Can a 'global orgasm' really bring about world peace? 

At this point, it would be easy for us to call bunkum, bury our heads in the sheets and giggle like schoolchildren, but Global Orgasm for World Peace probably deserves better. Yes, it sounds like the plot of a hippy mastermind in an Austin Powers movie, but the movement is actually registered with the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), a non-profit parapsychological committee of sorts at Princeton University. Indeed, the Ivy League educator has praised the day's “positive intent and good humour.”

What's more, the Global Orgasm's mantra, that “orgasms are good for you”, is backed by a solid body of scientific evidence.

Mother Nature certainly pulled the rabbit out of the hat when she invented the Big O. With more build up than a song by The Who and a climax befitting a series finale of Game of Thrones, the orgasm has to be just about the best free gig going. What's interesting about this in terms of today's big event is that the brain is the biggest erogenous zone of them all. Orgasms are linked to a higher state of being.

When we're sexually aroused, the emotional hub and memory bank of the brain, the hippocampus, starts doing star-jumps (that’s the reason why we sometimes start to have dreamy nostalgic flashbacks as we’re kicking off our briefs). Other localized parts of the brain are also engaged: the cerebellum, which controls muscle function; the cortex, which responds to pain (the bedmate of pleasure); and the nucleus accumbens, which is in charge of dopamine and which tells us something feels good and creates a desire for us to repeat the action.

Just like any good party though, things have to wrap up sooner or later. Enter oxytocin. This neurotransmitter is like an invisible cord that creates unity in relationships. It’s released during orgasm and helps couples to create an emotional bond (it’s also released during childbirth and breastfeeding to help the mother and her infant to connect). Even when you kiss or hug a loved one, oxytocin levels can reverberates through your body like a Keith Moon drumroll. In theory, the more sex you have, the greater the bond. 

So orgasms light up our control centre like a Christmas tree and help us to feel love for other humans. In that light, it's not difficult to see where the 'world peace' idea came from. To be frank, if we were all bonking our brains out the last thing on our mind would be fisty cuffs. Our minds and bodies simply do not allow for it; they’re too busy getting blissed out.

The Global Orgasm movement isn’t all about the test tube side of sex – it sports an undeniably hippyish tinge, evidenced by the fact that it falls on Winter Solstice Day. But again, before you dismiss it out of hand, it's worth remembering that the premise of manipulating the world’s ‘energy field’ through mass thought or emotional connection isn’t completely barmy. 

The unifying of the mass consciousness for the greater good is the cornerstone of numerous religious institutions; James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis explores a similar ideas with an environmental incentive (even David Attenborough praised the idea in a 2007 interview); and last year a series of brain scans of people on LSD revealed the global connectivity experienced by advocates of psychedelic drugs wasn’t completely delusional. LSD, the study found, can unlock the idea that life isn’t so much singular as it is linked with those all around us. 

Can we make the link from mind-altering drug to mind-altering sex? Does sex play a part in a more open and understanding mass consciousness? Is it time our world leaders stopped sitting around tables and started lying on beds instead?

Without specifically endorsing the movement, Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals, sociologist and author of Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society, and Adult Entertainment, says the answer is, to an extent, yes. If people had access to the type of sex that they were craving, and were able to express their sexuality without state censorship or control, they would certainly feel “more at peace with others and likely more clear headed in terms of making beneficial choices in terms of community, policy, and regulation.”

Furthermore, she argues, we shouldn’t underestimate the alleviation of pressure from the simple act of having sex. “It’s long been shown that pleasurable sex relieves tension in ‘average’ folks, and since politicians are people first and foremost, reduced tension in world leaders could actually only lead to better calls benefiting wider society.”

If that's doesn't suggest an interesting approach to next year's Brexit talks, I don't know what does.