First, if there is a better word for my status/lifestyle, I do not know the word. So if "male virgin" is an oxymoron (maybe "virgin" only applies to females) or something like that, it's not like I am naive or completely ignorant of that possibility. My possible erroneous use of the words is not unwitting. They are simply the only words that I have to use without conveying ideas other than what I mean to say.
I am, for lack of a better word, a 35-year old heterosexual male virgin. And not just a "technical virgin"--no partner sex or physical affection of any kind. Really, no emotional affection ever either--no romance/"love".
Everybody else--from all persuasions--seems to think and act like everything good and bad depends on how we experience sex.
The explanation that everybody gives for this sex-centered approach to life is our species's need to procreate.
Well, the first problem that I see with that explanation is that it does not account for the phenomenon of asexual reproduction. If I am recalling all of it correctly, I even read in a college biology textbook 16 years ago that in evolutionary perspective biologists can't see an advantage in sexual reproduction and can't explain its occurrence as opposed to asexual reproduction.
The second problem that I see with that explanation is that most of our sexual experiences have been separated from reproduction. Human sexual behavior that results in reproduction seems to be only a small fraction of the sexual behavior in today's cultures.
Furthermore, a species's survival depends on a lot more than reproduction. And a case could be made that much of our sexual behavior has contributed to problems that threaten not only our species but all of life (think of all of the non-renewable resources used in the production and consumption of things like internet inappropriate contentography).
But let's assume for a second that the procreation explanation for peoples' emphasis on sex is correct. Does that mean that if somebody was to market to the general population products and services*, such as prescription drugs or clinical procedures, that eliminate the sex drive that governments would attempt to eradicate such products and services? Wouldn't our species be in jeopardy if people were to find a way to control or get rid of unwanted sexual urges (and I am sure that most people can report times when their libido caused them to suffer physical and/or emotional pain). If we depend on sexual reproduction for our survival, wouldn't governments be obligated to eliminate anything that could potentially destroy sexual reproduction? Wouldn't products and services designed to eliminate the sex drive be the biggest test ever of the ideals of liberty and free markets?
Personally, I don't need artificial interventions like drugs to live a happy, fulfilling life without sexual pleasure. But because the social system that I live in is structured to emphasize sex it has been difficult to live peacefully with my sexuality and other people's sexuality and difficult to begin to experience the full potential of the many non-sexual experiences in life.
If sex is readily available then I might as well enjoy it, I suppose. But sex is not readily available for most people, especially those of us who believe that it is ideally only practiced in the holy estate of marriage.
Meanwhile, I am not motivated to do the things that would make sex readily available to me. And I do not understand why sex is such a big deal to other people that they say that they could not live without it.
I am motivated by work and intellectual fulfillment. I would be happy spending all of my life on the most fulfilling manual and intellectual work.
However, as threads like this thread show, the overwhelming majority of people from all persuasions seem to have no concept of good or bad without bringing sex into the equation. Why?
*If such products and services are already being marketed to the general population, I do not know about it. The only sexual products and services that I have seen marketed to the general population (available to most consumers, and encouraging as many people as possible to purchase it; not the same as things like producing chemical castration to help governments attempt to control sex offenders) invariably promise to enhance a person's sex life--I have never seen a product or service marketed to the general population that promises to eliminate unwanted sexual urges.
I am, for lack of a better word, a 35-year old heterosexual male virgin. And not just a "technical virgin"--no partner sex or physical affection of any kind. Really, no emotional affection ever either--no romance/"love".
Everybody else--from all persuasions--seems to think and act like everything good and bad depends on how we experience sex.
The explanation that everybody gives for this sex-centered approach to life is our species's need to procreate.
Well, the first problem that I see with that explanation is that it does not account for the phenomenon of asexual reproduction. If I am recalling all of it correctly, I even read in a college biology textbook 16 years ago that in evolutionary perspective biologists can't see an advantage in sexual reproduction and can't explain its occurrence as opposed to asexual reproduction.
The second problem that I see with that explanation is that most of our sexual experiences have been separated from reproduction. Human sexual behavior that results in reproduction seems to be only a small fraction of the sexual behavior in today's cultures.
Furthermore, a species's survival depends on a lot more than reproduction. And a case could be made that much of our sexual behavior has contributed to problems that threaten not only our species but all of life (think of all of the non-renewable resources used in the production and consumption of things like internet inappropriate contentography).
But let's assume for a second that the procreation explanation for peoples' emphasis on sex is correct. Does that mean that if somebody was to market to the general population products and services*, such as prescription drugs or clinical procedures, that eliminate the sex drive that governments would attempt to eradicate such products and services? Wouldn't our species be in jeopardy if people were to find a way to control or get rid of unwanted sexual urges (and I am sure that most people can report times when their libido caused them to suffer physical and/or emotional pain). If we depend on sexual reproduction for our survival, wouldn't governments be obligated to eliminate anything that could potentially destroy sexual reproduction? Wouldn't products and services designed to eliminate the sex drive be the biggest test ever of the ideals of liberty and free markets?
Personally, I don't need artificial interventions like drugs to live a happy, fulfilling life without sexual pleasure. But because the social system that I live in is structured to emphasize sex it has been difficult to live peacefully with my sexuality and other people's sexuality and difficult to begin to experience the full potential of the many non-sexual experiences in life.
If sex is readily available then I might as well enjoy it, I suppose. But sex is not readily available for most people, especially those of us who believe that it is ideally only practiced in the holy estate of marriage.
Meanwhile, I am not motivated to do the things that would make sex readily available to me. And I do not understand why sex is such a big deal to other people that they say that they could not live without it.
I am motivated by work and intellectual fulfillment. I would be happy spending all of my life on the most fulfilling manual and intellectual work.
However, as threads like this thread show, the overwhelming majority of people from all persuasions seem to have no concept of good or bad without bringing sex into the equation. Why?
*If such products and services are already being marketed to the general population, I do not know about it. The only sexual products and services that I have seen marketed to the general population (available to most consumers, and encouraging as many people as possible to purchase it; not the same as things like producing chemical castration to help governments attempt to control sex offenders) invariably promise to enhance a person's sex life--I have never seen a product or service marketed to the general population that promises to eliminate unwanted sexual urges.