# Science fiction fans: how "alien" is too alien to sleep with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737 "2008-08-20T23:15:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/101 "2008-08-23T02:12:41Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Anything stranger than M’Ress is…mostly…out. [/QUOTE] Drawing the line at pussy, huh? Me, too. [QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] nominal [effort](http://rdanderson.com/stargate/cast/tealc.jpg) is made to make the actor look other than human [/QUOTE] I thought Teal’C _was_ human. He was descended from humans who’d been taken from Earth ~5000 years ago. I wouldn’t sleep with him though (see above). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/102 "2008-08-23T02:15:19Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Drawing the line at pussy, huh? Me, too. I thought Teal’C _was_ human. He was descended from humans who’d been taken from Earth ~5000 years ago. I wouldn’t sleep with him though (see above). [/QUOTE] I’d already been corrected about Teal’C. In my defense I’ve only seen a few episodes of SG1, and generaly I spend those episodes looking at Carter because, well, she’s Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/103 "2008-08-23T02:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] Yeah, but running through damp sewers, escaping up through a manhole into a torrential downpour, she’s soaked to the skin and borderline hypothermic, and they get under the covers to warm up?\* I don’t care how much she loves him, it’s going to be like an icicle. (\* More or less the order of events in “Innocence”.) [/QUOTE] Buffyverse vampires don’t feel cold to the touch, though. The fading actress who tried to get Angel to turn her in season 1 of his series put her hand to his face and remarked that he didn’t feel anywhere near as cold as she thought. I think the human perception of vampires doesn’t jibe with the "reality’ and is meant to be illogical and contradictory. As Angel said, “It’s not physical–it’s metaphysical.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/104 "2008-08-23T02:24:21Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] [Quite a few, actually](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_Transformers)… Mostly introduced as girlfriends of the male autobots. [/QUOTE] A further exploration of the subject is given in this [sober, professional article from an academic journal.](http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Robot-fleshling_romance) By the by…according to what I’ve been able to suss out, the _Beast Wars_-era Blackarachnia is only about 5-6 feet tall; her [_Beast Machines_ form (at right)](http://www.oyunresim.com/data/media/155/beast_machines_-_t_007.jpg) probably isn’t radically larger. Just sayin, y’know…you could do worse. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/105 "2008-08-23T02:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] A further exploration of the subject is given in this [sober, professional article from an academic journal.](http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Robot-fleshling_romance) By the by…according to what I’ve been able to suss out, the _Beast Wars_-era Blackarachnia is only about 5-6 feet tall; her [_Beast Machines_ form (at right)](http://www.oyunresim.com/data/media/155/beast_machines_-_t_007.jpg) probably isn’t radically larger. Just sayin, y’know…you could do worse. [/QUOTE] I don’t care how cute [Venus Terzo](http://www.otakuthon.com/2007/img/bios/venusterzo.jpg) is, dude. BA is a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/106 "2008-08-23T05:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] I don’t care how cute [Venus Terzo](http://www.otakuthon.com/2007/img/bios/venusterzo.jpg) is, dude. BA is a BLACK WIDOW SPIDER!!! [/QUOTE] My friend, I’m not one to perpetuate needless specism. And with a voice like that, I’m willing to deal with some cyberchitin and a couple of extra legs. (Not counting the pure Beast Mode, of course. That’s the really more the kind of thing you’d need to work up to over the course of a relationship, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/107 "2008-08-23T06:21:52Z")
Have to be vaguely male human shaped with kissable lips and vaguely compatible tabNslot parts. Have to have an attractive scent. No buggyness. Relatable personality. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/108 "2008-08-23T11:43:21Z")
Vulcans, on the other hand, are right out. For me. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/109 "2008-08-23T11:52:55Z")
Haven’t seen that episode. I might be able to fix low body temperature in the undead, but I can’t fix bad TV scripts. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/110 "2008-08-23T16:49:43Z")
Just wanted to say I’d totally do K’Ehleyr. “What took you so long?” “Sorry, I had to make myself beautiful.” That is all. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/111 "2008-08-23T17:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor > Vulcans, on the other hand, are right out. For me. Me too. Sex only once every seven years? I can get that from a human female. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/112 "2008-08-23T17:37:18Z")
The “tentacle question” depends on the type. There are scary ones and, well, maybe not cute ones but at least one can in principle imagine a form which does not cause your skin to crawl in disgust. But I think we should be open to the possibility that a sufficiently flexible and dexterous tentacle could be much more satisfying for pleasurable sexual manipulation than a hand. Of course, one should realize that a tentacle may also be more pleasant than a creature’s analogue to our “hand.” That may be scarier than even a tentacle, what with unknown texture or amount of digits. (insert Lovecraftian/Japenese porn here) [QUOTE=Projammer] Ambient body temperature needs to be close to 98.6. Something who’s norrmal temp is 75 or 110 would be far too uncomfortable. [/QUOTE] I can see how having a 75 degree being lay on top of you would be uncomfortable. But also once you got down to the basic plumbing something that cold would be detrimental to a man’s firmness, possibly akin to the “cold pool effect,” although I’m sure that could be overcome if you wanted it badly enough (although I’m sure at some temperature it would be too cold and it doesn’t matter how hot you are to get some xenopussy). But I don’t see why the other way would be undesirable at all. It seems to me that being surrounded by 110 degrees of warm alien love could be quite intense. Of course, you have to think that your partner probably wouldn’t appreciate having this oddly shaped cold thing rudely slid in her. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/113 "2008-08-23T22:02:46Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] You are freaking me out, woman. [/QUOTE] What can I say? I spend way too much time on the internet and I remember everything I read. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/114 "2008-08-23T23:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=coffeecat] Just wanted to say I’d totally do K’Ehleyr. [/QUOTE] K’Ehleyr, perhaps. Suzie Plakson, definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2008, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/115 "2008-08-24T10:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=mbh] Me too. Sex only once every seven years? I can get that from a human female. [/QUOTE] No-no-no. For me, it’s the telepathy thing. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/116 "2008-08-25T18:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=Broomstick] Turn up the thermostat. Hot tub. I think low body temp might be something you can work out, at least in some cases. [/QUOTE] Thermal condom? Just like gramma used to knit! ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/117 "2008-08-25T19:10:12Z")
[QUOTE=marshmallow] I can see how having a 75 degree being lay on top of you would be uncomfortable. But also once you got down to the basic plumbing something that cold would be detrimental to a man’s firmness, possibly akin to the “cold pool effect,” although I’m sure that could be overcome if you wanted it badly enough (although I’m sure at some temperature it would be too cold and it doesn’t matter how hot you are to get some xenopussy). But I don’t see why the other way would be undesirable at all. It seems to me that being surrounded by 110 degrees of warm alien love could be quite intense. Of course, you have to think that your partner probably wouldn’t appreciate having this oddly shaped cold thing rudely slid in her. [/QUOTE] I’m inclined to agree with you- this all sounds like it would be more enjoyable for the partner with the naturally cooler body temperature. However, there are a couple things to consider. First, humans in a comfortable ambient temperature (say 70 F) seem to enjoy a heat source rather than a source of cold- consider hot water bottles, snuggling, and cats, all things that are commonly enjoyed even when no outside heat source is needed for comfort. There’s no reason to assume that an alien would feel the same way- they might have a physiology more prone to overheating than underheating and therefore _prefer_ a comparatively cold human body. Second, I had a girlfriend in the past who enjoyed playing with ice in an intimate way, so clearly some people might even enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/118 "2008-08-25T19:30:27Z")
What about the [ooloi from Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis books](http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Ooloi)? Sure they look completely disgusting, but they can create some super-intense sexual experiences. Any takers? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/119 "2008-08-26T01:12:34Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] Nope – \*miscegenation \* basically boils down to polluting Race A with the genes of Race B. For this, I’d figure the correct term would be \*xenophilia \* which I understand means loving a species outside one’s own. [/QUOTE] Fair enough, fair enough… so it’s \*miscegenation \* when we’re discussing Sarek and Amanda’s half-Vulcan offspring, but \*xenophilia \* when talking about Tech Sgt. Kwan and Laliari… assuming they don’t have a half-Thermian love child… ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737/120 "2008-08-27T00:27:20Z")
[QUOTE=runner pat] This from someone named **lizardling**. 😃 [/QUOTE] Hey, ya don’t knock me and I don’t knock ya. 😃 [QUOTE=Apollyon] Fair enough, fair enough… so it’s miscegenation when we’re discussing Sarek and Amanda’s half-Vulcan offspring, but xenophilia when talking about Tech Sgt. Kwan and Laliari… assuming they don’t have a half-Thermian love child… [/QUOTE] If you’re talking to the Vulcans, sure. Terrans are easy. 😃 I wonder what a half-Thermian would look like… Cousin Cthulhu? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-fiction-fans-how-alien-is-too-alien-to-sleep-with/460737.md?page=7)