One Pill Makes You… Whatever You Want!

Understatement: things are changing fast, and all kinds of amazing technological developments are right around the corner… especially concerning sex!

I’ve chatted already about the erotic possibilities in virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, and even haptic (touchy-feely) technology. Then there’s the – and, yes, I just have to go there – coming power of neurochemistry.

From cures for sexually transmitted conditions to improved general health, medical advances have always been big game-changers when it comes to human sexuality. Just look back at 1960 and the development of that particular little pill. Often credited as a key ingredient to the so-called sexual revolution, the Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill (COCP), to be official, meant that for the first time everyone had access to effective and easy birth control.

Jump ahead a few years and we have yet another little pill, but this time famously blue in color. Created in 1998, Sildenafil – or, as it is more commonly known, Viagra – has become such a common part of the human sexual landscape as to be almost invisible. But we forget sometimes how much it changed sex totally and completely. Aside from the direct medical uses, this little pill means that for the first time, for many people, sex is a matter of when desired and not if the body cooperates.

But we are beginning to see the developments of even more powerful and sexuality-changing medications and techniques, ones that will transform sex in ways we can barely imagine.

Headlines were recently aflame over the announcement of Flibanserin, which promises to help women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. In other words, low sex drive. What’s fascinating about this pill is that – as opposed to Sildenafil, which causes only a very particular physical reaction – is that it actually affects arousal. True, the jury is out on how effective it actually is but no one is arguing that it is a huge step forward.

Things will get real interesting when we will be able to couple medications like Flibanserin and Sildenafil, and so many more to come, to each person’s unique genetic code. This will mean the medication will literally be yours. In short, no side effects!

So let’s get our imaginations aroused: once you create treatments based on a person’s genes you can tweak or amplify all kinds of things. Drugs could be created that last a very specific amount of time – for even more exact results: enhancements, amplifications, lasting longer, shorter, wider; you name it!

Chemically, we will soon be able to change everything from when you get turned on to what turns you on. Putting aside the nature versus nurture debate for a second, just think of a world where we will be able to take erotic vacations with a different orientation. What happens to sexual bigotry when we can literally walk in someone else’s erotic life?

Stepping further into the future, neurochemistry combined with 3D bioprinting could very well mean that we will soon be able to alter our bodies as well as our minds. Tissue grown from our own DNA means no rejection – as well as potentially being able to create the physical, biological form of our choosing.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? One thing’s for certain, though: human sexuality is going to change.

But then it’s always been changing. Only a few years ago the idea of having medical techniques or medication for depression, anxiety, erectile dysfunction, gender reassignment, or creating an effective methods of birth control were considered pure fantasy.

Now all of these are a part of our world, just as even more incredible, sexual things will be part of our world in the future.