Even those of us who are not wanton in reality get to be wanton when not in reality. It used to be that the only non-real experience was imagination. We all use imagination for sex, as when stroking it alone. Sex without imagination is a no-go at levels, I suspect.
In the modern world, there are additional types of non-real experience. Pornography, to the extend that it transcends imagination, is one, probably the biggest. There are various games with sexual components. And there are virtual reality environments like Second Life and the Red Light Center. I’ve never tried those.
To me, chat rooms are another form of virtual reality. On the internet, it’s been observed, no one knows if you’re a dog. Often, no one actually knows your gender. And norms of behavior are different. Even in this debased age, I doubt that “A/S/L?” is an effective pickup line at the corner saloon.
I’ve had conversations in online chat with women from around the country in which they were candid about their sex life. They told me what happens in their bed in detail they would probably prefer their best girlfriend didn’t know. And I repaid them in kind. Hot stuff some it. Sad stuff, too.
In recent years, the chat world has slipped around, and I think I’ve lost track. Video has become the norm. The big forums, like Yahoo Chat, are overrun with ‘bots, undercut by deference to social norms, and depopulated by boredom. I don’t know where to go for good chat anymore.
Is the internet growing old?