The Post-Sex World

[Mempy]

"There are significant restrictions on the opportunities available to men around gestation, childbirth, and breastfeeding, which will be extremely difficult to overcome via social or technological mechanisms in the foreseeable future. Women also have longer life expectancies than men," he said.

I don't get it. Is he saying that because biologically men can't carry babies, give birth and breastfeed, that their lives are significantly less fulfilling than women's? And that the answer to this horrible lack that the male species possesses, is to just put men out of their misery by not letting them be born in the first place?

Furthermore, who says the few more years of old age that women are likely to see are anything to really miss?

[heart]

Originally Posted by Mempy

I don't get it. Is he saying that because biologically men can't carry babies, give birth and breastfeed, that their lives are significantly less fulfilling than women's? And that the answer to this horrible lack that the male species possesses, is to just put men out of their misery by not letting them be born in the first place?

Yes, this is what he is saying. Insane...

[Mempy]

Originally Posted by heart

Yes, this is what he is saying. Insane...

I think he has uterus envy. Freud would be rubbing his hands in glee.

I think he just has to accept that life isn't perfect for either sex, and never will be, and that combining the sexes in biologically-engineered hermaphrodites is going to produce its own sets of problems while at the same time forsaking advantages and opportunities that each sex possessed individually.

Edit: Life is a trade-off, always. Pregnancy has its joys and pains. Not being able to get pregnant has its joys and pains. You can't have the ability to get pregnant without giving up the joys of not being able to get pregnant.

[colmena]

I remember reading in our A-level psychology text book how babies develop a tactile relationship with their mother through breast feeding. A sort of conditioning where they go to get fed but receive the pleasure of being held by the mother at the same time. So they begin to associate being held with survival.

I've been envious ever since.