Forbidden Fruit

I AM not an enormous admirer of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) by any stretch of the imagination, but I suppose that even a broken clock gets the time right twice a day. One thing he did observe correctly, is that when there are no obstacles to desire the sexual object is depreciated:

"It can easily be shown that the psychical value of erotic needs is reduced as soon as their satisfaction becomes easy. An obstacle is required in order to heighten libido; and where natural resistances to satisfaction have not been sufficient men have at all times erected conventional ones so as to be able to enjoy love."

Ironically, therefore, to place an obstacle in the way of sexual fulfilment can actually result in the heightening of desire itself. Some philosophers have noted that the concept of so-called 'virtual reality' offers nothing in the way of a substitute for basic human desire at all. In fact by elevating artificially-generated simulacra to the status of the authentic object that we are hoping to recreate, the passion for the object begins to subside. We see this with internet pornography, for example, which has become so readily available that for many people - particularly in Japan - it has replaced the desire to engage in sexual activity with a real person.

Virtual reality actually works against itself - and us - in the sense that we are not really getting what is being offered. This, contrary to the more realistic scenario of an authentic object being guaranteed its reality by simply being so difficult to obtain in the first place. It becomes real, in other words, by retaining its more elusive status. As Slavoj Žizek asks,

"how, through what kind of limitation of access, will capitalism succeed in reintroducing lack and scarcity [...]?"

Some might argue that the current hype surrounding 'sex-robots' will meet people's sexual needs, but this will only last for as long as these machines remain expensive to produce. Once there are untold millions of such devices on the market at a more reasonable price, Freud's comment about the debasement of desire will come into play once again. That which is easily obtainable, in other words, tends to become rather dull and repetitive after a while.

More worryingly, I believe that the current rise of paedophilia in Europe and North America is also partially connected to man's yearning for that which is elusive. Laws against having sex with minors, also serve as a necessary obstacle to the satisfaction of such desires. As the widespread sexualisation of children increases, it remains to be seen how long the most vulnerable members of society will continue to function as 'forbidden fruit' or whether those in power will make children readily available as objects of adult gratification as a convenient pressure valve to stave off the effects of repressed sexuality. If this does come to pass, then even paedophilia will become commodified at some point. Given what already takes place on the black market, of course, this is already happening in a more extra-judicial fashion and surely it is only a matter of time before the final obstacles are removed.