Because It Was There

I'd like to coin the term "mountainsexual". This one's for people who may or may not actually be asexual, but they have an interest that is so all-consuming that sex becomes irrelevant. Sure, it's a funny word, but I want to explore the idea behind it.

An AVEN member got me thinking about Chris McCandless, the real-life subject of the book (by Jon Krakauer) and movie Into the Wild. Chris literally gave up everything to realize his dream of living alone in the Alaska wilderness. Some parts of the story definitely imply that Chris was disinterested in sex. But we'll never know why, as his drive to go to Alaska obviously eclipsed all else.

Mountainsexuals also appeared in another Krakauer book, Into Thin Air. Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but people's quotes about mountain climbing sound like accounts of sexual desire cranked to 11, or romantic love in its most passionate throwes. Krakauer says that "attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically illogical act-- a triumph of desire over sensibility." (Introduction). Check out some other quotes he uses in the book:

The more improbable the situation and the greater the demands made on [the climber], the more sweetly the blood flows later in release from all that tension. --A. Alvarez (95)

But I couldn't say no. For in my heart, I needed to go, and the pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on earth. --Tenzing Norgay (115)

How much of the appeal of mountaineering lies in its simpllification of interpersonal relationships, its reduction of friendship to smooth interaction (like war), its substitution of an Other (the mountain, the challenge), for the relationship itself? --David Roberts (188)

When I read Roberts' quote and its paralleling of mountaineering to war, I couldn't help but think of that old article in The Sexually Opressed. In the article on asexual women, there was one footnote on asexual men, in which combat, and Vietnam in particular, was called "an escape hatch" for men who "wanted nothing to do with any kind of sex". I found that pretty dern interesting.

Comparing mountaineering to sexuality might seem like a stretch. But if one asexual goal is to broaden the idea of what excites us most, I think the experiences of people like mountainsexuals could be cool to explore. They are also my response to the "You're missing out!" people. Some folks, when confronted with an asexual, suddenly get defensive and make sex out to be the most important thing in the world. But if Mount Everest is what turns your gears beyond all else, who's really going to argue with that? Nikola Tesla, rumored to be ace by some, was probably a mountainsexual too, but with electrical currents instead of peaks.

"All told" (as Krakauer loves to say), I might still be sick, as my brain feels like a Swiss cheese. It might be up to you to decide how much sense this all makes...