Re: Controlling the male sex drive

Joseph Bloch (bloch@skyweb.net)
Sat, 26 Jun 1999 19:19:43 -0400

Dave Sill wrote:

>I'm tired of being dominated by my hormones. I waste vast amounts of
>time and energy thinking about and having sex, and I'm constantly
>being distracted by sexual thoughts. Sometimes I think it would be
>better--now that I've sired all the children I plan to--to just get
>out of the sex game altogether. (I'm 39, married, three children.)

Considering that the human male sex drive is the product of millions of years of natural selection-governed evolution, I'm always hesitant when someone considers trying to tamper with it. Objectivists would consider feelings of beneficence and altruism to be similarly distracting; I would counsel against trying to eliminate them chemically.

Just a thought here, and no slight is intended, but have you considered counseling? I mean, if it's taking up so much time you can't concentrate on what your creative and productive efforts, that might indicate more to the issue than purely physical. It certainly strikes me as an area for exploration prior to any permanent physical alterations or chemical therapies.

Plus, how does your wife feel about your intentions to artificially rid yourself of your sex drive?

Such feelings are, admittedly, a legacy of our evolutionary history, and as such are possibly not ideally suited to our current technological society. However, I would sooner adapt society to match our evolutionary psychologies, rather than trying to change our psychologies to match the demands of our society.

J. John Bloch

http://home.skyweb.net/bloch