Everyone on Earth loses the capacity for sexual pleasure for one year. Any good results?

[Rachellelogram]

Who’s going to buy sports cars to impress the ladies anymore? This might mean the collapse of the automotive industry.

[panache45]

@WhyNot

This may be nitpicking the question, but I think it’s an important nit: do we lose the *desire *for desire?

'Cause I live and love with someone with ED, and it ain’t a box of chocolates. He *wants *to have the capacity for sexual pleasure and arousal, and that makes it frustrating as hell, and not quite as easy to just go work on that research paper as one might assume.

Now, if we lost the desire for desire, then I think the other posters have some good predictions. But if we all come down with a planetary case of ED, I think I’m going to take out stock in Pfizer, 'cause there’s gonna be a run on Viagra…even if it doesn’t work.

If your guy is anything like me, ED simply means he can’t have erections, and nothing more. He still has a libido, he can still be stimulated, he can still experience pleasure, and he can still have an orgasm with ejaculation. The only thing that has changed is the erection. If he’s used to PiV sex, all he needs is an alternate method of stimulation. ED affects the blood vessels, not the nerves and not the brain.

[Tamex]

So, basically this is an entire planet on Zoloft?

[Regallag_The_Axe]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

…while men can still ejaculate, it happens only as a reflex after a great deal of stimulation and is as painful as a kick in the nads.

[Emphasis mine]

I think I found a loop hole, but only for guys who get off on pain. So I have to ask Skald, ‘What about guys who get off on pain?’ It seems like a small percentage of people would be okay with this strange new world of strange.

[panache45]

People who get off on pain still experience pleasure. It’s just that the right kind of pain is what gives them pleasure. And not even all pain . . . when they hit their thumb with a hammer, it still hurts like hell . . . and not in a good way.

[Tapiotar]

If there is even no capacity for arousal, well, some effects:

1. people become sloppier in terms of personal appearance, grooming, and hygiene, since they are no longer trying to attract sexual partners. Repercussions in fashion and grooming products industries.
2. Is productivity a side effect of sexuality? We’ll find out, as people no longer want to do well to impress potential partners. If this is permanent, the drop in reproduction will also mean people do have to work and save to feed, clothe, and educate their children.
3. The industry supplying toys for small children goes belly-up.
4. overall creativity declines.
5. the movie and pop music industries decline, with sex and romance no longer interesting topics.
6. pain management clinics for men temporarily boom, but, with no arousal, most find it’s not worth the effort to reproduce.
7. alcoholism increases, both as substitute tesnion relief and also in grief over lost sexuality.
8. humanity self-destructs. Not just from insufficient reproduction, but also in depression from the joylessness of a passion-free existence. (I am assuming that all passions, including intellectual, creative, and spiritual passions, spring from the same font as sexuality, and when you lose one, you lose them all.

Therefore, this is not a recommended venture for Evil Enterprises, as the severe diminishment of the human race means no way to make a profit! Remember, they must be kept productive enough to produce enough excess for skimming, and also comfortable and complacent enough to lack a moral compass.

[BottledBlondJeanie]

I can only imagine the work I could get done.

And sexy cars aren’t just a substitute or method to woo women. People who say that have never driven a good Porsche or Ferrari or can’t appreciate a high performance car.

[Shodan]

I would have a great deal more free time.

Which I would spend hunting down the ones responsible.

I’ve had several hundred of the rays constructed and mounted on orbital platforms, sufficient to blanket the entire Earth with their beams.

NASA just became the largest item in the federal budget, with bi-partisan support.

Any good effects? I’d probably get the yardwork done on Saturdays.

Regards,
Shodan

[BrotherCadfael]

@A_Nested_Thorn

Rapists and child molesters would would have the time to see themselves outside of the blinding haze of lust and maybe get some psychological help. If not, at least they wouldn’t be raping and molesting for a year.

OK, but what do we do about people who talk in the theater?

[johnpost]

when you stop one hobby then you pickup another.

[Der_Trihs]

About the only real good thing I can see from this would be an upsurge in research into reproductive medicine, since people won’t realize its temporary and there will be a rush to save the human race from extinction.

As for bad results? Besides the ones already mentioned: Many suicides. Many relationships break up. Alcohol providers and illicit drug manufacturers would see huge(er) profits as people try desperately to find something to replace what they are missing, or make them forget. Religions and political groups that preach hatred towards pleasure and the opposite sex have a huge upsurge in recruiting. An increase in apocalyptic religions. General malaise and despair. In the more misogynistic regions of the world, a significant portion of the female population is murdered.

@Chimera

Imagine people with sexual addictions, including the criminal types, suddenly being forced to go cold turkey for a year because they cannot achieve any pleasure from their addiction.

I expect the result would be violence, both suicidal and towards their usual target. They still want it; but they can’t have it. That’s going to create plenty of irrational behavior. And not just from people with sexual addictions.