Hmm. What would this be? Some set of people rationally deciding to hook up when without an especially rational outlook they wouldn’t? Alternately, optimizing a hookup?
How could this be written so as to actually showcase rationality (i.e. don’t gratuitously add ‘rationality’ to everything that’s not stupid)? Without killing the mood?
So that was intended for a joke, but ok, let’s think. Some possibilities:
50 Shades of Rationality—keep the sex scenes but upgrade the characters, HPMoR-style. I haven’t read them, but presumably there’s some excuse for a plot? So, make villains and heroes both awesomer. This does have the weakness that there’s “separation of rationality and erotica”—it’s about smart characters, and they have a lot of sex, but it’s not necessarily smart sex, so to speak.
A sex scene that the characters have spent (at least) five minutes thinking about and preparing for. Does losing your virginity absolutely have to be a scramble of awkwardness, embarrassment, and rapid ejaculation? Not if the characters expend some effort ensuring otherwise. This is more explicitly rational; it’s about how to actually accomplish a goal, the did-you-really-think-about-that-for-five-minutes question. We just make it sexual by setting the goal to “get laid” or “have really good sex”.
In BDSM, there seems to be a conflict between the sub not currently being spanked, who wants to be; and the sub being spanked, who (to some extent) wants not to be. Precommitment, discounting, making decisions for yourself-in-the-future, sub-agents within yourself with differing agendas.
Obviously all depends on good writing; but really, anything with a plot—anything longer than five pages and more complicated than “Tab A went into slot B”—should have some room for rationality. The characters have to make some decisions, presumably, and that can be done well or badly.
A sex scene that the characters have spent (at least) five minutes thinking about and preparing for. Does losing your virginity absolutely have to be a scramble of awkwardness, embarrassment, and rapid ejaculation? Not if the characters expend some effort ensuring otherwise. This is more explicitly rational; it’s about how to actually accomplish a goal, the did-you-really-think-about-that-for-five-minutes question. We just make it sexual by setting the goal to “get laid” or “have really good sex”.
Interesting thing to think about: many teens / young adults today have a vast amount of book knowledge about sex (from health classes and the internet) but normal amounts of actual experience, compared to historical populations. (I remember being tremendously amused by some erotica I read recently in which a character, receiving oral sex for the first time, thought “This isn’t the best thing ever like in all the erotica I’ve read and porn I’ve watched; it’s just pleasant. I sort of want to stay here all day.”)
Hmm. What would this be? Some set of people rationally deciding to hook up when without an especially rational outlook they wouldn’t? Alternately, optimizing a hookup?
How could this be written so as to actually showcase rationality (i.e. don’t gratuitously add ‘rationality’ to everything that’s not stupid)? Without killing the mood?
So that was intended for a joke, but ok, let’s think. Some possibilities:
50 Shades of Rationality—keep the sex scenes but upgrade the characters, HPMoR-style. I haven’t read them, but presumably there’s some excuse for a plot? So, make villains and heroes both awesomer. This does have the weakness that there’s “separation of rationality and erotica”—it’s about smart characters, and they have a lot of sex, but it’s not necessarily smart sex, so to speak.
A sex scene that the characters have spent (at least) five minutes thinking about and preparing for. Does losing your virginity absolutely have to be a scramble of awkwardness, embarrassment, and rapid ejaculation? Not if the characters expend some effort ensuring otherwise. This is more explicitly rational; it’s about how to actually accomplish a goal, the did-you-really-think-about-that-for-five-minutes question. We just make it sexual by setting the goal to “get laid” or “have really good sex”.
In BDSM, there seems to be a conflict between the sub not currently being spanked, who wants to be; and the sub being spanked, who (to some extent) wants not to be. Precommitment, discounting, making decisions for yourself-in-the-future, sub-agents within yourself with differing agendas.
Obviously all depends on good writing; but really, anything with a plot—anything longer than five pages and more complicated than “Tab A went into slot B”—should have some room for rationality. The characters have to make some decisions, presumably, and that can be done well or badly.
Interesting thing to think about: many teens / young adults today have a vast amount of book knowledge about sex (from health classes and the internet) but normal amounts of actual experience, compared to historical populations. (I remember being tremendously amused by some erotica I read recently in which a character, receiving oral sex for the first time, thought “This isn’t the best thing ever like in all the erotica I’ve read and porn I’ve watched; it’s just pleasant. I sort of want to stay here all day.”)
Seconding this. Will likely interest feminists.