The thread “Is there a legitimate non-sex reason to rent a hotel room at an hourly rate?” and the “Me, too” issues of late inspired a thought experiment - how would the world change if sex weren’t a thing at all?
One day, quite suddenly, all genitalia simply dropped off every living human. All memories of sex and all sexual desire disappeared at the same time. There are still women, men and all gender variations in between but sex is simply no longer a thing, since no one has a thing anymore anyway. New humans begin to appear out of nowhere as needed to keep the population at an optimum level, fully formed and about 18 years old. Not only that, but they appear with the requisite skills and knowledge to fill whatever niche society needs at the time. One coal miner dies and - poof - another appears. It’s all seamless (SWIDT? Coal joke. Seamless. Coal is found in “seams”. Really, it’s funny).
Humans still need platonic relationships and still, as today, favor one gender over the other (or favor equally) for those relationships but with no concept of exclusivity or sex. Marriage becomes a financial arrangement only - a place to call home, so to speak - but with no bearing on other relationships.
All other gender based physiological and physiological (for lack of a better term) differences would remain. Males would still be generally bigger and stronger than females, females would still be generally more emotionally aware, etc.
Once all that mess of genitalia was swept up and discarded in the seas (happy fishes!), how would the world be different? No competing to spread one’s genes, no sexual dominance issues, but what would that mean? Would harassment decline, or would sexual harassment just be replaced by some other kind? What might that be? Would the world be a better place, or no?
“I say, that’s a joke, son! I made a funny and you ain’t laughing. [aside:] Yeesh. Kid’s like a tattoo. Get’s under your skin.” /Foghorn Leghorn
Anyway, this is a huge topic. We’re talking serious, deep, fundamental and unforeseeable changes to humanity. In fact, I’m not sure we can even call a non-sexual species “human” anymore. You might as well hypothesize that all humans are wiped out and an alien race takes over the earth.
Yes, as outliers in a sex-driven society, but not as the general population of a non-sex driven society. If sexuality is wished away, how does this effect sensuality, passion, or the basic structure of the family unit? There is an emotional investment in raising a child that simply can’t occur if an 18 year old is plopped on your doorstep one day, all trained and ready to go to work. What will these 18 year old newbies believe when it comes to politics, religious or human nature itself?
With this proposal you haven’t just removed sex from society-you have removed a great amount of society and replaced it with questions never dealt with before.
There’s “asexual” the orientation, where some people just don’t care to have sex. And then there’s “asexual” the fundamental biological division between species who reproduce by combining genes and those that don’t. The former is not that big a deal. Not really any different from being gay as far as biology or society is concerned. The latter is huge.
Humans suddenly gaining chlorophyll and the ability to obtain energy by photosynthesis would not have the kind of impact going from a sexual to a non-sexual species would have. Our whole life cycle is based around sex. Our whole bodies are built around sex, not just our genitals. Our brains, too. Our society is based around sex. The OP says we would, but why would we want marriages? Why would we go through puberty? Ultimately, even our sense of self-preservation is based on finding mates, reproducing and guiding our progeny (and their progeny) to a successful adulthood.
“Asexual” people desire to learn, grow and succeed because their parents weren’t asexual, and passed those genes (and values) along. Even asexual people love other people’s children, and work towards a better world for those kids to grow up in. When we stop having children and our numbers are supplemented with “woods people” who literally come out of the woodwork, why should they have any drive at all? Why would people make art? Why would they build homes? Why would we work or even eat? Why would anyone care about the woods people? They would essentially be another species entirely. And why would they care about us, the poor doomed humans who are left and quickly going extinct?
I don’t think marriages would exist. Marriage is a romantic and financial (and social) arrangement. The first would completely vanish. Financial arrangements would simply be having roommates.
Entire industries would vanish. Education would shrivel. If a new coal miner appears, what happens if their skills become outdated in a few years? Will the next coal miner have the up-to-date skills? Can someone teach the new coal miner new tricks?
Without sexuality, a lot of human insecurity goes out the window. A lot of our insecurities are due to sexuality at root. Feeling ugly, romantic problems, etc.
Also men wouldn’t do as many stupid and dangerous things to gain status.
Exactly, except there would be no puberty, not bodies built for sex. That’s why I posited that the replacements would be fully formed. No more l need for childhood or puberty.
Why? Genetics. The author of this change instilled genetic drives similar to those found environmentally today, just not sex/reproductive based. I’m not sure that art would cease if sex did, there is still joy and pain to explore. And the “woodwork” people wouldn’t be different than those converted.
I am trying to envision a world where the only change to humanity is removing the need/desire/possibility for sex. Huge? Absolutely, but I’m not convinced it would be disastrous.
There are plenty of books, movies, and TV shows—especially among those that are older and/or written for children—that could easily be set in such a world.
