Taboos

 An anonymous reader has kindly asked me a question, which doesn't bring up any memories but is a good question nonetheless. I hope you'll all allow me to ruminate on it in blog form.

"Is it more interesting -- or sexier? -- to live in a world without taboos, where everything is permissible (and there's no shame in desiring what we desire, so long as everyone is consenting)? OR, does the presence of taboos add to the sexiness of breaking them?"

It's actually a number of questions rolled into one, which is nice and indicative of a question worth considering.

First, is a world without any taboos possible? I'm not talking likely, I'm talking possible. I'd posit that no, it isn't. Why? Well, I think taboos are in our very nature as humans. There are always going to be things we regard as beyond the pale, both individually and as a society. I'd argue that if taboos didn't exist, we'd have to create them because, "Everything is permissible," just won't work.

The questioner even presupposes a perfectly reasonable limit which is "consent." Now personally I agree 100% with this limit, and that's about where my limits are, but I worry that if the only limits were "consent" then people who get off on violating the rules would have to break that one. I don't know. Still, I think that there will always be limits to what is acceptable, sexually and otherwise.

But let's say, instead of, "Everything is permissible," we go with, "No sexual activity which involves the consent of all parties involved is taboo." Even leaving aside the idea that public sex would still be taboo unless you had the consent of everyone who was going to come into contact with it, there may be no societal taboos, but each individual would certainly be their own judge as to what they would consent to, thus making the most prudish person in the room the adjudicator of what is and isn't taboo while they're around. Obviously that's currently true, and if there were no societal norms prohibiting sexual activities, then many people would become less prudish, but still, the taboos would be there.

I'm trying not to write a philosophical treatise on this question, so lets get to the fucking: would I find it more sexy if there were no taboos? On the surface, for someone like me who does in fact get off a little on things being taboo, I wonder if that would be less exciting. But on the other hand, I'm a giant fan of sex as a perfectly ordinary activity that doesn't raise any more eyebrows than eating or sleeping. I think fucking while doing other things is sexy as hell, honestly. So there's that part of me in the mix too.

What it boils down to is "interesting," actually. I think a world with no taboos is more interesting than one with taboos because we could expand the boundaries of sexual activity. And there's nothing which says that one can't artificially impose limits on a limitless situation in order to benefit from the conditions limits bring.

I think part of the difficulty in answering this question is a lack of imagination on my part. I have a difficult time imagining a world where there are no taboos so I can't see the benefits to that situation. As far as it being more or less sexy than the current taboo situation, I think it might be an apples/oranges comparison. It's sexy in a different way. As far as it being more interesting, something beyond my scope of imagination would have to be pretty interesting, or else I'd be able to imagine it. That's my thinking, anyway.

At the end of the day, I wish we had fewer taboos not because it would be more or less sexy or interesting but because it would be better for the world. A world in which we don't have the taboos against talking about sex means a world where children are safer (despite my own upbringing, I'm not necessarily recommending that every child be raised my way, but I do think that sex ed is vital to the safety of children as well as their future happiness) and where adults are happier because they can talk about an activity which is literally vital to the continuance of the species. Couples would be happier, for one. And there are other taboos which if we did away with them, we'd see a similar increase in happiness and safety for everyone.

Who am I to let my kink for violating the rules get in the way of increased human happiness and safety?

I hope that was at least a mildly interesting answer to the question. If you didn't care for it, ask me your own question which will hopefully inspire a response you're more into. Comments or emails are the best way to ask such questions.