Technology and the Declining Price of Sex

I'm going to talk economics in this post, so be brave.

At the risk of getting myself in trouble, I'm going to declare that sex is an economic good, just as much as chocolate cake is an economic good. We can test this by substituting one word for the other in a paragraph and seeing that, while probably funny, it still makes sense. The fact that there is a whole (generally informal) market to supply this good is further evidence of this notion.

At further risk, I'm going to declare that sex is valued more highly by and sold more cheaply by men than women. This is not a slander against men or women, but rather a simple observation of the costs and risks involved. Women bear the risk of pregnancy, and they have a greater risk of contracting many sexually transmitted infections. Beyond that, there is the social consequences of having sex. For men, they are almost nonexistent, but for women, they can be crushing.

Technology will no doubt put pressure on the market to equalize the demand between men and women in various ways. The process already began with the advent of contraception. That removed one of the major risks of sex. During the 20th century, until HIV appeared on the scene, there wasn't any serious STI that couldn't be cured with antibiotics. Substantial progress has been made on pushing back that particular menace, and a disease that 25 years ago would have been eventually fatal can be held at bay indefinitely. More recently, a true vaccine may finally be in the works, and there is a proposal to use existing antivirals and drugs to stimulate expression of dormant stores of the virus to eliminate them. Potentially, such a treatment could cure someone of HIV.

In my previous post, I made the case that virtual, partnered sex would reduce the risk of having sex. The possibility of anonymity in such a marketplace will remove the social cost for women and the consequent risk. Since risk is one of the factors that increases the price of sex, the price should be driven down and the gap between men and women should partially or totally equalize. What all of this means is that, in the near future of 10-20 years, having a virtual sexual experience that seems just as real as actual sex will be exceedingly inexpensive. Prostitution, if it is to survive, will have to offer an experience that is unique or truly exceptional, and male and female prostitutes should be about equal in number.

The end result of all of this should be an upheaval in the current social order. Slut-shaming should disappear, and men and women will both be able to express themselves sexually without fear of social repercussions. Of course, there are dangers that more than the social order could be upset. What if virtual sex is just as good as real sex, and it is software, rather than a partner, that you interact with? I'll talk about this more in a future post.