Fifth Wave Sexuality
From Gothpoodle
The most basic change in family life has been almost complete sexual liberation. Contraception is nearly 100% effective, easy to use, and cheap as air. Sexually transmitted diseases have long since been reduced to the nuisance level. Children are usually the result of a medical procedure, not something that can accidentally follow sexual activity. Almost any citizen of the Fifth Wave can enjoy virtual sex without need for emotional commitment. On the whole, most Fifth Wave citizens regard sex as a simple recreation, certainly one which involves deep-seated emotions, but otherwise without consequences.
This trivialization of sex has led to dramatic changes in the institution of marriage. In most Fifth Wave societies, it is quite rare (and even regarded as eccentric) for a man and woman to insist on a lifelong, sexually exclusive partnership. The most usual formal relationship is a limited- duration contract, its provisions spelled out and enforced by law, for a specific purpose. Some couples wish to secure a business partnership, others to raise children, still others simply to enjoy one another’s company for a few years. Many people don’t bother to be even that formal, and simply exchange partners as they please, sharing a home or not as they please.
While this (somewhat informal) heterosexual monogamy is still the most common partnership style, there is a wide variety of alternatives: same-sex couples, single parents, group marriages of various kinds, surrogate parenting, and so on. All of these styles can now produce children of their own. Single parents can clone themselves or have a child designed for them. Same-sex partnerships can mingle their genotypes in their children, as can group partnerships. Even posthumous reproduction can take place, with the child’s design based on the genotype of a dead parent. Any of these children can be incubated by a surrogate mother or an exowomb, if necessary.
The legal status of these variant family styles varies from place to place. Some jurisdictions, notably in Australia and New Zealand, legally recognize the full range. Others are more restrictive, especially in the United States, Latin America, and some European nations.
