Live Cyber

Pornography is progressive… it drives Internet technology forward (think video streaming) and creates demand for broadband access.
Dick N Jane

This made me think about the effects of pornography…

When I was young, my first brush with the sex industry were the sticky pages of a dirty magazine we found in an alley. ‘Men Only’, as I recall and the problem page was a revelation to three 14 year old girls. Sex was dirty, hole-in-corner, top shelf stuff that was not for discussion by polite young ladies.

Over three decades later, the advances of porn into our mainstream society has been speedy and yet seemingly effortless. Who would have thought that little box in the desk could connect you will thousands of bored individuals, all looking for some erotic stimulation on a Saturday night. An opportunity for the exhibitionist to expose his/herself for the pleasure of those who get off on visual cues.

Whether by accident through the alcoholic effects on a risque MSN conversation or by design via a hundred chatrooms set up specifically for the purpose, people come together in couples or groups to watch or perform.

Sometimes there has been a gentle build up, almost a courtship before the actual event but, in many cases, it is strangers involved in instant gratification, who may never interact ever again. They are there purely for the moment.

Instead of turning the pages of a magazine and having to imagine a picture into a fantasy, there is a real woman putting on a show. Sometimes a professional but, often, just a woman with a need.

Providing live, free, personal porn.

And then, of course, there is Chatroulette.  The basic premise all seems rather fun – a sort of online  speed dating scenario, except you get to stay longer if you like the other person and, if you don’t, you get ‘Nexted’.  However, this site  is also having its problems as members get confused over exactly what is entailed.

Wikipedia even says  “According to a survey carried out by RJMetrics, approximately 1 in 10 of feeds from Chatroulette were either users exhibiting themselves in the nude or masturbating“.

It’s almost as if it is not possible to have an online conversation without it having to degenerate into naked ‘fun’.  Where spouses are afraid to accept invitations to become reacquainted with old flames on Facebook because they cannot trust themselves to keep the level at friendship if they engage in chat…  of, if they do feel they can control themselves,  their partners then get jealous at the acceptance of the friend request because they fear some future escalation of  such an initiation.

It’s almost as if online chat has become synonymous with live cyber sex.  A requirement in return for honouring the other person with a few moments of your time.

We live in a world that has been skewed by the dominance of porn on the internet.