Can Stephen Hawking have sex?

January 16, 2007 1:17 PM

Can Stephen Hawking have sex?

Help me settle a drunken bet. I have staked $100 on my belief that while physicist Stephen Hawking is one of the world's great thinkers, as well as pretty much the most inspiring guy around, he is not capable of penetrating and ejaculating inside a woman. You know, with his penis. Since the bet was made, about a month ago, i've been presented with various facts and theories that suggest i may be wrong. The strongest is the following:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/31/1075340892403.html

But still, it's hardly conclusive. Does anyone have any actual information?

posted by gelcap to Human Relations (12 answers total)

"Motor neurone disease does not affect sexual ability or the ability to have an erection, and orgasm will remain unchanged" (link goes to PDF).
posted by greycap at 1:39 PM on January 16, 2007

Do you mean now, or ever? He does have a couple of children, and I've never heard it suggested that they were adopted or artificially inseminated.
posted by Paragon at 1:41 PM on January 16, 2007

Not Stephen Hawking specifically, but the Onuf's nucleus in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which Stephen Hawking is afflicted, is not typically atypical. While Onuf's nucleus is primarily responsible for urinary and faecal continence, it is also involved in muscular contractions during male orgasm.
posted by porpoise at 1:44 PM on January 16, 2007

Response by poster: Greycap, the trouble with that is that Hawking is thought to be the longest surviving victim of MLS, I think ever. Most sufferers are dead within five years of diagnosis. As I understand it, very few of them have ever lived to see Hawking's current state of decrepitude.

Paragon, yes I meant now.
posted by gelcap at 1:51 PM on January 16, 2007

I think porpoise meant "Onuf's nucleus ... is not typically affected."
posted by exogenous at 2:11 PM on January 16, 2007

gelcap writes "Greycap, the trouble with that is that Hawking is thought to be the longest surviving victim of MLS, I think ever. Most sufferers are dead within five years of diagnosis. As I understand it, very few of them have ever lived to see Hawking's current state of decrepitude."

Well, if you're going to consider Hawking (and particularly, Hawking at this exact point in time) a unique case, there are really only one or two people in the world who can answer this question to your satisfaction, aren't there? I doubt they're reading, and if they are reading, I doubt they'll answer.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:17 PM on January 16, 2007

Response by poster: alright, i didn't mean now. i meant in his current state, defined, say, as in the last decade.
posted by gelcap at 2:25 PM on January 16, 2007

Stephen Hawking has a YahooAnswers account. Perhaps you could try there.
posted by klangklangston at 2:44 PM on January 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

Well he's 65 years old now. Assuming his sexual ability was unhindered by ALS, I suppose ED might be the more important factor in answering this question.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 2:57 PM on January 16, 2007

Family Guy says yes.
posted by reformedjerk at 9:09 AM on January 17, 2007

Why only a woman? I volunteer to go down on him, and find out if his bits function.
posted by Goofyy at 9:53 AM on January 17, 2007

I have CP, myself, and having met people with ALS, most people have no idea to what length the male mind will go to, in order get laid. Having married his younger, allegedly abusive nurse, I can assure you it was at least on his mind in the past decade.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 6:14 PM on January 17, 2007