Decades ago we liberated sexuality. We had learned, from no less than a Viennese neurologist, that civilization had been built on the dried bones of sexual repression. Said neurologist did suggest that the problem was insoluble-- without civilization it would all become anarchy and mass destruction-- but still, our finer minds set about free sex from its constraints… the better to lead us back to a paradise where everyone loved everyone else and where there was no war.
Or some such thing.
Ever since we liberated sex, we have been hard at work putting the genie back in the bottle, or the toothpaste back in the tube. We have criminalized more and more sexual activities. We have conjured up a gale of outrage against sexual predators. We have run witch hunts against nursery school teachers. We have exposed the sexual peccadilloes and sexual transgressions of the rich and the powerful. We have shamed them mercilessly. We have declared war on sex traffickers, on sexual harassers, on rapists and sexual molesters. We have set up kangaroo courts on college campuses, the better to punish, without trial, any male accused of sexual assault. We now have a #MeToo movement designed to shame and destroy the lives of any man who is accused of sex crimes and even sexual improprieties.
Putting the genie back in the bottle has proved to be no small task.
And now we have entered the era of the sex doll. Brothels offering the service of plastic blow-up dolls are opening around the world. They exist in Paris and Barcelona. They are going to open in Toronto and Italy. They offer an opportunity for a man to do as he pleases, without fear of being accused of any crime. They cost far less than human prostitutes. Better yet, you will never have to pay hush money to a silicon doll. You will never be threatened by exposure. She will not tell your wife.
Considering the simple fact that real women have become threats, why not compromise and get down and dirty with a silicon facsimile?
Of course, she is not going to be offering the girlfriend experience. One suspects that she will not be practicing certain actions that require active participation. And yet, she is not going to change her mind mid-act. Sex dolls are never not in the mood. They do not say No.
Of course, they do not say Yes either… so this leaves an opening for the legal profession to try to criminalize the behavior. But, then again, what if a man buys his very own sex doll. She will never complain… but she will not talk to him either. Do men think that it’s worthwhile to have a sex partner who is always ready, willing and able, and who never talks? One suspects that a man is not going to contract an infection from a sex doll, but, then again, you never know.
Without having delved more deeply into the issue, one suspects that sex dolls do not require their clients to wear condoms.
On the other side, one would be hard put to see the virtue in a doll who can never say Yes, either.
Why are sex doll brothels popping up around the world? Call it protection, if you like. Silicon dolls are not gone to rise up and create their own #MeToo movement. They are not going to turn you in to the college administrative authorities. In a climate where many sexual acts have become criminalized… silicon dolls might be a reasonable alternative. Surely, they are better than sex trafficked women. And they cost a lot less than going out on dates.
Admittedly, this sounds cynical. For some it sounds worse than cynical. Kevin Williamson sees it as a sign of civilizational collapse, producing more anomie.
Imagine, if you can — with charity, if you can — the state of a man in a silicon brothel paying to have sex (a simulacrum of sex) with an inanimate object. The act indicates a profound alienation not only from ordinary healthy sexual expression but from humanity. And from something more than that. If you want an image of a man alone in the universe, bereft, then there it is.
One suspects the some enterprising brothels will soon be offering threesomes, between a man, his paramour and the sex doll. I don’t see the virtue of this, but still, that does not mean that it will never happen.
But, one can only wonder what Williamson would say about having sex with animate objects. And no, I don't mean sheep and goats.
Presumably, the sex dolls are inanimate… though, if the demand is sufficient, one suspects that the free market, in its infinite wisdom, following the direction of the invisible hand, will create them.
As for having sex with animate (that is, moving) objects, we should recognize that women have been doing this for decades now. Second wave feminism brought vibrators came out of the closet. More and more women found pleasure with these animate objects… certainly far more pleasure than they had found having sex with male chauvinist pigs.
Yes, I am aware that some dildoes do not vibrate, but many of the best ones, I am assured, do. Women have happily embraced them… but, strangely enough, no one has asked how they might influence the way women see their human male lovers. After all, sexual liberation means more orgasms, especially, more orgasms for women. Hadn’t the patriarchy been organized to deprive women of orgasmic release? With the advent of The Rabbit, that repressive civilization constraint had been eliminated.
With sex toys, women could have as much or as little sex as they wanted, without having to deal with men. They would not need to be dealing with someone who was suffused with toxic masculinity. They would not have to engage in all the seductive wiles that were needed to entice a man into their boudoir. They would not need to put on an alluring outfit, to bedeck themselves in feminine splendor, to have their hair done, their nails polished and their nether regions waxed. And they would not need to go on Tinder or Bumble or some other hookup app to find a man who would do with them as he pleased and then never call back. And, who they would feel obliged to service.
Vibrators gave women complete and total control over their sexuality. What could possibly be wrong with that? It would save them a great deal of grief.
The downside is the same as that suffered by men who go out to sex doll brothels. When it’s all over, you are alone.
Williamson bemoans the dehumanizing effect of these aspects of the sexual revolution. Clearly, and most importantly, if a culture decides that sexual activity is merely a way to deliver sexual pleasure, it will be telling people that more better orgasms are the key to emotional well being and good health. If that is the case, then why bother with other human beings. Why shouldn’t a man go to a sex doll cafe while his wife stays home with The Rabbit?
Apparently, our sexual revolutionaries did not read their Darwin. They detached sex from procreation, and then had to criminalize a large variety of sex acts… the better to try to get it all under control. As of now, they are failing. We should have known it, but no one did.
6 comments:
Westworld, the original version with Yul Brenner, portrayed a fantasy world with unintended consequences to a chilling effect. Travelling that road of pleasure without payment takes us to places we really don't want to go because dance all you want The Piper has his own rules, doesn't he? And isn't that tension the subject of much of our entertainment and some of our religious practice?
Very interesting theme.
Sex doll brothels are already the targeted enemy.
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/city-shuts-down-sex-doll-brothel-in-north-york-before-opening-date
There is a movie that kind of covered this, "Cherry 2000." https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/
The sad part is that we spend so much time looking for the perfect man or woman and never discover that they are, in many cases, right there under are noses. Become too involved in yourself and eventually it is all you will have. The joy of life is the interplay between man and woman who begin to realize the importance of that relationship.
dtrumpet
" When it’s all over, you are alone."
Stuart, you are are "alone" from start to finish period.
I'm still around and reading!
James
Anyone who hasn't seen it should revisit The Twilight Zone episode titled "The Lonely," about a man imprisoned alone on an asteroid and given a robot female companion named "Alicia." One of my Twilight Zone favorites.
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