Sex after SHTF and TEOTWAWKI

Let us face facts. Sex is good for us, sex is necessary for the procreation of our species, and heck sex is just plain fun!

So why do most TEOTWAWKI scenarios act like the survivors are going to be a bunch of sexually-repressed, miserable souls? Yes life is going to suck, must our sex life suck as well?

Or the scenarios are written by authors in the “Men’s Adventure” genre (most of which are published by the same publishing house that also prints Harlequin Romances) that read like cheesy romance books with guns.

Some of the cheesier TEOTWAWKI books I have read I practically expect to see Fabio on the cover. Maybe my creative mind is in overdrive, but I imagine Fabio dressed in black leather with a M16 in one hand and some scantily-clad, plastic surgeon frequent shopper, air-brushed to the nines bimbo in the other hand.

Most of the fictional scenarios suggested in stories like my own Ruth series, and Toby’s Union Creek Journal (which if you have not read you should http://unioncreekjournal.wordpress.com/) call for a significant reduction in the current population.

Zombie apocalypse stories like my Ruth series usually call for a higher percentage of the population to be wiped out than most survivor TEOTWAWKI stories, like the Union Creek Journal.

Two graduate students at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University[1] have actually crunched the numbers (I guess they were really bored or were not getting any sex).

Reading the graduate students work is a little dry and the math is way above me. It is a fascinating read for a fan of the zombie genre. I believe that most zombie apocalypse writers would also benefit from reading the paper as well.

In zombie apocalypse scenarios with a hyper-virulent infectious contagion (like mine), researchers have suggested as much as 99.9% of the population could be wiped out. In a scenario like that it is completely possible that the human race could cease to exist with the possible exception of small pockets of survivors.

Most TEOTWAWKI scenarios suggest small isolated pockets of survivors. Most of the survivors tend to be older, in their late 30s to early 40s. Scenarios suggest that most of these survivor groups rarely contain children or the possibility of having children.

It would not take long (perhaps 20 or so years) for most of these isolated pockets of survivors to succumb to ailments and old age. In the New Normal (term taken from the Union Creek Journal very apt description of conditions) people’s life expectancy is going to be significantly reduced.

Illnesses that are curable now, will not be curable. My Hodgkin’s Lymphoma would have killed me before I reached 40 years old. Should my cancer return in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, there is no way of getting any kind of chemo therapy. If I did manage to get treatment, drug supply would be spotty at best (try to find Kytril at the local pharmacy!)

What all this boils down to is that in order for the survivors of a TEOTWAWKI scenario whether it be zombies or just a complete melt down and default of the federal government, sex is going to be highly important.

Procreation for the survival of our species but also for the survival of the groups will be highly important. Many survivalist groups lack women of child bearing age. In scenarios like my Ruth series, that means there is the possibility of a thriving slave market for young healthy women that could produce children.

It is going to seem sexist and chauvinistic, but the numbers suggest that young women are going to be a rarity in most TEOTWAWKI situations. Meaning those few young ladies that managed to survive are going to be highly coveted.

Are you prepared to kill your neighbor if he decides that he wants to steal your young daughters? As the father of two young girls, I shudder at the thought of what life would be like for them in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. I have no illusions of how long I would survive a TEOTWAWKI scenario. My health is fragile and I require medication, so I have to plan for my absence as fact.

For some couples, the woman running out of birth control medication and the unavailability of common birth control devices may result in pregnancy. Not all women can use the more durable and long lasting contraceptive devices like the diaphragm.

Convenient birth control devices like condoms will become scarce and impossible to obtain. There is a long-standing tradition among authors of TEOTWAWKI stories that barter will replace most commerce.

Since none of us really know what items are going to be highly desirable, it is all a guess on the author’s part. Most stipulate that 22 LR ammo (“ballistic wampum”) will be one medium of valuable trade and I tend to agree.

However I think that convenient items like condoms, TP, and personal lubricant (KY, Astroglide, Wet, etc.) will be highly desirable in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Women are going to have to resort to some of the more traditional methods of birth control (abstinence, rhythm method, etc.) to prevent pregnancy.

Survivor groups without viable young woman may seek to acquire by any means beddable women. Those groups that do not produce children will surely cease to exist. To acquire fertile women, some groups may use that as a justifiable cause to raid other survivors.

I know it sounds sexist and chauvinistic, but face it ladies in a TEOTWAWKI scenario you are going to be highly desirable, more so then right now I believe. He who finds himself surfeit of female companionship may become the target of raids.

Life is going to suck people, let us not make sex suck as well!

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[1] http://newsroom.carleton.ca/2009/08/19/ottawa-students-pit-mathematics-against-zombie-apocalypse/