Wishbabies should be a thing
Jun. 4th, 2014 09:35 pmI don't know how I started reading Hockey RPF. I don't like RPF and know nothing of hockey. But I did. And found this: lives to live through seasons by
oflights, where babies don't come from sex and growing inside a human, but by being wished for. If you and your partner wish for a baby, one appears floating down out of the sky in a little basket with the parents' names on it. (This is apparently not related at all to gender, sex, or sexuality.) And, if you wish for a baby but have no partner, sometimes (rarely) you get a baby that comes down out of the sky that's just yours! (No telling whether it's a clone, the story doesn't say.) Oh, and there are drugs you can take to suppress the wishing, so that wanting a kid doesn't mean one will come out of the sky.
I think this should be A Thing. The implications and plot possibilities fascinate me; as in ABO universes, I wonder why there is a male/female sex/gender divide. But in this case, I also wonder why sex exists, because it has no connection to reproduction. Is it just a fun way to build intimacy? And if you don't need a sperm and an egg and one person to provide a womb, why is there a sex binary? And how do wishbabies affect marriage and perceptions on sexuality? Because while we think marriage is about love, for the vast majority of human history it's been about family continuity and making sure you know whose kid you're raising. (That is historically one of the big reasons why adultery is a huge deal for women but not for men.) But with wishbabies, you know who the parents are; they're written down for everyone to see. How does that affect marriage and gender roles and social perceptions of acceptable sexual behavior? Promiscuity will not result in unwanted/unplanned babies; celibacy and monogamy are completely divorced from whether or not you have a kid. Furthermore, there are no unwanted babies. Babies can only come when they are wanted. What effect would this have on the amount of child abuse? There would still be some; just because people want a baby doesn't mean they are mentally fit to take care of one. But as you can see, there are a whole lot of basic social and cultural assumptions that go right out the window (or get tweaked in odd ways) when you have wishbabies instead of biological reproduction.
If wishbabies were real, would the Shakers (a Christian sect that practiced strict celibacy and so relied solely on converts) have died out? Would Christianity be so fixated on sex if it wasn't connected to reproduction?
And then I started thinking about fic ideas. How would this play out in various fandoms?
( Wushbaby Plot Bunnies )
( Proof of Life )
I think this should be A Thing. The implications and plot possibilities fascinate me; as in ABO universes, I wonder why there is a male/female sex/gender divide. But in this case, I also wonder why sex exists, because it has no connection to reproduction. Is it just a fun way to build intimacy? And if you don't need a sperm and an egg and one person to provide a womb, why is there a sex binary? And how do wishbabies affect marriage and perceptions on sexuality? Because while we think marriage is about love, for the vast majority of human history it's been about family continuity and making sure you know whose kid you're raising. (That is historically one of the big reasons why adultery is a huge deal for women but not for men.) But with wishbabies, you know who the parents are; they're written down for everyone to see. How does that affect marriage and gender roles and social perceptions of acceptable sexual behavior? Promiscuity will not result in unwanted/unplanned babies; celibacy and monogamy are completely divorced from whether or not you have a kid. Furthermore, there are no unwanted babies. Babies can only come when they are wanted. What effect would this have on the amount of child abuse? There would still be some; just because people want a baby doesn't mean they are mentally fit to take care of one. But as you can see, there are a whole lot of basic social and cultural assumptions that go right out the window (or get tweaked in odd ways) when you have wishbabies instead of biological reproduction.
If wishbabies were real, would the Shakers (a Christian sect that practiced strict celibacy and so relied solely on converts) have died out? Would Christianity be so fixated on sex if it wasn't connected to reproduction?
And then I started thinking about fic ideas. How would this play out in various fandoms?
( Wushbaby Plot Bunnies )
( Proof of Life )