Don’t miss this one-time-only offer! For a limited time, get your rocks off for peace. Act now. This deal won’t last long.
The date is December 22, winter solstice. Book it in your calendar and here’s the plan: all men and women are supposed to have an orgasm while concentrating on world peace. You can do it any time during that 24-hour period (and you ought to try especially hard if you live in a country with weapons of mass destruction).
This “synchronized global orgasm” should, if all goes according to the hopes and plans of the folks at www.GlobalOrgasm.org “effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth.”
To the nut: orgasm = peace.
The thought makes me squirm.
What’s troubling isn’t wishing for peace, of course. It’s that people might think they can jack off once, and then literally and figuratively wash their hands assuming they’ve done their part ending aggression.
Am I a sex cynic? No. I believe in the power of orgasm.
People seek far and wide for the big O. Orgasms drive people to spend money, risk disease, forget school work. Orgasm is powerful. But my scheduled five minute solstice Friday foray on top of the bedclothes isn’t going to give George W Bush second thoughts about “staying the course” in Iraq, no matter what GlobalOrgasm.org founders Donna Sheehan and Paul Reffell wish (they’re the duo behind the Baring Witness global peace demonstrations, which saw worldwide activists lie naked in fields spelling out “Peace”).
The problem with this orgasm scheme is not that individual actions can’t have global scope, nor that one-off events can’t be consequential. Buy local food, become a literacy tutor at your nearest library branch and walk to work instead of driving and you make positive change.
It’s not that tonnes of people orgasming on the same day might not affect global energy. The earth may well move December 22 (Princeton University’s Global Consciousness Project is going to record data on the event to figure that out, and if you visit noosphere.princeton.edu and can figure out how they plan to do it, I’d be tickled pink to be let in on that delicate knowledge).
My beef doesn’t stem from ignorance, either. I believe in the benefits of traditionally incalculable aspects of well-being, such as knowing one’s neighbours, feeling secure in one’s job, seeing public art, knowing there are bulbs planted in the backyard that will bloom in spring and, yes, orgasms.
My problem with coming for peace lies here: this global orgasm plot is spreading like porn spam. It’s everywhere. And I’m worried that if people get on board with this thing they’ll feel like they’re actually doing something about peace when they’re not.
Screwing isn’t doing your part. Violence and aggression are largely political; it takes political engagement to counter them. Start by voting, for god’s sake. Try writing a letter. It’ll take less time than a good fuck.
Orgasming for peace—mass orgasming for peace, even—may be nice. It may add “concentrated and high-energy positive input into the energy field of the Earth.” So by all means, if you want to get your rocks off December 22, do. I’ll join you. And I’ll think about peace while I do it.
But not because it’s a solution. A global orgasm is barely a means of introducing the concept of peace. The notion has scarcely a hope of initiating a meaningful conversation about real ways of changing our world for the better. It’s well-meaning gimmickry.
It’s a quickie. And not in the good sense of the word.
participating in the global o? Email: lezliel@thecoast.ca
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2006.
I totally agree with everything you’re saying (esp. It’s that people might think they can jack off once, and then literally and figuratively wash their hands assuming they’ve done their part ending aggression.)but I totally disagree with your conclusion – of course this is not going to accomplish anything measureable – but let’s be honest, is there any possible way to engage “the masses” to make the kind of changes you’re looking for – it aint gonna happen – any given peace march is made up of the same group of people minus a couple dozen first year students who are now in second year and plus a couple high school students who recently joined the university ranks. and does anything change? – certainly nothing measureable.two things to consider – one thing the orgasm people have already accomplished – they’ve inspired you to write a wonderful article – that lots of people will read and enjoy and maybe even stop and think for a bit about how they’d like to contributeand two – i personally am not ready to write off the power of the mass orgasm – who knows – some of those post-coital thoughts might be along the lines of “That really wasnt enough for me… what else could we do?”the sad truth is you have to reach people where they are before you can bring them along to where they should be – first the gimmick, then your article, then maybe some discussion – thanks for writing about this – i loved every word