Tuesday, April 22, 2008

getting down and dirty with mother earth

In honor of Earth Day, I want to talk about sustainable/eco friendly sex toys and accouterments. After all, sex falls into the list of the top five most natural things for a human body to do.

If you stop to think about it, safer sex devices and toys have the potential to create an awful lot of needless waste: latex and non-latex condoms, gloves, and dams going in the trash.* For the toys, there are batteries and gross over packaging- remember when you unpacked your latest butt plug/vibrator/dildo? Wasn't it ridiculous how much plastic you had to dig through to get to your toy? If we were to get really big-picture about it, which we really should, there's a horrific amount of packing materials used if our toys/porn/lingerie come to us through the mail. That isn't even factoring in the fuel usage of shipping them.

Once upon a time, the only eco-friendly material out of which toys were made was glass. They make for absolutely beautiful toys. They are also expensive as hell and honestly, not all of us want glass shoved up our naughty bits, no matter how many times we've been assured that they're shatter proof.

Now, there are a range of sex toys made out of sustainable wood, also available from our friends at Babeland: "Meticulously created from sustainable organic hardwood and coated with gentle, surgical grade Lubrosity™ for easy care, the Flip combines art, pleasure, and conscience in one incredibly beautiful package. Each Flip is a unique piece of artwork, so the size of toy and color/grain of the wood will vary" Sustainable wood floggers and paddles are also available.

There are a lot of options now for vibrators that plug in or recharge like the gigi,if one doesn't always happen to be getting down conveniently close Again, the major draw backs being the high cost.

And of course, a sexy Earth Day celebration wouldn't be complete without a complete eco-sex kit.

I haven't yet managed to come upon a condom, dam, or glove that is made in an environmentally friendly way, but as Hank Green points out on ecogeek.org thanks to various forms of birth control, we've been able to cut down on human population, thereby preventing a greater strain on non-renewable resources. I shudder to think about the possible campaigns by pro-lifers about fetus dumping as medical waste. Let's compost!

treehugger has some great guides to buying green lube and sex toys.

Alas, as Dan Savage recently addressed, there are not currently good options for recycling sex toys, and honestly, there are limits to buying vintage.


*I've yet to hear of a reusable barrier...ew

1 comment:

Essin' Em said...

a) you should be a Babeland affiliate. Just saying.

b) I have the wooden Dual Use S Shape by Nob Essence (who makes the flip and other wood toys Babeland sells). Ah. May. Zing. Favorite insertable toy hands down.

c) Steel dildos. Brilliant. I have the Njoy Pure Wand...and really want the Njoy Eleven. You should check them out.

d) They are now making much more affordable rechargable toys. Gigi is made by Lelo (great toy, ps), and Lelo also makes the Mia, which charges via USB (yes, on your computer), and the Nea and Lily, all under $100. Which, if you factor in saving the environment, and the cost of batteries...yeah.

e) Re-useable safer sex creeps me out. A lot.