We increasingly see sex as a strictly physical act. Freed from traditional social norms, and combined with a new frontier of emancipation for women, casual sex is the new normal. But is the nature and meaning of sex less apparent than we imagine? Surveys show that 70% experience regret after causal sex. Troubling if we consider that higher levels of sexual satisfaction are associated with lover levels of anxiety and depression, in teens and adults alike. Moreover, sex from an evolutionary point of view is about having children, and our choice of partner for that purpose is hardly a casual event. Are love and commitment, once a social requirement for sex, unavoidably linked to the act of sex itself?
Should we admit that sex is always more than the physical? Should we spend less time on the mechanics of 'good' sex and give more time to its psychological, social and, for some, spiritual meaning? Or is it a step back to the hierarchies and traditions of the past, and should we instead celebrate our newfound freedom and be thankful for its pleasures?
Author of This is Your Brain on Birth Control Sarah Hill, sociologist and trans campaigner Finn Mackay, and former senior research fellow at The Future of Humanity Institute Anders Sandberg debate the meaning of sex.
Event in association with the New Humanist.