Booty Calls & Disco Balls

In defence of the booty call.

The life of a singleton is not an easy one. Living by oneself is more expensive than cohabiting , talking to oneself has never had much social cachet and waiting alone for death, hunched in a rocking chair on the verandah of a dilapidated, government owned nursing home, is an end to life that appeals to very few of us. But, for some, it is our fate. It is not so much the life that we chose, but rather, it is what life chose for us.

So when we hook up with other like minded singletons, we don't head to the bars and clubs in couple territory; we employ our own ruse de guerre. The booty call. It is when we arrange a convenient time for a meeting on a higher, more emotional plane. Admittedly, the time to hook up will be desperately close to the time of the call. The call will undoubtedly be made under the influence of about a dozen drinks. And the call will be made post-midnight.

But does that in itself make it bad? Does it make the feelings behind it less real? I'd answer a resounding no to both. Some people believe that it objectifies the respondent; that it makes them little more than a piece of meat. I wouldn't go that far. I've done things to a booty call that I'd never do to a piece of meat. Things that I probably wouldn't do to a farm animal. That humanises it don't you think?

And booty calls aren't a one way street. There is a reciprocity in the singleton community - a generosity of fellow feeling if you will. Because, at times, all singletons like to feel that the isolation of our solitary existence can be changed by a phone call. That the other half of the bed can be filled. Even when we realise it is only temporary. And this building of a sense of community among my fellow singletons is a passion of mine.

A Booty Call is also honest. It is a frank admission that something is missing in one's life at that point in time. That one needs some Yin to complete one's Yang (or the other way around, whatever). It opens the soul of the caller to the scrutiny of the receptacle receiver - and in that moment of honesty and trust the relationship is deepened.

So rather than looking askance at the Booty Call and viewing it as nothing more than mindless drunken sex between emotionally stunted people, look at it more deeply. See it for what it really is - A reaching out to humanity, the baring of one's emotional frailties and an attempt to deepen the bond between the unlucky and the unloved.

So if you have ever believed in honesty. If you have ever believed in a sense of community with your fellow frail and afflicted single brethren. If you've ever believed that the touch of another can sooth a troubled soul. Then for the love of all that is Holy, the next time that you hear the phone ringing at half past two in the morning - take the call and jump in a taxi. Because it isn't just Booty calling, it is Duty calling.