stupidity that it is only by mating that you came into existence among such a number of your peers does not act as proof for your argument. Sorry to burst your bubble. In addition is it not enough for you that I draw on several million examples of physical pleasure having nothing to do with reproduction among life forms to prove that humans function almost identically?

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divine_punishment

Usually they were molested or something as a child. That was when they "lost" the power. Now they commit this act, which they view as the most powerful, to get it back.

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Exoparadapsyphobia

Not every child molester or rapist was sexually abused as a child, that example is a far to uncommon one to draw on in support of your argument. But as I said before, why don't they simply physically injure or kill someone rather than rape them? I don't think you're seeing the point I'm trying to make here. They are both examples of power, but one excludes sex and physical pleasure, the other does not. What makes them choose the latter over physically injuring someone with no sex involved with a normal childhood or one that included some kind of abuse other than sexual?

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gren

First off, let's keep this civil. No name calling, please.

Here's my post from the thread "Do women make men rapists". divine_punishment is somewhat correct; although I wouldn't say that rapists/molesters get absolutely no pleasure from the acts they commit, that isn't the sole reason nor the one that truly drives them.

Raping someone for power rather than say, beating them to a bloody pulp is a way to humiliate and demean them. Physical injuries can heal quite easily; the emotional scars caused by rape may never go away.

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Gren's Music

divine_punishment

Because some people are insane. Sad, true. The people who pysically beat people derive pleasure from that, too.

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