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Gypsy Fire Meadow
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Alright, time for a little philosophical sell. Let's go inside while we talk.
>perhaps the empire shouldn't dismiss such feelings and activities as shameful and obscene.
Well, I definitely think so! I mean, if there's that element of "base biological urges overpowering reason and free will", then yeah, I can kind of see that. But, there are lots of other things that do that, like hunger and fear and the response to cute things, that all come from instinctive biological urges as well, and they aren't looked down on. Ancient organics might have had an idea of sex as dangerous due to things like pregnancy and diseases and breaking up political unions, and that's all sensible in primitive days, but the empire should be beyond all of that, now! The idea that sex is just a weakness, that it's some primal animal thing that controls you, that doesn't seem to fit, to me. Like, have you seen how animals mate? Most of them, it's five seconds, fertilization, that's it. The intelligent, social species, though, they developed long mating sessions, and oversized sexual attributes, and why? It helped form emotional and communal bonds, helped people get to know each other and trust each other, and reinforced society. It helped people care about each other! And that's why, even as a jetal who has no native sex drive... I decided to try sex, and I liked it. Because there's a lot you can get out of it! It can be just raw pleasure, of course, but there's tons of more sophisticated stuff to get out of it. It can be about friendship and affection and intimacy, to show trust and humility, to see a side of people they don't show in any other way, to explore sensation and study psychology, for the thrills of power and dominance and competition without having to hurt anyone - the opposite, in fact! And I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff that makes it valuable and fascinating that I haven't seen yet! So I'm kind of sad that's it seen as just empty physical satisfaction because if you treat it like that's all it is then that's what it becomes.
As for the empire, well, I'm not that old and of course I don't have much experience, but it seems like the empire's attitude to sex is a symptom of something that causes a lot of other problems. Like... elitism, and paranoia, and stress all the time, and just a lot of callousness. Like, the idea of becoming asexual as you "ascend" up the ranks. If you're just naturally that way then sure that's fine, but the idea that you should choose to be that way, that there's some ideal of sexlessness, that's bad. It's like... rejecting the rest of society as being beneath you, that you're too pure and important to sully yourself with the most intimate entanglement with another person there is. And being male or female, or both, is sort of like... an implicit statement of humility? Like, you're admitting that there's things you can't do on your own, that you need other people for. Belenosian aristocracy seems to have some ideal of chasing perfection, and eliminating all flaws, and that's fine but you can't ever pretend you're flawless, because no being smaller than the universe ever could be. Even if you're a robot or a jetal, your body and your mind are still descended from organics, you'll always have a bit of them in you. Denying that old primal stuff, trying to ignore it or shut it out completely, well, it's definitely not good for individuals, and it's not good for a society either. Keeping a form that reminds you of that sort of thing, that it'll always be there and you should accept it and deal with it gracefully as a part of what you are, it's a good idea. I think. That's probably why I took to calling you my dad so soon. It's a really complicated sort of relationship, with all sorts of messy, primal emotional organic connotations, both overt and subtle... and I wanted to embrace that sort of thing. It's an experience I want to have. And, well, obviously I don't plan to get super intimate with everyone I meet, but I want other messy complicated emotional experiences as well.
Also... I really just like making people feel good! And it's fun!
So, yes, dad. I like this kind of stuff and I think I'm going to do a lot of it. In fact, I've been kind of daydreaming about becoming some sort of social revolutionary and overturning the empire's attitude to sexuality. But, uh, well, I'm sure if it's possible for anyone then it's possible for someone you made, but it'd take a while, anyway. There are other ideas I've had for what to do. I've still got a lot to learn.
Um... so, what do you think?
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