No sex please, it's the future

One of the things that bugs me in SF stories is the assumption that recreational sex will continue on its same stupid way in the future.  SF is so good at zooming out from current issues, at examining them through the lens of story, and showing us different ways we could be.  But it rarely does that with sex.  Often the characters of the future are as sex-obsessed as our current society, sometimes more so.

I don't see why this should be so.  When my heroines are starship captains and powerful Traders they don't need to shore up their self-esteem with sex.  When they're dedicated to saving big cats and spend their days in the wilderness they have other things to think about.  They have a greater purpose to dedicate themselves to.

NASA has observed that the best people to take on long-term space missions would be those who don't use sex as a source of their self-esteem.  They recognise how divisive such relationships could be among small crews.  And yet every Hollywood SF movie set in space must have its misnamed 'love interest'.  It should really be called the sex interest, as that character is usually there to allow the movie to include some spurious sex scenes.

But what about the future where people are grown in artificial wombs?  When women have finally rid themselves of the danger and difficulty of being pregnant?  What would be the relevance of the sex act then?  If it was not connected to childbearing at all, I think there would be a radical reappraisal of its usefulness to our lives.

In the UK presently around 25% of people live alone.  And many of these will not be in a sexual relationship.  I have two mid-life friends who have been sex-free for over twenty years.  They own their own houses, have their own income, and live their own lives.   And they don't have a place for sex in those lives.  I want to see this growth reflected in the SF I read.  I want to see rulers or government officials who can't be bought with the promise of sex.  And please, no more prostitutes as main characters. The quickest way to put me off a book is to make the main character a prostitute.  I simply cant respect such a person.

SF is the literature of the future, and it should be the place to challenge our current sex obsession, not to prolong it.  Show me a future where women are truly equal and you'll be showing me one where we've ditched our current sexual obsessions.