Everyone on Earth to get their sexual orientation reversed. Can you handle it? Can the world?

[Boyo_Jim]

@LouisB

How about all us old folks who ain’t gettin none now and won’t be gettin any later? I can’t see a change in preference being a benefit or a curse at my age.

Not a benefit, perhaps, but any change in my sex life, even jerking off to different fantasies, would make it more interesting – I hope.

[sparky_1]

gayest thread ever.

[Boyo_Jim]

@sparky_1

gayest thread ever.

I guess so, since the OP posits making 90% plus of the world’s population gay.

[Zebra]

Does this mean I will become left handed?

[sparky_1]

@Zebra

Does this mean I will become left handed?

Yes, yes you will.

[MrDibble]

This sneezing fit, how long does it last? Because a whole year of sneezing sounds like hell…

[Loach]

I’m not cute enough to be gay.

[Ranchoth]

@Peeta_Mellark

Considering all of the misogyny and crap that goes on now when the majority of men want to, at the very least, put their penises in women, I’m rather horrified at the prospect of all of those misogynists turning into gay men overnight. The most obnoxiously woman-hating guys I’ve known have been the “new gays” who just came out and feel the need to assert this fact by saying nasty, degrading things about women.

Luckily, we don’t all go through that phase, but there are enough that if 90% of men on the planet woke up as “new gays” I shudder to think of what women would have to put up with.

So, basically everything between the river Jordan and the Ganges headwaters…we’re talking “Handmaiden’s Tale” meets “The Screwfly Solution,” then?

[Ranchoth]

@Ranchoth

So, basically everything between the river Jordan and the Ganges headwaters…we’re talking “Handmaiden’s Tale” meets “The Screwfly Solution,” then?

(Missed the edit window)

Note: On reflection, that was probably a tad bit too mean and overgeneralized for anything that could be thought of resembling a serious post. My apologies.

That said, I don’t doubt that the status of women in many parts of the Arab and Muslim world post-orientation ray would still not be what you’d call “nice.”

[LouisB]

@Boyo_Jim

Not a benefit, perhaps, but any change in my sex life, even jerking off to different fantasies, would make it more interesting – I hope.

I can’t have fantasies because i lose focus and forget w

[RTFirefly]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Will you be able to handle the reversal in orientation? Will anyone?

My main thought is, it doesn’t work like that. Like my gender, my sexual orientation is pretty deeply embedded in my identity, and intertwined with all sorts of other things that make me me. It’s not really separable.

[Boyo_Jim]

@RTFirefly

My main thought is, it doesn’t work like that. Like my gender, my sexual orientation is pretty deeply embedded in my identity, and intertwined with all sorts of other things that make me me. It’s not really separable.

I don’t understand – by the hypothetical from the OP, it does work like that. Maybe that means, in your case, your changing orientation means you become another person, and go back to the first person when the rays are switch off, or who knows, become a third person. Maybe it means you perceive the change as evidence you are going insane and then returning to sanity as the ray goes on and off. Maybe it means still something else that I haven’t mentioned.

[TriPolar]

I got no idea how I’d handle it. Most of the world works on the basis that whatever’s popular is good, so I’d think they’d hardly care. Since most men are sluts, I’m guessing there’d be way less sexually frustrated men in the world. But I suppose the competition for the attractive guys would be intense. If no other part of your personality changes, I’m not seeing a big problem for women.

[Taomist]

@TriPolar

I got no idea how I’d handle it. Most of the world works on the basis that whatever’s popular is good, so I’d think they’d hardly care. Since most men are sluts, I’m guessing there’d be way less sexually frustrated men in the world. But I suppose the competition for the attractive guys would be intense. If no other part of your personality changes, I’m not seeing a big problem for women.

Pretty much this. I am pondering the theory, posted upthread, that if men didn’t ‘need’ women, that women would shortly become very much an underclass, much more so than now. It’s an interesting thought.

Personally, I think I’d be fine. Not sure what would change for me, really, though if it happened tomorrow, with everything else remaining the same as it is now, I think Mr.Tao would be really upset. Or off banging dudes…

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@MrDibble

This sneezing fit, how long does it last? Because a whole year of sneezing sounds like hell…

Well, it was SUPPOSED to last about ten seconds, but then you gave me an idea. Excuse me; I have to get R&D on the line.

@Loach

I’m not cute enough to be gay.

Sounds like a personal problem.

@RTFirefly

My main thought is, it doesn’t work like that. Like my gender, my sexual orientation is pretty deeply embedded in my identity, and intertwined with all sorts of other things that make me me. It’s not really separable.

Oh, I’m sure there will be some small part of your subconscious screaming that this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

[Asimovian]

So, I’d be gay, my wife wouldn’t want me anymore, AND the random cashier dude at Five Guys who hit on me wouldn’t be interested in me, either?

Kill me now.

[SciFiSam]

My GF of two months and I would both suddenly be straight. But after a year, we’d revert back to what we are now?

Horrible idea, but hey, at least one of us would probably end up pregnant and then back together with some really strange parental relationships going on.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@SciFiSam

My GF of two months and I would both suddenly be straight. But after a year, we’d revert back to what we are now?

When you’d turn back would depend on how long I found the whole dealio amusing, or when Oakminster or carnivorousplant or **silenus **decided to shoot me in the head and push the button themselves.

Horrible idea, but hey, at least one of us would probably end up pregnant and then back together with some really strange parental relationships going on.

Wait, I’m not following this. The technomagic thingie flips sexual orientation; how do you think that necessarily leads to former lesbians not knowing how not to get pregnant?

[Antinor01]

I’m not sure if suddenly being straight or discovering I was bi would be more of a shock.

[TriPolar]

@Taomist

Pretty much this. I am pondering the theory, posted upthread, that if men didn’t ‘need’ women, that women would shortly become very much an underclass, much more so than now. It’s an interesting thought.

This isn’t something I initially considered. Women would have to fear being relegated to the breeder role. It’s happened before, and still goes on. However, as in those circumstances, the bond between mother and son would be stronger, so certain aspects of gender equality and even matriarchal societal roles may re-emerge as well.

I find the lack of basic sexual frustration among men (if that’s really how it turns out, it may not be quite so clear cut) to be interesting. I think sexual frustration is a major motivator in the lives of men. But there would still be the competition for desireable guys as a driving force. I don’t know how that all would work, but I’d expect substantial changes in male culture beyond sex.