How Far Would You Go, Literally, For Sex?
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 
on 10.31.08
Once upon a time they were known as HTH's - HomeTown Honeys. This was the acronym ascribed to those undergrad, freshman dorm-dwellers who had had The Conversation with their high school sweetheart and decided that they were going to stick together, the thick and thin thing, even though they were now 1200 miles apart, in separate colleges, and would be for (at least) 4 more years.
The magnanimous valor of the afflicted parties cannot be underestimated; airdropped into the college environment, burning with hormones, enduring ungodly peer pressure, and surrounded by nothing but booze-fuel as far as the keg stand can see, these intrepids must endure 5 weekdays of this nonsense to have their 16 and a quarter hours together on the weekend. They must be given credit - I know for a fact that some of them actually made it work - but it came at a price; thousands of dollars in plane tickets, car rentals, mid-point hotels, per diem expenses, and the clincher; thousands of pounds of CO2 blasted into the atmosphere. And let's not pretend; conversations and breakfasts aside this environmental unholiness was committed, in large part, in the name of sex. As Barron YoungSmith from Slate suggests, this is where the locasexual adventure may begin.
Barron suggests that the best available research points to about a quarter of all college students are in long distance relationships; the grand total is somewhere 'round 10 million individuals. That's a lot of sex - and a lot of sex miles. YoungSmith's solution, based on the locavore movement is the locasex movement, where one dates, marries, breeds within a 100-mile radius.
It's a fine concept; one must wonder why everyone doesn't simply propose to their next-door neighbor irregardless of differences in gender, class, hairstyle, their toilet paper hanging style, that funny noise they make when they laugh, etc. Slatist author recognizes that functionalist boredom may be a palpable problem - love based on a shared interest in canvas shopping bags may be a tenuous proposition - and peak oil might kill off these million mile trysts anyways, as lovers desperately try to time their rendezvous with cycles in the price of crude. How far is an acceptable distance to travel for sex? The floor, and bed, and dining room table is yours for comments. Slate
More Green Sex
Sustainable Sex Toys
Green Sex Clubs
Not Vegan? No Sex
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Feed 8 For Under $100 With This Green Frugal Feast: Father's Day Brunch
- What is the Cheapest and Greenest Way to Travel?
- Make Your Own Fruit Roll-Ups
- Meet Green Business Consultant Tyler Moorehead, of GreenUnlimited
- Yes, There is Such a Thing as an Optimistic, Green American: Be One!
- Don't be Like Gov. Mark Sanford—Travel Local
I married my wife after Long distance dating for 2 years. We also had a long distance engagement. She was going to Texas A&M and I was going to Abilene Christian U, which is a distance of about 2-300 miles. It actually wasn't that bad, I was studying physics, so didn't have a lot of time in the week for much more than that anyways. And added plus was that we were dating when ATT and Cingular merged. We then got free mobile to mobile calling 24/7. We did burn a lot of gas thought. But when we did see go to see each other we didn't feel like driving all over town. Further, we had less money to spend on crappy Sweet-Heart gifts. I figure the net carbon emissions was equal to local dating.
One way I lowered my carbon emissions while going to visit my girlfriend in college, though I wasn't thinking in those terms at the time, was to put fliers up around campus offering rides to her town. Not only did it make the ride more interesting, but it kept people from driving alone. Though my 1990 VW Jetta did have a bit of a hard time on the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania carrying such a big load.
Eventually, I transferred to a branch campus and moved in with my girlfriend, who I actually ended up marrying.
Well I am flying 500 miles this weekend to see my boyfriend. For sex you say? Well that's a plus, but ever think you could fly to see someone just because you love and miss them? Reducing it down to a pure sexual drive is ridiculous. But then again I am not in college
[I think I covered my bases on this one mjo]
Google search: irregardless
did you mean regardless?
[granted, it's not the King's English mjo]
The carbon emissions are offset by the people who don't have any girlfriends or boyfriends.
1728 miles. And back.
My boyfriend and I met in an online video game we play together. I've made two trips to visit him so far, and have two more planned for the rest of the year (one in November, one in December).
I feel horrible thinking of all of the damage my plane trips to see him cause. I looked into alternate modes of transportation (trains and buses), but for that distance it took incredible amounts of time and money compared to flying.
The good news is that once I am finished with college (one year!), I'll be moving out there to live with him. Then my environment-killing plane trips will much less frequent, to return home to visit my family.
I wouldn't travel a mile. It comes to me.
350 miles every other weekend for two years.
She was living in Baltimore Maryland, I was living in Southwest Virginia. We met through an Internet dating site, and everything went well.
We're living together now, which is great! And I also bike to work, from our new home. Both are direct results of those 6-hour marathon drives. We live modestly-but-comfortably in a nice neighborhood that's within biking distance to a university that has opportunities for both of us, now. :-)
Though I agree with the previous posters -- there's a lot more to this than just sex. I'm sure that there are cheaper and easier ways to just get sex -- but I'll spend $150 on gas and spend 12 hours fighting traffic to go see my girl, because she's special. And she's my match.
Lame. Probably just as many kids fly home to see their families. I don't know many college kids that can fly home every weekend for tail. Besides, their flights could actually make the jet more efficient by filling empty seats. So there.
Where can I buy a green web cam?