Quick followup on other day’s post It’s Not “Disloyal” To Say There Are Some Things That Feel Better Than Sex, which was about how a lot of pleasures are underrated because we overemphasize (without necessarily overrating) our enjoyment of sex.

If having sex was considered passé but exercise was taboo imagine the moral fulminations about shin splints or tennis elbow.

If having sex was considered passé but exercise was taboo imagine the contortions and excuses we’d make for each other over ice packs or hot wraps.

If having sex was considered passé but exercise was taboo imagine imagine people hurrying in and out of unmarked buildings with plain paper bags full of unbelievably-poorly-made running shoes or phthalates- and even PCB-contaminated exercise balls. And imagine zoning ordinances and community outrage meant to prevent (mafia-run!) “gyms” or “workout clubs” from proliferating.

If having sex was considered passé but exercise was taboo imagine “frank” and “edgy” “experts” arguing that sure, it’s ok as long as it’s in the privacy of your own home. But even most “experts” agreed that people should get most of their exercise “naturally” over the course of the day as when climbing stairs or opening jars.

If having sex was considered passé but exercise was taboo imagine how shocked our partners might be to catch us covertly misusing a Hitachi Magic Wand on their, ew, muscles!

Or, if you like, imagine what the consequences would be if it were instead enjoying hot foods and beverages when it’s cold outside or snuggling your children, or visiting your parents when you were an adult, or . (For instance think how certain parties could effortlessly shift gears to claiming that women’s “delicate constitutions” just couldn’t possibly take the risk of child-transmitted sniffles… while also railing volubly about how, say, measles vaccinations could never provide “complete” safety from all illness and so distributing it would just mislead people into imagining they could just touch children with impunity.)

Sex wouldn’t feel any less nice. Nor would exercise or hot soup be any more so. What I was thinking about in the previous post is how much more we’d appreciate (however guilty we might feel about it) that which is ordinary but socially frowned upon.