domingo, 10 de mayo de 2015

domingo, mayo 10, 2015
The Future of Sex: It Gets Better

Therapist Laura Berman sees greater fulfillment and less focus on gender and orientation

By Laura Berman

April 26, 2015 11:10 p.m. ET
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When I was 10 years old, my friend Sarah and I found a newly minted copy of “The Joy of Sex” under her parents’ bed. Like many other young people at the time, we pored through the pages. We were luckier than Sarah’s parents, who—like mine—had grown up making do with National Geographic magazine.

Today, couples don’t have to struggle in the dark as they try to learn how to pleasure their partner. The Internet has demystified sex for millions of people, and it has put love and intimacy at our fingertips. Technology is only going to continue to take sex to a whole new level in the future.

Currently sex aids are widely available, but the future is going to hold some truly edgy products.

Futurists are predicting that—in just 10 to 15 years—there will be robots that will look and feel incredibly lifelike, robots with which you can cuddle and have sex. You will be able to design your perfect mate, complete with the right voice and the artificial intelligence to whisper those sweet nothings at exactly the right time.

Virtual romantic partners like Samantha in the movie “Her” will be a reality. In fact, a new app called Invisible Boyfriend is already out, sending you loving texts like a real boyfriend might.

We will be able to have robust sexual experiences without touching. Talk about disease prevention! Imagine engaging in anything from targeted foreplay to exploring your wildest fantasies by stimulating your partner with a click of a mouse, even when you are across town or in another country.




Meanwhile, our understanding of the neurobiology of sex will lead to a new ability to stimulate the brain directly to simulate mind-blowing sex regardless of physical contact. This will not only have endless recreational implications, but will significantly improve the sex lives of people with disabilities, as well.
Distance will matter less
Along those lines, long-distance relationships will be much more prevalent. As the world gets smaller and technology improves, we will find soul mates in distant places and stay in close virtual contact.

If we want, we’ll even be able to procreate without meeting in person. Reproductive technology is rapidly evolving, and soon we will be facing the ethical dilemmas around babies with more than two parents, or from parents who have already died, leaving genetic material behind, or from two parents who have never met in person but sent their genetic material to a laboratory.

As medical research continues to advance, female sexual dysfunction will finally get the attention it deserves. The Food and Drug Administration has approved 20 medications for men to help treat sexual dysfunction. The number approved for women? Zero. I believe that our male-centric and limited attitude toward female sexual health will expand over the coming decades as women advocate for themselves more. We (and the FDA) will embrace better loving through chemistry, while making sense of the plethora of medical interventions coming down the pike to create bigger orgasms; make you skinnier, tanner and more libidinous all at once; and expand the size of the G spot.

Further, labeling our sexual orientation will be a thing of the past. A new tide of young men and women are embracing a range of sexual expression, describing themselves as “mostly straight” but open to same-sex love if it occurs. In addition to gay marriage becoming legal everywhere in the U.S., I have no doubt the transgender community will make amazing strides when it comes to civil rights and being understood and celebrated.

Ten years ago, most people wouldn’t even know the correct terminology for a transgender person. Now Amazon’s “Transparent” is an award-winning hit TV show, and Laverne Cox, an openly trans actress, recently made a splash with an Emmy nomination for her role in Netflix NFLX -0.03 % ’s “Orange Is the New Black.” Definitions of gender in the future will be as fluid as sexual orientation is becoming.
Different but the same
I suspect for the next decade or so we will be riding a wave, seeking more stimulation in less time, quick transitory couplings, and the next big thing to make sex more exciting. The good news is that sex will be safer and more exploratory than ever, given the virtual capabilities. The bad news is that we will likely see an uptick in sexual addiction and a decrease in emotional connection with partners. People struggle with the existential depression and loneliness that comes from a lack of rich, authentic connections. Eventually, there may be a conservative movement of sex-technology Luddites who shun the technological advances. The inevitable social struggle will last for a while, but in the future, freedom will be the winning mantra.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how lifelike the sex robots are or how comforting an Invisible Boyfriend is. The year 2050 won’t be any different than year 1050. We might all be flying around in eco-friendly spaceships, but we will still be looking for THE one and winking at the cute guy or girl (or transgender person) in the spaceship next to us.

Call me an optimist, but I believe the natural readjustment will always lead us back to soul-to-soul connection. When I look to the future of sex and relationships, that’s what I see: an abundance of love and a community of people not afraid to open their hearts to all the possibilities.


Dr. Berman is a sex and relationship therapist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and obstetrics gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago

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