As a woman, I do find men who think that upon encountering one, they should ‘deal with her’ (not even sexually) rather creepy… Perhaps you could imagine this totally counterfactual world where you simply have no obligation to ‘deal’ with anyone based on a binary characteristic?
As to virgin motherhood, strictly speaking only mating is ‘missing’, the rest is right there (since the blind god of evolution has prepared females to give healthy offspring if raped, pair-bonding and courtship cannot be necessary). Dunno how much emotional maturity one picks up during mating, but I would not expect it to be a lot. As to hormones, it is in principle not impossible, just a very complex issue.
I found (usual disclaimers apply) that maturity comes rather after giving birth. When you slink into bed and try to immediately fall asleep, in case the kid decides to wake up at 3 am; or if you desperately want sex, you do it silently and briefly, in case that deadline moves ever closer—than yeah, you can claim some personal growth, because you are putting other’s interests before your own.
Do you think it is better for a human being not to leave descendants if the being is absolutely unable or unwilling to have sex? If virgin motherhood actually outcompetes the
traditional way of reproduction, it means it has some advantage, and the question becomes—what is the acceptable trade-off for this advantage. I would like to see some in-depth discussion of this, but I am afraid I can not quite treat the idea [of a “parthenogenesis-based” society] seriously.
BTW, do you think notable clergy 1) never included ‘thriving adult men’, or 2) were secretly all debauched anyway?
Edit: wording.
As a woman, I do find men who think that upon encountering one, they should ‘deal with her’ (not even sexually) rather creepy… Perhaps you could imagine this totally counterfactual world where you simply have no obligation to ‘deal’ with anyone based on a binary characteristic?
As to virgin motherhood, strictly speaking only mating is ‘missing’, the rest is right there (since the blind god of evolution has prepared females to give healthy offspring if raped, pair-bonding and courtship cannot be necessary). Dunno how much emotional maturity one picks up during mating, but I would not expect it to be a lot. As to hormones, it is in principle not impossible, just a very complex issue.
I found (usual disclaimers apply) that maturity comes rather after giving birth. When you slink into bed and try to immediately fall asleep, in case the kid decides to wake up at 3 am; or if you desperately want sex, you do it silently and briefly, in case that deadline moves ever closer—than yeah, you can claim some personal growth, because you are putting other’s interests before your own.
Do you think it is better for a human being not to leave descendants if the being is absolutely unable or unwilling to have sex? If virgin motherhood actually outcompetes the traditional way of reproduction, it means it has some advantage, and the question becomes—what is the acceptable trade-off for this advantage. I would like to see some in-depth discussion of this, but I am afraid I can not quite treat the idea [of a “parthenogenesis-based” society] seriously.
BTW, do you think notable clergy 1) never included ‘thriving adult men’, or 2) were secretly all debauched anyway?