The other day me and some friends were watching that old 80’s animated movie “Heavy Metal” and in the movie there’s this part where a dude saves this girls life and she in turn basically gives him sex as a payback.
This got me and my friends to talking. (two guys two girls) If someone saved your life would you give them sex if they wanted it? The girls in my group were like “ewe, no way, thats just gross” where me and my friend where like “Sure why the hell not? She saved our life for crying out loud!”
So I pose this question to you now, my fellow dopers. Would you give it up to someone who saved your life?
Before you answer though some guidelines.
1.) At the time your life was saved lets just assume you were single.
2.) For obvious reasons this has to be somebody you’re REALLY not atracted to.
I’d suggest that it’s hard to know what one might do if one thought death was imminent.
(There’s also a big difference between a “person X is trapped in the mountains and person Y rescues him/her, and then they spend the next 5 days together as they hike out of the mountains” scenario vs. a “person X pulls person Y out of a burning car, and then person Y goes home” scenario.)
Was this a payback when she didn’t want to but thought he deserved it, or did she just like him because he saved her life? The second would seem the most likely to me.
if they were really heroic… maybe. like if they really risked life and limb, and had to do something really extrordinary just to save me. or if some stranger payed a billion dollars to fund my spine transplant after I came down with spine cancer or something.
If he was demanding sex as payback, no way(I’m female, BTW)
But(and don’t tell my mother this ) if later he made a polite, non-aggressive, overture, I probably would. As long as I knew he would have been willing to take “no” for an answer.
I am a guy, and assuming the women who saved me doesn’t have VD or isn’t terrible looking, then I would sleep with her. Of course, that applies to girls who didn’t save me too.
i think feelings get jumbled easily, and i don’t think “payback” would be the primary issue. if two people shared a life-threatening experience (one carries the other out of a burning building, saves him/her from drowning, rescues h/h from a kidnaper etc.) their feelings about the event would have to be intense. and it would be a short step from sharing intense feelings with another person to feeling sexual attraction to that person. as a male, i have to say that if a woman saved my life it would be hard not to think of her as enrapturing. and if i saved a woman’s life, i would probably feel pretty close to her, which could easily become sexual interest. but i wouldn’t think of it as a reward or payback in either case.
i have read that it’s an occupational hazard for police officers, emts etc. who save lives every day that the people they help want to establish a personal relationship, or may even imagine that there already is one. in therapy the same process is transference. it’s not payback; it’s having and recognizing basic human feelings.
Probably, if they were attractive enough and not pushy. Then again, if they were all that then I’d do them anyway, regardless of the life saving thing.
Come to think of it, sex right after coming back from the brink of death would be life-affirming and pretty damn hot.
Uhh, assuming I wasn’t coming back from the brink of death with two broken legs and third degree burns. Then it would be painful.
A little context for those who haven’t seen Heavy Metal (non-spoiler):
The character that saves the girl from drowning, Deng, is explicitly presented as an especially muscular, fit, and attractive character once he appears on the scene. It’s clear in the movie that the girl liked him because Deng saved her life and on top of that, she thought he was extremely hot.
Therefore, SHAKES’ Condition #2 from the OP has no real analog in the movie.
) if later he made a polite, non-aggressive, overture, I probably would. As long as I knew he would have been willing to take “no” for an answer.