Fri 9 May 2008
If I offered you a million dollars (two million? three million? five thousand?) would you let me have sex with your wife? (Or husband?). Don’t answer that. That’s not my question. (Well, you can answer in email if you want, but I can actually only spare about sixty bucks right now.)
My question is the opposite. What acts would you refuse to do, no matter what I offered you?
To make this interesting, let’s set a few caveats: no acts that cause permanent physical damage. I hope you won’t let me cut off your leg, no matter how much I offer you. No selling children into slavery or anything like that. I’m mostly interested in emotional boundaries.
Would you strip in front of your friends for money? Would you spend two years in solitary confinement for money? Would you eat dirt for money?
What wouldn’t you do for money?
Posted by grumblebee
I wouldn’t do any acts that cause permanent physical damage for money.
Other than that, sex is just sex, and we’ve all seen nekkid bodies. That kind of stuff doesn’t bother me. “What would my price be” is the hard question when it comes to silly sexual taboos, because 60 bucks isn’t going to do it, but some amount is.
Two years in solitary confinement … well, I just applied to participate in a 3 month bed rest study for, uh, I think it was around $5k/month. But 2 years? It’d have to be more $ than that. It would have to make it worth my while. I’m assuming no laptop computers would be allowed, so I couldn’t continue to work. And it does take time to re-socialize oneself. So it would have to be fuck you money, and the number I’ve always had in my head there is $4 million.
I guess the kind of thing that trips me up is: would I abandon my family for money? (Parents/grandparents; I have no spouse or kids.) Like, here, have 10 million dollars and cut off all contact with your parents. I think that’s the wrong thing to do. (Assuming I’m not running from the mafia, which is a different question altogether.) But maybe if it were enough money I could use it to help a whole mess of other people. If the people I helped vastly outnumbered the people I pissed off, would it be worth it? Even if the pissed people were family?
Can I talk it over with them first?
I’ve eaten dirt for free so that’s a yes. Granted, I was six at the time but it didn’t kill me. I seem to remember it wasn’t actually that bad but I was a strange kid.
Strip in front of my friends? Heck yeah. Most of us have been naked or nearly-naked in front of one another before. (In non-sexual situations.) I could probably even be naked in front a thousand strangers, live on TV even, although I would have to use my millions to become a wealthy recluse and never show my face in public again.
Two years in solitary confinement for millions of dollars? Tempting but I don’t think I could do it. I have too much of a nervous disposition. I think I’d probably go crazy. Real, big-time bugfuck. And then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my winnings.
I guess I’m a whore because for millions of dollars I’d be willing to sleep with a stranger. (To paraphrase Churchill, we have already established what kind of woman I am. No we are just haggling about the price.)
I wouldn’t abandon my family for any amount. I would consider a lengthy separation if it meant I could take care of them financially afterwards and they knew why I was doing it. But I would never agree to not see them again ever.
I couldn’t do anything that would cause permanent emotional damage to someone, either, I don’t think. I don’t think I could live with myself.
LeeJay, if it makes you feel better about yourself, I’d have sex with a stranger for a lot less than a million. Half-a-million? Definitely. Sex is over really quickly, and SHIT — there’s a lot I could do with half a million. I’d probably do it for less than that, even. (Not that I’m holding my breath, waiting for offers.)
No way I’d do the solitary confinement. Not if I couldn’t have books or a computer or anything. I wouldn’t even do it for a week — not for any money. I go batshit.
So that’s me. I’d fuck a stranger (sight unseen). I wouldn’t spend a week alone with my thoughts.
What does that say about me?
As with all things, it’s all a question of the particulars and details:
-solitary confinement? With or without books, computer (I’m assuming no internet), TV? Even with just a bunch of paper and a pen, I could do this for a while.
-sex with a stranger? I could do that; heck, I have done that. Maybe I should’ve gotten money. Or given it. But again, particulars: do we both have to orgasm? Is there a time expectation? What acts are included in the definition of “sex”? Can I use protection (up to, and including, a paper bag)? It really is just a biological thing, but some biological things I would not be willing to do.
-let my partner have sex with a stranger? The same questions apply as above. Strangely, I think I would want more money for this than for me having sex with a stranger…probably because I won’t be getting any enjoyment out of it.
My emotional boundaries are becoming far more flexible as I age, I think…its my physical limitations that are becoming the problem.
I wouldn’t screw around with another person for money. By screw, I mean emotionally, physically or mentally harm them, even if it’s something they could probably easily recover from.
brandon, is that a hard and unbending line for you?
If I offered you a billion dollars if you hide in a friend’s closet and jump out at them, would you refuse to do it? Even if afterwords you could say, “Sorry, buddy. They offered me a billion dollars. I’ll share it with you.”
That doesn’t sound like harm, so I’m in. I’d like it in $10 and $20 please!
My friend’s dog was rescued and used to get hit… sometimes, when you go to pet him, he flinches. I just told him (and my friend) the other day that I wouldn’t hit him if someone offered me a million dollars to do it.
Everyone and everything has a price. Period. Human history proves it. Nothing transcends pain and money, sorry.
BitterOldPunk, do you mean history proves ALL people will do anything for the right price? If so, can you provide evidence?
Like I said, there’s NO amount you could pay me to spend a month in solitary confinement. I’m not even sure I’d do it for a week — not even for a billion dollars. There’s no amount you could pay me to hurt my wife.
And I’m not sure why you added pain into the equation. That seems like a cheat. Are you saying that people will sell out their mothers to escape pain? Sure, most will. But at some point, that’s involuntary. The fact that you can torture someone into doing horrible things is boring. You could force me to spend a month in solitary confinement by forcing me to spend a month in solitary confinement. (And after that month was over, if I couldn’t do it during the month, I would probably kill myself.) So what. My point is that I’d never choose confinement voluntarily. Money isn’t worth it. And I lust after money.
I prefer you making me an offer than having to suggest something simply because what might strike you as terribly taxing does not necessarily constitute a problem for me and vice versa.
Strip in front of friends: $10,000
Sex with a stranger (price is high here, assuming that my wife would know and not really approve): $50,000
Two years in solitary (I assume I’d still have books, newspapers, maybe a TV): $1,000,000
Eat dirt: $20 per tablespoon, I choose the dirt. Minimum 100 tablespoons.